ECI Assesses Post-Katrina Child Care in Orleans Parish, Louisiana

AUG. 1, 2006 | The Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute (ECI) has completed an assessment of Hurricane Katrina damages to licensed child care facilities in Orleans Parish, La., finding that while the parish lost 75.32% percent of licensed slots overall, the losses varied by neighborhood from 0% to 100%.

Save the Children, the international relief organization, commissioned the assessment, which ECI conducted in June and July. An executive summary of ECI’s final report is available here.

“We appreciate the invitation from United Way of New Orleans to provide this research assistance, as well as our partnership with Save the Children, which has been instrumental in the restoration of early childhood services in Mississippi,” Cathy Grace, Ed.D., professor and director of ECI, said.

Todd Battiste, M.P.A., M.A., of United Way of New Orleans provided logistical support for ECI’s survey of child care facilities.

The Community Information Resource Center of the Rural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri collaborated with ECI on the assessment, producing a series of maps and performing spatial analysis of the assessment results. Erin Wilson Barbaro, M.A., and Michael C. Barbaro, M.A., are the lead analysts for the Early Childhood Atlas, a national initiative of ECI.

"This project is an example of the potential of spatial analysis to contribute to high-stakes policy decisions. Putting information -- such as the locations and capacity of damaged child care centers -- on a map is the first step toward an understanding of how policies affect particular geographic areas. We were pleased to be a part of the Orleans Parish assessment and look forward to playing a greater role in emergency preparedness for the early childhood infrastructure,” said Christopher Fulcher, Ph.D., director of CIRC.

The authors of the report are Elizabeth F. Shores, M.A.P.H., Cathy Grace, Ed.D., Erin Wilson Barbaro, M.A., Michael C. Barbaro, M.A., and Jenifer Moore, Ph.D. Lynn Bell, the multimedia producer for ECI, designed and produced the report.

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