Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map

History of IECAM
IECAM Advisory Committee
For Further Information

History of IECAM

In June 2005, the Illinois Early Learning Council called for a concerted effort to create an interactive, Web-based tool—to be called the Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM)—to support “transparent” decision-making frameworks for awarding funding for Preschool for All. This new decision-making tool brings together data on early care and education from state agencies (birth to 5), Head Start, and the private sector. IECAM also includes community demographic information that can be used by federal, state, and local government agencies to inform resource allocation processes in Illinois. The goal is to use resources as efficiently as possible while creating a comprehensive early childhood system for the state.

At the Council’s request, Chicago Metropolis 2020 and the University of Illinois’ Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative have worked together on the IECAM project, with financial support from several foundations, including: the Joyce Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Grand Victoria Foundation, McCormick-Tribune Foundation, CME Foundation, and Spencer Foundation. Public funds have come from the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and the University of Illinois.

Decisions concerning the information to be included, its presentation, and potential users are made in consultation with a diverse Advisory Committee representing state agencies, advocacy organizations, and experts. The group includes representatives of the IDHS Bureau of Child Care, ISBE, Ounce of Prevention, Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, Chapin Hall Center for Children, and others.

ECAP is partnering with the University’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and with the Illinois Center for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences to create a state-of-the art system. During the planning phase, the IECAM team produced the IECAM Interim Data Collection, which brought together existing data for use in fiscal year 2007 resource allocations. The IECAM Interim Data Collection was made public in June 2006.

An Executive Summary (PDF) and a complete Final Report (PDF) detailing the activities during the Planning Phase of the IECAM project are available on this Web site.

A comprehensive IECAM Web site was launched on September 1, 2007, and provides tabular data and mapping data. IECAM uses GIS mapping software that makes it possible for policy makers to know the location of existing services as they make decisions about funding additional services. Users are able to click on a location on a map to learn how a county, school district, legislative district, or other area is currently served by early childhood programs, and to find demographic data that illustrate how population relates to the current distribution of funds. Using these data, policy makers can determine where new or expanded programs are most needed.

The IECAM Web site currently includes data on licensed and license-exempt center-based care; licensed family child care; Head Start, Early Head Start, and Migrant Head Start; state-funded PreK programs; and infant and toddler programs. Demographic data on population distribution, family income, and language spoken at home is also included on the site. The site will continue to expand over the next year.

To ensure continuing public access to objective, high-quality, regularly updated data, IECAM will be housed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For further information:

To find additional data on early care and education services and on demographics for the City of Chicago:

Chapin Hall for Children, University of Chicago
Early Childhood Programs Supply and Demand

To find child care:

Please contact the local Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency for your area.

IECAM Project Development:

Dawn Thomas
University of Illinois, Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative
dthomas3@uiuc.edu

Emily Harris
Chicago Metropolis 2020
312-332-8162
emily.harris@cm2020.org

Technical Assistance with using the IECAM Web site:

(877) 275-3227
IECAM Webmaster
(Please indicate that you are calling/emailing about the IECAM Web site.)