Perspective
Prenatal and early childhood years are the foundation for the rest of our lives, with ripple effects on education, employment, and most importantly health – both physical and mental. Children’s brains undergo rapid development during these early years and are shaped by their experiences, negative and positive, within their homes and communities. High quality early education settings play an important role in promoting social, emotional, and cognitive development and are also a key source of connections for additional developmental resources and early intervention referrals for children and their families. Young children who experience positive, consistent, and enriching interactions with their caregivers are more likely to develop the cognitive, emotional and behavioral skills that build the foundation for future success wellbeing, and mental health.
Despite the significant benefit of these programs, North Carolina’s early care and education system is experiencing a number of challenges to meeting the needs of those who rely upon it. A lack of access, barriers to home-based care, low wages for the sector’s workforce, and exclusionary discipline practices – among other factors – are making it more difficult for parents and caregivers to find accessible, affordable, and high-quality care. Focusing in on these challenges will benefit not only children and families, but also the state’s employers and others who also depend on a robust early care and education system.
Approach
At this time, our work is focused on supporting efforts to transform the early care and education system in North Carolina so that it meets the needs of all children (0-5) and their families. Recognizing the critical role of early childhood education as a protective factor, this work supports our goal to advance early intervention, prevention, and resiliency within our Youth Mental Health, Connectedness, and Resilience focus area. Our Early Childhood work includes:
- Identifying and supporting work to strengthen the early care and education workforce particularly as it relates to home-based care.
- Supporting the development of a broad coalition working toward an early childhood system that benefits all.
- Identifying and supporting work to address preschool suspension, expulsion, and other exclusionary practices.
Examples of our Work in this Area
- We invested in nine local home-based child care networks across North Carolina to create an infrastructure of support for settings where the majority of North Carolina children receive care. These networks are also working to address the many policy and practice barriers that home-based providers encounter. Some of these barriers are highlighted in a series of briefs we supported through the Center for Child and Family Policy.
- We are supporting the Care and Learning (CandL) Coalition, a grassroots and grasstops collaboration whose goal is to put quality, affordable childcare within reach for all North Carolina’s families. This Coalition is centering the voices of parents and child care providers through community engagement in the development and implementation of its policy campaign.
- We have several collaborations and grants aimed at better understanding and building solutions regarding early care and education suspensions and expulsion practices.
