Cabarrus Partnership for Children Addresses High Quality Child Care
Child care providers and teachers work daily to ensure children have the support they need to thrive. However, as the state continues to battle the pandemic, early child care providers are still struggling, experiencing financial challenges and difficulty with staffing.
For many child care providers, the pandemic only compounded the struggle to find and retain high-quality teachers. The Smart Start network remains focused on supporting child care professionals and ensuring that high quality child care is available for North Carolina families. One Smart Start local partnership noticed the need for an increased focus on teacher education in their community—and created a solution.
The Cabarrus Partnership for Children created the Early Education Teacher Liaisons and Early Education Business Administrator Liaisons programs to address the needs of child care and strengthen the workforce within Cabarrus County.
In partnership with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC), the programs address teacher education and business administration education for educators in child care facilities. The liaisons serve as a bridge between the college and local child care centers, offering academic support such as referrals for tutoring and scholarships for further education. Additionally, they place an emphasis on early education recruitment and business knowledge.
One liaison, Nicole Sessoms, described her experience working with educators as heartwarming, especially as teachers learn more about the importance of their field, gain increased education, and work hard to reach their goals.
In addition to child care teachers, the partnership also recognized the need to focus on child care directors. Since creating the Early Education Business Administrator Liaison program, nine child care directors have graduated from the college’s Business Administration Education Program, enhancing their knowledge of business practices. This business knowledge is critical now more than ever, as child care centers continue to recover from the pandemic.
Currently, because of Cabarrus Partnership for Children and the work of the liaisons, nearly 600 students are enrolled in early childhood classes at RCCC. Of those enrolled, 150 early childhood staff members from Cabarrus child care centers are enrolled in Early Education Liaison Programs and over half of the 56 child care centers in Cabarrus County have staff enrolled In the Liaison program for continuing education. Liaisons have helped over 3,400 teachers create professional development plans and assisted students in receiving scholarships for further education.
Amy Cubbage, president of The North Carolina Partnership for Children, recognizes the importance of these programs. “The work being done by the Cabarrus Partnership for Children is so critical for the early care and education workforce as well as Cabarrus County. At a time when both child care professionals and families are facing a number of pressures, the partnership is providing much needed supports to early childhood educators and helping to ensure that high quality child care is available for families,” Cubbage said.
Educators interested in learning more about Cabarrus’ liaison programs can connect with the Cabarrus Partnership for Children.
