Child care in NC Senate plan, resources on child abuse awareness
‘Caring for the caregivers’
Early Bird readers, hello again. Newcomers, welcome! If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up here to receive it every two weeks, and join our conversation on issues facing North Carolina’s young children and those who support them. If you’re already a subscriber, please help us reach more people by sharing this with your friends and co-workers interested in early childhood education.
Since our last edition, I’ve been on the road. I had the pleasure of touring Onslow One Place’s new facility, which they’re calling “Hope,” opening this fall. The new location will expand all kinds of services for children and families, from trauma-informed training to mental health care for youth. Its Children’s Advocacy Center will double its capacity, and we’re releasing a story on the difference the model has made this week.
I’m now writing this edition from Wilkesboro after spending the day at PlayWorks, a child care program that just moved into a wing of Wilkesboro United Methodist Church after nearly closing its doors due to an unexpected terminated lease. I’m excited to bring you all the story of how the church and larger community rallied to save a 12-year old program and expand its reach.
In both settings, something that I heard at the State of the Child Summit, hosted by NC Child and the NC Institute of Medicine in Raleigh on April 15, has returned to the front of my mind. During the keynote, Cynthia Osborne, from the national Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University, outlined policies that research has linked to positive outcomes for children in the first three years of life. She said those policies have a through line:
“All the policies and programs that are effective really focus on caring for the caregivers so that they can do the job of caring for their children,” Osborne said.
In Onslow and Wilkes counties, I spent time with people who pour their energy into caregivers, helping them get the training, funding, and respect they need in order to show up and be well for the children they serve.
Meanwhile, state senators released their budget proposal during a session in which lawmakers are discussing what policy approaches can best support child care access and affordability. Scroll below to see what’s in the proposal for child care. The House will release its plan in the coming weeks, and then the two chambers, both with Republican majorities, will work toward a compromise budget for the next two years. Go here for a breakdown of the education components in Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s proposal.
No matter what happens in Raleigh, I’m always uplifted by the people on the ground who are making the best of limited resources and showing up day in an day out for their neighbors. Thank you for the work you do, and thank you for reading.
Until next time,
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Legislative Updates
The Senate budget proposal:
- Adds an additional $80 million each year ($35 million in state funding and $45 million in federal funding) to the state’s child care subsidy program.
- This updates the rates participating child care programs receive from those in a 2021 study to those in a 2023 study. In some cases, that means programs will receive more per child. In other cases, those rates will remain the same as what they currently get.
- Allocates $2 million in recurring funds for 2025-26 and $2.5 million in recurring funds for 2026-27 to the North Carolina Partnership for Children to implement Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
- Directs $6 million in one-time funding for a pilot to increase child care capacity in Alamance, Harnett, and Johnston counties.
- It directs each council of governments to select a third-party vendor to coach new family child care providers through setting up programs on a six-month timeline, plus creating a mentorship program to retain them, among other things.
- Lacks a subsidy floor, a policy that is backed by the state Division of Child Development and Early Education and is the main policy priority of several early childhood advocates. A floor would cost about $220 million and would help level the playing field for child care programs participating in the subsidy program across counties. The amounts they receive vary widely based on the county they’re in.
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