Each Child. Every Community.

The pandemic created unprecedented challenges for the early childhood sector. However, despite these challenges, federal relief funding for state and local governments and a renewed focus on the importance of child care and family supports, translates into historic opportunities.

Smart Start’s featured conference session, “The State of Early Childhood in North Carolina,” discussed the outlook for policy and funding improvements at both the state and federal levels. The session also focused on addressing equity through policy, holistic supports for children, and innovative strategies for the early childhood sector.  The panel included Ariel Ford, director of the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services; Celia Sims, senior education policy advisor atthe U.S Senate; and Dan Wuori, director of early learning at the Hunt Institute. The session was moderated by reporter Liz Bell from EducationNC.

In the session, Ford expressed her optimism for the sector, stating that she was “as hopeful as she has ever been today” for early childhood education.  Wuori emphasized that “now is the time to address… underlying weaknesses that the pandemic has made so clear to all of us.”

The panel discussed the renewed focus on child care as an economic and community necessity that emerged during the pandemic. Sims focused on the inherent strengths of the early childhood system, stating “the resiliency is there… what we need is the financial support to build on the greater flexibility moving forward.”

The panel highlighted support for the child care workforce as a critical policy intervention for maintaining and strengthening the system overall. “Investing in people is always a long-term strategy,” stressed Ford.  Ford  recommended strategies from the Leandro plan and key recommendations from the Comprehensive Remediation Plan to address the needs of the workforce and ensure the long-term stability of the child care system