Story by Amy Anderson
Sometimes a problem can be so immense that there is seemingly no solution. Take the issue of childcare. A complex issue that affects every family, childcare—or the lack of it—is debated and discussed but rarely met with real-world solutions.
Recognizing these challenges, a group of dedicated UT faculty and graduate students is spearheading an innovative program. Their goal is to provide families from a traditionally underserved community that have few childcare options with engaging early childhood learning experiences while cultivating a family support network. Still in its early stages, the initiative is already demonstrating the power of collaboration, not only among families but also between the neighborhood and the UT community.
It’s not just a Knoxville issue. The statistics on childcare nationwide are jarring.
More than half of the US population lives in a so-called childcare desert, defined by the Center for American Progress as an area with an insufficient supply of licensed childcare. The existence of childcare deserts is a complex problem caused primarily by persistent underfunding of the childcare system. Lack of funding makes it challenging to start or sustain childcare programs and even more challenging for families to afford the options that do exist.
To make matters worse, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 100,000 childcare workers have left the profession since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When families cannot access stable childcare, it becomes difficult or impossible for parents to advance in their jobs or even to work at all. This gap leaves many families with limited options, struggling to provide the educational experiences necessary to set their children up for future success.
Faced with the overwhelming task of finding solutions to this monumental problem, a group at CEHHS decided to start small. The initiative, led by Associate Professor Samara Akpovo in the Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, began in Western Heights, an affordable housing community in northwest Knoxville.
Akpovo and her associates created fliers encouraging families in Western Heights with young children to become more active in their child’s early education by participating in a summer program featuring monthly field trips with other neighborhood families to local attractions. The program’s goal was to provide community engagement and early childhood educational experiences for families who could not otherwise afford or access childcare in this traditionally underserved community.
While most programs target school-age children, Akpovo’s initiative encouraged families with children under five years old to attend. Additionally, parents and caregivers were given resources and early education materials and urged to be active participants during and after the outings. From picnics to visits to Zoo Knoxville and Muse Knoxville, a children’s museum, participants engaged in activities that encouraged interaction between families and emphasized the importance of shared learning experiences. Visiting as part of a school trip or with an after-school group is typically the only way children would have the opportunity to visit these attractions. However, that approach removes the experience and memories created when children visit with their own family, which Akpovo believes is a major factor in the learning experience.
“The opportunity to visit places that many Knoxville residents take for granted had a large impact on the families that attended by allowing these families to play tourist in their own community and have the same educational experiences for themselves and their families that they otherwise could not afford,” says Akpovo.
The summer trips were beneficial in not only bringing together family members but also allowing them to bond with others in their community facing the same parenting issues. Without the stresses of transportation, safety, financial means, or even providing meals as potential barriers, parents were able to build community by offering comfort and support to one another. Building this caregiving community provided benefits outside the program. According to Caroline Platt, a community impact ambassador with the Knoxville–Knox County Community Action Committee in Western Heights, the neighborhood is embracing the program and growing along with it.
“There’s a lot of trust issues in the neighborhood with letting their kids go outside and play with other family’s kids, so bridging that gap and connecting neighbors that may not have ever interacted if not for this program was important. It definitely helped form some relationships within the neighborhood,” says Platt.
Though the summer program has ended, families still meet each month, and the program continues to grow. Platt says word of mouth is one reason why: “I’ve had a few phone calls and texts from families that did not participate in the summer but have heard good things from the families who did participate and are now wanting to come to our monthly events, so that will hopefully grow the network of families who are available to participate.”
The creation of this parent support network represents a beacon of hope for those navigating the challenges of childcare deserts. For Akpovo and UT, the project represents a quintessential example of community engagement. It highlights the university’s commitment as a land-grant institution to not only conduct research but to apply that research in tangible, impactful ways within the local community.
The host of community partners working along with Akpovo shows the effort is important not just in Western Heights but to the Knoxville community as a whole. The program is a collaboration with the Community Action Committee, Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, and the Knox County Health Department. It operates as part of a $40 million Choice Neighborhoods grant awarded to the City of Knoxville, CAC, and KCDC by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2022.
The program’s growth and support in Western Heights and with community partners outside the university represent great news for Akpovo. The community aspect of the initiative is what excited her most about the project. The challenges of early education and childcare are something that she and her colleagues have experienced firsthand.
“Each person—faculty and graduate student—working on this project was once a low-income mother struggling to find childcare, so we have a strong commitment to this project and have walked in the shoes of these families,” says Akpovo.
And while they are working to tackle a huge problem, Akpovo knows it’s OK to start small. “It’s a little program with a big heart,” she says.
