Building a Foundation for the Future - Strategies for a Sustainable Childcare Solution in WNC
Photo by cottonbro studio
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Western North Carolina faces not only the physical and economic challenges of recovery, but also the pressing need for a renewed focus on the state’s already strained early childhood education infrastructure. Childcare teachers are the workforce behind the workforce, enabling families to return to work, businesses to reopen, and vital services to resume. As communities rebuild, it is essential that legislators prioritize policies that strengthen childcare resources to support families’ and businesses’ recovery in Western North Carolina and ensure statewide economic stability and growth.
To underscore the importance of those investments, the WNC Health Policy Initiative, in partnership with the WNC Early Childhood Coalition, has produced The Childcare Crunch: How NC’s Childcare Crisis is Putting Families and Businesses Between a Rock and a Hard Place, as part of an ongoing effort to highlight the impact this crisis is having on children, families, businesses, and our economy, and the work being done to address it.
In this feature piece, WNC HPI’s audio producer Andrew Rainey talks with Greg Borom (WNC Early Childhood Coalition), Susan Rotante (Parent Advocate), Samantha Cole (NC Department of Commerce) and Neil Harrington (NC Child) to explore the past, present and potential future of childcare in Western North Carolina.
The High (and Rising) Cost of NC’s Childcare Shortage
Early childhood education (ECE) plays a critical role in cognitive and emotional development, laying the foundation for lifelong learning and success. Yet, for many children, access to quality ECE programs has become increasingly limited due to facility closures, staffing shortages, and financial strain on local families.
“If you have a young child right now, especially an infant/toddler, you unfortunately claim the award for it just being the hardest,” says Greg Borom, Director of the WNC Early Childhood Coalition. “It’s the most expensive, it’s the hardest to find, it’s the most challenging I think that it's ever been.”
These challenges are causing parents to reduce their working hours or even drop out of the workforce altogether, impacting the opportunities available to their children and the financial stability of their families. And as more and more parents leave the workforce due to a lack of access to childcare, these losses further amplify existing workforce shortages, severely compromising our state’s economic well-being and the ability to maintain essential services such as healthcare, education, and critical retail and trades.
“Childcare access is not just an issue that impacts women, children, families, it’s a very serious workforce and economic development challenge,” says Child Care Business Liaison for the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Samantha Cole. “Not only from lost local and state tax revenues but also from the high cost of turnover and worker absences associated with lapses in care that working parents face. That sticker price is north of 5 billion dollars per year.”
Policy Pathways To A Sustainable Childcare Solution
The policy implications are clear: North Carolina must invest to restore and expand early childhood education infrastructure. These investments are not only crucial for individual children and families, but also for the state’s long-term economic growth and development.
To meet these needs, a multi-pronged approach to policy change is required:
1. Continued Stabilization Grants
As current funding will end in March 2025, consistent financial support to stabilize and sustain childcare providers is needed while longer term policy is developed.
2. Expanded Pathways for the Childcare Workforce
This includes funding to secure required credentials for early care and education providers, such as CPR, first aid, and background checks, thus boosting workforce growth and retention.
3. A Statewide Childcare Subsidy Floor
Providing the same rates to each of NC’s 100 counties will further stabilize the childcare marketplace, ensuring that families (particularly in under-reimbursed rural areas) have reliable and consistent access to affordable childcare, which in turn supports their ability to work, learn, and thrive.
4. Public-Private Partnerships
The Biltmore Company and Buncombe Partnership For Children is just one example of how local communities are blending resources, expertise, and innovation to strengthen and expand the childcare system, ultimately improving access, affordability, and quality for families across the state while waiting for stronger state funding.
Rebuilding WNC Stronger
As our region recovers and rebuilds from the effects of Tropical Storm Helene, we have an unparalleled opportunity to lay the foundations of a sustainable childcare system strong enough to support a stable, growth-poised workforce and a vibrant regional economy.
“The truth is, employer engagement and community engagement in solving this problem, has to be matched, if not exceeded by considerable public investment” says Samantha Cole.
State lawmakers are urged to prioritize these issues as part of broader disaster recovery plans, recognizing the long-term impact that early childhood education has on the state’s economic and social fabric. By investing in the future of North Carolina’s youngest residents and their working parents, the state can create a stronger, more resilient economy that will contribute to the recovery and growth of Western North Carolina.
Audio Available for Broadcast: To hear more about recommended policy initiatives to support early childhood education and the state economy, you can access the audio via the WNC HPI Podcast page, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. This audio is free to use for FM Radio Stations upon contacting a WNC Health Policy Initiative representative.
For more information about WNC Health Policy Initiative, or if you are interested in rebroadcasting the audio file, please contact:
Soni Pitts
Project Manager
WNC Health Policy Initiative
spitts@unca.edu
