Licensed childcare providers in Teton County, Wyoming were experiencing growing demands for child care and declining facility capacities.  Since a significant proportion of persons working in the Teton County economy commute from nearby communities, Teton County, Wyoming retained Pedersen Planning Consultants to determine future childcare service demands for the 2006-2016 period.  This information was intended to facilitate consideration of potential investments for the expansion and development of new childcare facilities in Teton County, Wyoming.

Representatives of various community employers were contacted to determine anticipated company plans that might generate significant increases or reductions in future labor force requirements.  Employer representatives were also queried concerning the extent to which the availability of childcare impacted their ability to recruit or retain employees.

Childcare issues were identified and addressed from the perspective of childcare providers, parents using childcare services, employers, as well as family and public health advocates.  A series of childcare development strategies were developed to facilitate the organization of a broad-based community effort to pursue improvements to childcare delivery, encourage greater private and public investments in childcare facilities, and reduce barriers influencing the financial viability of childcare operations. 

Future childcare demands that were calculated by PPC represented a forecast of the anticipated low and high ends of anticipated demand for a 10-year period.  These forecasts established a statistical range of demand.  The development and application of a statistical model for the project enabled PPC to consider commuter patterns, the affordability of childcare services in Teton County, as well as the potential motivation of commuting workers to pay the cost of available child care.