Identifying and implementing a long-term plan to create a sustainable, well-funded child care system in North Carolina is critical to avoiding the severe negative impacts that losing this critical infrastructure would create, and is a priority focus area for the WNC Health Policy Initiative.

The WNC Early Childhood Coalition, a key partner in the WNC HPI’s Early Childhood Education workgroup, has launched their Yes On Child Care campaign to boost awareness of these issues and to provide opportunities for engagement and advocacy.

A lack of reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food can have significant impacts on health and wellbeing. And this is especially true when it comes to children who need a steady intake of nutritious food to grow healthy bodies and develop healthy minds.

In North Carolina, however, one in six children are food insecure, and over 1.6 million North Carolinians live in a food desert - areas where healthy foods are not accessible. And since 2012, the number of food deserts in NC has only increased.

In this installment of the HPI Podcast, we speak with Marianne Weant and Alecia Sanders of the NCAH about food insecurity, the School Meals for All Campaign, and what we learned from implementing a similar program in NC during COVID, along with the political challenges and both state and local considerations for a more permanent implementation of this program.