Child care operators
Share what is affecting your ability to operate, staff, grow, or remain stable.
Main Street Pulse
A quick read on child care supply in your community.
The Main Street Pulse is a short, five-question survey — plus one optional open response — designed to surface what operators, employers, community leaders, funders, and families are actually seeing on the ground. It takes about three minutes.
~3 minutes · 5 questions · anonymous
Why it matters
Child care challenges show up locally — but the deeper issue is supply.
Families feel it as waitlists. Employers feel it as turnover and absenteeism. Operators feel it as thin margins and staffing gaps. The Main Street Pulse cuts through the symptoms to help communities see the operating conditions underneath — and whether local partners are ready to move from awareness to action.
Every response adds a data point to what we're hearing across Main Street America.
What the Pulse covers
- Operator stability and the pressures on local child care supply
- Workforce and staffing conditions inside programs
- How child care supply is affecting families and employers
- How well local leaders, funders, and partners are coordinated
- What would most help your community move forward
Take the survey
Share what your community is seeing.
Responses are anonymous unless you choose to share contact info. Takes about three minutes.
Who should take the Pulse
Built for the people closest to local supply conditions.
Community leaders
Share how child care supply is affecting workforce, families, employers, and local development.
Employers
Share whether child care supply is affecting attendance, hiring, retention, or productivity.
Funders and civic partners
Share whether local resources and partners are aligned around child care supply.
Families and advocates
Share how local child care availability affects work and daily stability.
What we do with what we hear
Responses help shape local and national learning.
- Local conversation themes
- Community stop priorities
- Field insights
- Regional patterns
- Resource development
- Future planning conversations
- Better understanding of what operators and communities need
Emerging themes from the field
As communities complete the Main Street Pulse, we surface shared themes across operator stability, supply constraints, workforce pressure, facilities, employer impact, and local coordination.
After you share