Make childcare capacity part of your community’s growth strategy.

A major employer expansion can create new jobs and expose the systems that keep families from taking them. Childcare belongs in that growth conversation alongside housing and transportation. In this applied learning lab, Julie Amy guides you through a practical approach to assessing whether your community can support its workforce ambitions. Use your own community as the case study, connect childcare capacity to economic development priorities, and identify the partners and actions needed for sustainable, family-ready growth.

Inside the learning lab

Complete a Community Capacity Assessment, explore realistic growth scenarios, and compare approaches with peers. Build a stakeholder map and begin a 90-day action plan that brings employers, planners, workforce partners, and childcare providers into a shared conversation.

What you will gain

• Evaluate childcare alongside housing, transportation, and other systems that support workforce participation.
• Identify capacity gaps that could limit business attraction or expansion.
• Convene the partners needed to address interconnected community needs.
• Integrate childcare into existing workforce and economic development strategies through practical next steps.

What you will take back

The Community Capacity Toolkit, including an assessment, stakeholder mapping guide, community planning template, implementation roadmap, and facilitator’s discussion guide, with work begun on your own community.

Who should join:

Economic developers, workforce professionals, planners, and community leaders coordinating growth and employer needs.

Bring your growth priorities and develop a plan that works for the families behind your workforce.

Registration (Opens December 2026)

Professional Development Credits

Attendance and participation during all sessions of the training course is required by a registrant to obtain the following credits. 

• Certified Economic Developer (CEcD)
  • Exam = Core Requirement
  • Recertification = (3) Level-1 Points
    
    
• Entrepreneurship Development Professional (EDP)
  • Exam = Elective Requirement
  • Recertification = (3) Level-1 Points

Note: IEDC will send a registrant an electronic certificate of completion after the course for their records.

Questions

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call (202) 223-7800.

Policies

Please read the following policies carefully prior to registering for the training course.

Materials

The materials provided by IEDC are intended for use only by the registrant of the training course. A registrant should not share the training course materials with anyone else.

A registrant found in violation of this policy will be removed from the training course immediately and will not receive a refund for it.

Payment

A registrant will not receive the materials for the training course until IEDC receives the full amount owed for their registration.

Substitution

A registrant is not allowed to substitute a colleague in their place for any IEDC training course.

Cancellation

Please review our cancellation policy here.

No Show

A registrant is considered a “No Show” if they fail to send a cancellation email and/or do not attend the training course. A “No Show” registrant will forfeit any monies paid to IEDC for the training course.