Marketing & Enrollment: Community Visibility

Families choose child care based on trust, relationships, and a sense of belonging. Thoughtful marketing helps families learn about your program and feel confident that their child will be safe, supported, and loved. Clear enrollment practices then make it easy for families to join your program and understand what to expect.

Centers depend on stable enrollment to remain financially viable. Effective strategies include:

• Maintaining an online presence and clear program messaging
• Offering tours and family orientations
• Registering with the local Resource & Referral Agency
• Building partnerships with schools and community organizations
• Participating in community events
• Seeking free consulting from OC WBC for marketing and planning support

Additional Recruitment Tips (Adapted from National Association for the Education of Young Children NAEYC)

1. Register with your local Child Care Resource & Referral agency so families searching for openings can easily find you.
2. Post flyers in community spaces such as libraries, laundromats, grocery stores, and pediatric offices (with permission).
3. Connect with local realtors who support families moving into your community.
4. Collaborate with your school district and share program information through approved channels like school boards, teacher lounges, or kindergarten enrollment events.
5. Build visibility by participating in community events such as fairs, festivals, and city gatherings.
6. Network with foster care and social service agencies that sometimes need emergency or temporary child care placements.
7. Contact HR departments at nearby businesses. They often help employees locate child care resources.
8. Keep your program listings updated; ages served, openings, hours, and holidays so referrals remain accurate.

Helpful Reminders During the Enrollment Process

• Provide clear next steps, timelines, and expectations
• Collect required forms (e.g., enrollment, health, emergency contacts)
• Review your contract and policies together
• Offer opportunities for families to ask questions and build relationships
• Keep your openings up to date and maintain a waitlist when needed
• Supporting families through each step helps them feel welcome and informed.

Clear agreements help set expectations and build trust with families. Infant/toddler classrooms often fill fastest due to limited local supply.

Enrollment system priorities:

• Family contracts that outline payments, attendance, and drop-off rules
• Interviews and orientation systems to support family partnerships
• Priority enrollment for infant/toddler seats (highest need in OC)
• Transparent waitlist policies to maintain equity and efficiency

Enrollment Analysis: Learn from Your Data

Understanding and tracking your enrollment patterns helps you make strong decisions for your business. Reviewing trends throughout the year can highlight:

• Peak seasons for inquiries and enrollment
• Ages or schedules that fill quickly
• Marketing strategies that work best
• Opportunities to strengthen stability

While there are few standalone enrollment-only self-assessments for Child Care Centers, here are two established tools that include strong, enrollment-focused components that programs can use to examine demand, recruitment, retention, and enrollment stability. These tools are often used for planning, continuous quality improvement, and long-term sustainability rather than day-to-day enrollment tracking alone.

• Child Care Aware of America – Child Care Center Needs Assessment
  A planning-focused tool that helps centers assess community demand, family demographics, competing programs, pricing, and capacity. This assessment is especially useful for start-up, expansion, or enrollment recovery planning, as it supports data-informed decisions about who the program serves and how to reach families. Focuses heavily on:
  • Community demand and demographics
  • Competing programs and tuition rates
  • Capacity planning and enrollment viability

Used mainly for planning, start-up, or expansion, not ongoing enrollment management. You may need help completing your needs assessment. Children’s Home Society will be able to help you with much of this information. Child Care Center Needs Assessment

• NAEYC – Accreditation Self-Study Tools
  While not enrollment-only, NAEYC self-assessment tools include enrollment-related practices through standards on family engagement, admissions policies, transitions, and retention. These tools help centers reflect on how program quality, communication, and family partnerships support stable enrollment over time.  Highly enrollment-specific and examines:
  • Recruitment strategies
  • Enrollment pipelines
  • Waitlist management
  • Attendance and retention

Designed for Head Start/EHS but often adapted by non-Head Start centers as a best-practice framework. Quality Self Assessment tools-NAEYC

By combining strong business planning, trusted partnerships, and high-quality care and possibly including infants and toddlers, your program will make a meaningful difference for children, families, and Orange County’s future workforce and economy.