Potential Changes for the NC Teacher Licensure Model Process

Learn more about the potential changes being discussed for the state’s teacher licensure process.

White House Plans for Child Care Investments

Read about the Feb. 22 conversation with parents and their children at the White House to discuss the need to cut child care costs and increase the supply of high-quality child care.

DCDEE Releases an Update (Jan. 13, 2022) to the “COVID” Toolkit

Access the latest version of the ChildCareStrong NC Public Health Toolkit to assist NC early childhood/child care programs with COVID related questions, concerns and policies.

Did your program apply for a stabilization grant?  Here are some great resources from the Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance System to assist you as a child care provider (or a lead agency assisting the workforce) in implementing and utilizing the child care stabilization grants.  

COVID-19 Rescue Funding   headed to NC for the Child Care Industry

Read the details from the White House fact sheet here.

COVID-19 Resources for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Field

Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child has developed an extensive list of national resources to support the ECE field during the COVID 19 pandemic. You can find the resources here.

In addition, you can find helpful NC COVID-19 Early Childhood resources through the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education and the NC Child Care Health and Safety Resource Center and the NC Early Education Coalition

The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession

The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Education Profession was developed over the last three years by a task force of 15 leading national organizations, including the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which facilitated this collective effort. Together, these organizations, which represent members of the early childhood field working across states, settings, and age bands, partnered with a diverse range of stakeholders and more than 11,000 individuals to produce the Unifying Framework.  Learn more about the Power to the Profession initiative here.

Your Voice Counts

The NC Early Education Coalition (Coalition) is the only statewide advocacy coalition dedicated to promoting high quality, accessible and affordable child care in NC.

Through research and advocacy, the Coalition builds partners with early childhood educators, early care and education providers, Smart Start, child care resource and referrals agencies, higher education and others to improve programs and policies and/or increase funding for low income families through child care subsidy, scholarships and wage supplements for early educators, NC Pre-K, Smart Start and more.  Learn how you can become involved and become a member of the Coalition.

Apply Now for Local Data Informed Strategic Planning Cohorts

The Hunt Institute, in partnership with the NC DHHS Division of Child Development and Early Education, is providing county-level early childhood leaders with the opportunity to learn how to use and interpret data to inform scalable and sustainable strategic plans. This work builds on the NC Early Childhood Action Plan, along with other local planning efforts, to provide local leaders with support to align state and local improvement efforts.  This Request for Applications is for cross-sector, county-level human services leadership teams to receive support in identifying sustainable and scalable strategies to support community-based data-informed strategic planning. There are several opportunities to share information and answer questions:

March 21, 2022 @ 2:00pm: Register 

March 24, 2022 @ 10:00am: Register

April 1, 2022 @ 12:00pm: Register

April 5, 2022 @ 10:00am: Register

Local team applications for Cohort 2 are due by Friday, April 8, 2022. Teams may apply here. Team selection will occur April 15^th and the first meeting is scheduled for April 27^th.  The application for Cohort 3 is scheduled to be released in mid-April with a due date of May 13, 2022. Meetings will begin in June.

What does the Build Back Better (BBB) Act mean for Child Care Providers?

Check out this great Dec. 2021 BBB resource from NAEYC!

• This federal funding will ensure that states increase compensation and invest in the supply and quality of child care.  
• Investments will support a child care system that includes family child care homes and child care centers.  
• Universal preschool will also include a mixed-delivery system, with a distribution among eligible providers, including Head Start, schools, and both center-based and family child care. 

Learn more about the Build Back Better Act and its impacts for the ECE field.

In addition, learn more specifics about Universal PreK in Build Back Better in this Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. CRS Report – UPK in BBB

Join the NC Worthy Wages Campaign for ECE!

“It is up to us to make sure policymakers recognize the value of the early childhood workforce and provide them with adequate pay and benefits.  We need you to join us in this fight!“- Michele Rivest, Senior Campaign Director, NC Early Education Coalition

ECE WORKFORCE INDEX:  NC’s Profile

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) released the 2020 Early Childhood Workforce Index, which provides a state-by-state look at policies and conditions affecting the early childhood workforce.  Access NC’s state profile here.

NAEYC Releases Brief for the ECE field navigating through COVID

Navigating Relief:  An Overview of the Help that May Be Available for Child Care Providers- Feb. 2021

2019 NC Child Care Workforce Study

The 2019 NC Child Care Workforce Study, led by Child Care Services Association (CCSA) with funding from the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE),was published in September 2020.  Data were collected from programs in all 100 counties across the state. Find out more about the ECE Workforce in NC as well as comparisons from similar studies in previous years.