North Carolina

NC Child advances effective, data-driven policy solutions for a strong start in life, healthy children, safe and nurturing homes and communities, family economic security, and high-quality education. They provide research and data analysis, educate policy makers, engage the community, do media engagement and strategic communications, and coordinate the Child Advocacy Network.

State Allies:

Top Priorities for 2021

Ensure continued access to telehealth for Early Intervention services and early childhood mental health services.

Develop and finalize the North Carolina Social-Emotional Health Policy Agenda through the North Carolina Initiative for Young Children’s Social-Emotional Health.

Ensure young children’s health insurance coverage and provision of health services is continuous and uninterrupted during the relaunch of Medicaid Transformation in 2021.

Protect the early childhood system from state budget cuts during the recession caused by fallout from COVID-19. This includes Smart Start and related programs.

North Carolina’s 2020 Early Childhood Policy Landscape and Progress:

$24.41B STATE BUDGET
Estimated FY20 State General Fund Expenditures

UNALIGNED GOVERNMENT
House (R), Senate (R),
Governor (D)

43% LOW-INCOME
467,920 Young Children (0-8) are Below 200% FPL

Because of the pandemic, families in North Carolina are suffering at an unprecedented level. Demand on food banks is at an all-time high. Normal support systems like schools, child care, summer camps, church, and even grandparent care are off-limits for many families. Against this backdrop, the North Carolina General Assembly conducted the 2020 “short” legislative session, wrapping up most business on June 26. Together with child advocates from across the state, allies called on the state’s leaders to move swiftly to provide much-needed relief to families.

NC Child’s 2020 legislative agenda focused on five major areas to help kids come through the COVID-19 pandemic: Child care, health care, hunger and nutrition, technology infrastructure, and child welfare.

H1050 requires consideration of early childhood learning in improvement plans for low performing local school administrative units and that needs assessments for low performing local school administrative units include an analysis of early childhood learning (NCSL).
SB808: NC General Assembly directed $20M in child care relief to NC Department of Health and Human Services to strengthen online application process for public benefit programs.
Advocated successfully for new state regulations to ensure lead-free drinking water for over 230,000 children served in licensed child care facilities. As a result, NC Child and its partners won the Roy Award for Environmental Partnership from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2020.
Helped expand access to preventive oral health care in community-based settings (schools, child care centers).
Defeated HB918, which would have penalized parental substance use and separated families by mandating that reasonable efforts for family reunification not be required if a court determines that a child was exposed to illegal substances in utero. NC Child recognizes that permanency for young children in foster care is critically important to their development, and that investment in family preservation, mental health services, and treatment for substance use disorder are more effective means to achieve permanency than the poor bill that was defeated.

*Early childhood policy progress in a state is the result of numerous efforts — by those listed on this page and many others — who worked both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.

State Budget Data: National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), “Table 4: Fiscal 2020 State General Fund, Estimated (Millions); The Fiscal Survey of the States.” Spring, 2020

Low-Income Data (including disaggregation by race): National Center for Children in Poverty, “NCCP Analysis of ACS 1-year Estimates—Public Use Microdata Sample, 2019.”

State Action Data: Provided by state advocates, October-November 2020, with analysis and synthesis by Frontera Strategy for Alliance for Early Success, “Protecting Progress and Investing in Scale: The 2020 50-State Progress Report on Early Childhood Education Policy.”

Additional State Actions: Mincic, Melissa, Early Care and Education, State Budget Actions, Fiscal Year 2020. National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), October 2020.

The Alliance for Early Success is achieving large-scale, long-lasting change for the state’s young children by providing our allies with powerful advantages that help them shape North Carolina early childhood policy.

Strategic, Outcomes-Focused Investments
Consulting and Strategy
Direct Access to National Expertise
Rapid Response Support
Connections/Access to Allies in Similar States
Roles in National Communities of Practice