NC Child Care Policy Toolkit

Class Of Primary Or Elementary School Students Raising Hands To Answer Question In Classroom

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We need your voice, experience and stories to help save the early care and learning system in North Carolina.
Right now, NC policymakers are considering what funding and policy changes to make concerning child care and early learning programs. They need to understand what the impact is in your community if child care disappears.This toolkit provides guidance on ways to act NOW before it’s too late.

Our child care system is in crisis. Without public investment, North Carolina’s child care system can’t deliver the level of service and affordability working families need to keep our state’s economy growing.Many other states are facing the challenge by blending systemic investments alongside new ideas.

NC’s top priority is creating a reimbursement rate floor for the Child Care Subsidy program.
This is foundational to slowing closures and controlling affordability. Without this critical adjustment, access drops further as programs close, and the cost of care rises due to demand.

Layering the innovative workforce strategy of providing child care for the child care workforce offers policy makers the ability to address teacher shortages and improve access to care. However, investing in a pilot child care for the child care workforce benefit by itself, without the subsidy rate fix, will not stop closures. To stop the closures, we must address the existing shortcomings in subsidy rates and update them to the true cost of providing care.

Outdated system reimbursement rates have not covered the true cost of care, forcing closures of child care businesses (see the graphic above). That’s about to get worse. Read below for ways you can act NOW to make positive and real changes. Need some assistance? Don’t worry, help is here! Click the help buttons below: