Child Care Access and LA’s Recovery

Join Lewis Center director Evelyn Blumenberg and First 5 LA early care and education program officer Jaime Kalenik in a conversation about the state of child care access in Los Angeles County. Attendees will learn key findings from our recent report — Access to Child Care in Los Angeles County: Recent Trends and COVID-19 Implications — and how the lack of child care access is likely to affect the trajectory of the region’s economy going forward, and how child care access connects to other issues facing the LA region like housing affordability and transportation access. In their response, First 5 LA will share the different ways that their organization and partners are working to advance progress to address the lack of access for parents as well as improving conditions for people working in the child care sector.

Featuring: 

EVELYN BLUMENBERG is the Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and a Professor of Urban Planning within the Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research examines the effects of urban structure — the spatial location of residents, employment, and services — on economic outcomes for low-wage workers, and on the role of planning and policy in shaping the spatial structure of cities. Recent projects include analyses of trends in transit ridership, gender and travel behavior, low-wage workers and the changing commute, and the relationship between automobile ownership and employment outcomes among the poor.

JAIME KALENIK has been a Program Officer on the Early Care and Education Team at First 5 LA since 2017 managing various policy and systems change projects supporting the early childhood workforce. Her experience includes facilitating the LA County ECE COVID-19 Response Team, a collaborative of systems leaders in the County aligning efforts to keep early education and childcare operating safely for families and providers during the pandemic. Prior to joining First 5 LA, Jaime spent more than seven years at The Riordan Foundation, most recently in the position of Vice President. In this role she helped guide the foundation’s strategy through K-12 grant programs focused on literacy and innovation, as well as early childhood education initiatives. Jaime is an active member of the philanthropic community in Los Angeles and is currently serving on the advisory board for Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy.  Jaime received her Bachelors of Arts in Classical Studies from Tufts University and is a graduate of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development Program, a program that prepares young professionals to be effective board members for nonprofit organizations through coursework and internships.