Governor Stein Announces Task Force for Child Care and Early Education
Photo credit: Oleg Gapeenko
In exciting news for families, employers and businesses across the state, on March 10th Governor Josh Stein visited Durham, NC’s Kate’s Korner child care center “to announce a new Task Force for Child Care and Early Education and highlight the need to invest in North Carolina families.”
Via the Office of Gov. Josh Stein:
“When we invest in child care, everyone benefits. Parents get to keep working and keep building their careers. Small businesses can keep their productive workers. And most importantly, our kids get a nurturing and supportive environment where they can thrive during their formative years, one that will shape their entire educational trajectory,” said Governor Josh Stein. “I am excited to launch this task force so that we can get to work together to make child care work for our kids, our employees, and our small businesses.”
Governor Stein issued an executive order formally establishing the Task Force for Child Care and Early Education to identify strengths and gaps in the current system, recommend key public and private investment in child care infrastructure, and work to recruit and retain a strong child care workforce. The task force will submit reports and recommendations to the Governor and the public.
The WNC Health Policy Initiative and its partners look forward to seeing the task force’s recommendations, and to building a stronger, more resilient and more sustainable child care system for all of North Carolina.
Read the Governor’s Executive Order here
Learn More
To learn more about how the childcare crisis is impacting the Western North Carolina and the state, check out these resources:
WNC HPI Legislative Summit on Childcare Event Resources
2025 WNC Legislative Summit: Building a Foundation for the Future - Strategies for a Sustainable Childcare Solution in WNC: Event resource page featuring regional advocate and partner information, reports and studies, articles and other information about the current state of child care and early childhood education in WNC and the state and recommendations for how we can move forward to create a child care system that works for all North Carolinians.
WNC HPI Blogs and Podcasts
Building a Foundation for the Future - Strategies for a Sustainable Childcare Solution in WNC, which lays out areas of policy change that could help address this issue.
The Childcare Crunch: How NC’s Childcare Crisis is Putting Families and Businesses Between a Rock and a Hard Place - WNC Health Policy Podcast Ep. 9, produced in conjunction with the Western North Carolina Early Childhood Coalition, and featuring interviews with Greg Borom (WNC Early Childhood Coalition), Susan Rotante (Parent Advocate), Samantha Cole (NC Department of Commerce) and Neil Harrington (NC Child).
