Child care as 'critical infrastructure' for disaster recovery, economy
Early Bird readers, hello again. Newcomers, welcome! If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up here to receive it every few 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.
Election Day is this Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know to vote, and here is EdNC’s K-12 voter guide. You can find coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris’s proposal of a 7% income cap on child care costs here, what former President Donald Trump said when asked about child care here, and an analysis of J.D. Vance’s comments on child care and caregivers here.
At the national, state, and local levels, advocacy organization MomsRising has been asking candidates about their child care plans and views. Go here to learn about the organization’s Moms’ Seal of Approval on Child Care and the organization’s list of candidate recipients. Don’t miss child care reimbursements for parents while voting (details are below).
Meanwhile, communities in Western North Carolina are a month into recovery from Hurricane Helene. Child care programs were hard hit, and are needed for that recovery, in both the short and long term. So Katie and I wrote about the varying models of early childhood recovery taking place to ensure families have what they need now and going forward. Some highlights include:
- The state’s $10 million allocation for licensed child care through local Smart Start partnerships.
- FEMA and the National Guard delivering potable water to licensed child care programs in Buncombe County.
- Burke County child care centers reopening within local public elementary schools.
- Boone Area Chamber of Commerce covering tuition for local child care centers to continue to pay staff.
- Save the Children offering funds and training on how to access child care relief and how to recover socially and emotionally.
- The National Emergency Child Care Network deploying vetted volunteers to fill short-term emergency child care needs for families and organizations.
We will continue this coverage as families’ and programs’ needs evolve. Almost every person I’ve spoken with about recovering child care from Helene has mentioned how fragile programs already were, and how long-term recovery will mean sustainable solutions for child care across the state.
That’s what Samantha Cole, child care business liaison at the state Department of Commerce, said to me last week when I talked to her about a report from the department and NC Child on the economic potential of child care for the state. Cole is both a parent of a young child and a resident of a Helene-wrecked community. She said long-term solutions are needed.
“I really believe that child care access is critical infrastructure that should be treated as such,” Cole said.
The report suggests that cross-sector solutions — where government, philanthropy, and the business community contribute — will get North Carolina to a place where families can afford care and children can acquire high-quality learning, during disaster recovery and all the time. Go here for more on what those solutions could look like.
We’ll be here on the other side of the election, parsing out what it means for young children, families, and the educators who support them. And we’ll be in Western North Carolina in the coming weeks and months, telling stories and lifting up points of hope. Follow along.
More from EdNC on early childhood
Child care solutions could increase state GDP by up to $7.5 billion, Commerce report finds
Solving the child care crisis would create large economic gains for North Carolina, another report has found. Affordable, accessible child...Here are some models of recovery for early care and learning after Helene
Unlike North Carolina’s K-12 schools or community colleges, child care programs aren’t consolidated under a public system. That makes it...General Assembly passes second Helene relief bill
Update, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. — Gov. Roy Cooper signed the second relief bill into law on Friday, Oct....What's in Gov. Cooper's $3.9 billion Helene relief proposal?
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper released his $3.9 billion Helene relief proposal on Wednesday afternoon. The plan calls for $282 million...Resources offered to reopen, find child care after Helene
Child care programs affected by Hurricane Helene might be able reopen, even if they don’t have running water or can’t...How Hyde County Schools is trying to break the 'vicious cycle' of child care and housing crises
“If you don’t have the child care in order for people to go to work, they don’t have the income...The big picture for little kids
News & Research
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Is NC Pre-K dying? Providers say low funding makes it hard to keep up. - From NC Health News
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Infant mortality got worse after Roe reversal. Experts are investigating. - From The Washington Post
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Norway law decrees: Let childhood be childhood - From The Hechinger Report
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How Child Care Has Emerged As An Essential Election Issue In 2024 - From Forbes
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Helene survivors remain scattered 'all over the state' one month later - From WUNC
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It’s almost Election Day. Where is the paid parental leave policy? - From The 19th News
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2 out of 5 child care teachers make so little they need public assistance to support their families - From The Hechinger Report
Taking flight! Opportunities to spread your wings
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Child care reimbursements to vote - From Politisit
Nonprofit Politisit is providing child care reimbursements for North Carolina parents to access care while voting. The organization will cover up to two hours of care, with exceptions made for longer stretches of time for families impacted by Hurricane Helene.
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Paid research & policy fellowship - From National Early Care & Education Workforce Center
Apply by November 18 if interested in a paid research and policy fellowship running from February 2025 to January 2026. There are two tracks, one for graduate students and one for early childhood professionals currently working in the field as educators or in other roles.
From the organization’s website:
“The fellowship is designed to achieve two primary goals:
- Support the leadership development of individual fellows, and
- Help fellows build their expertise about the ECE workforce while gaining skills to effectively bridge research and policy/practice.”
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Convening men in early childhood - From Smart Start of Forsyth County
November 13, 12-1:30 pm at Goodwill in Winston-Salem
The local Smart Start partnership in Forsyth County is convening men in early childhood, with special guest Anthony Izzard. Izzard has a background of empowering fathers to be involved in early childhood and beyond.
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"Take Care" premiere - From NC Division of Child Development and Early Education
November 13, 5:30 pm at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh
RSVP by Nov. 6 to attend the premiere screening of “Take Care,” a short documentary on the child care crisis across the state, and a panel discussion on solutions afterward.
From the organizer: “Take Care will provide you with firsthand accounts of how child care impacts all of us; how communities are trying to address the crisis; and the need to work together to create lasting solutions.”
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NC Child Care Hotline - From Child Care Resource & Referral
Families looking for child care as they recover from Hurricane Helene can find assistance through the NC Child Care Hotline at 1-888-600-1685 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. It is run through the Department of Health and Human Services and the Child Care Resource & Referral agencies to help families find child care options for children up to 12 years old.
