Education and advocacy initiatives for maximizing early child development (vouchers, NC Pre-K, Early Head Start, Head Start)

Education and advocacy initiatives impact early child development in many ways. Most commonly, efforts lead to policy changes and new legislation to encourage and support early child care and preschool programs throughout North Carolina. Some of the most effective programs that are supported by these initiatives are described below.

Subsidized Child Care and Child Care Vouchers

Using a combination of state and federal funds, North Carolina's Division of Child Development provides subsidized child care vouchers to income-eligible families. Each county is allocated a specific amount of funds for this purpose as determined by legislation. In Buncombe County, Smart Start works to reduce and/or eliminate the subsidized child care wait list for children 0-5 years of age by providing some of this funding to qualified families. The Department of Social Services determines eligibility based on both situational and financial criteria focused on providing care for children in low-income families, receiving child protective or welfare services, and/or experiencing special developmental needs. Families that are issued a voucher are free to choose a child care provider that best meets their needs, as long as the provider chosen participates in the Subsidized Child Care Program. For more information on child care vouchers, please visit the DCDEE website.

Head Start and Early Head Start

Head Start is a federally-funded preschool program initiated by Former President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Local sites adapt the federal Head Start model to their community’s needs to promote school readiness and overall well-being. Designed to meet emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs of young children and their families, Head Start and Early Head Start programs support children from low-income families, from birth to age 5, in child care centers and partner locations. Services include early learning, health, and family well-being. To find Head Start locations in Buncombe County, please click here. For more information on Head Start and Early Head Start, please visit the DCDEE Head Start, Buncombe County Schools, or Community Action Opportunities.

North Carolina Prekindergarten

The North Carolina Prekindergarten Program (NC Pre-K) strives to enhance kindergarten readiness and overall well-being and academic success by providing high-quality early education for four year-olds from income-eligible families. Using classrooms in public schools, private child care sites, or Head Start locations, children enrolled in NC Pre-K attend full school days (6-1/2 hours) throughout a full school year (up to 10 months). To enroll, children must be four years old by August 31 with plans to enter kindergarten the following school year. The program targets children who are exposed to factors that influence poor school outcomes, including but not limited to: low family income, children with an identified disability, limited English proficiency, a chronic health condition, developmental or educational need. Family income eligibility is based on 75% of the state median income or below.

During the 2014-2015 school year, Buncombe County NC Pre-K sites are:

• Asheville City Schools Preschool
• Childcare Network #178/South
• Community Action Opportunities/Head Start
• Eliada Child Development
• Irene Wortham Center ELC- West
• Vener Center for Early Learning

For more information on NC Pre-K, please visit the Smart Start NC Pre-K page.

The First 2,000 Days Campaign

The First 2,000 Days is an initiative started by the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation to raise awareness about how children’s earliest years have a lasting impact on later learning, health and success. There are only 2,000 days between the time a baby is born and when that child shows up in for the first day of kindergarten. In that time, the brain will be developing more rapidly than at any other point in life. Children need good health, strong families and high quality early learning and school experiences to be kindergarten-ready; graduate from high school; and grow into productive citizens and valuable employees. The First 2,000 Days calls attention to how these issues impact our national security, safety and economic well-being. Using funds provided in a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Smart Start of Buncombe County has trained 21 local leaders from the business, law enforcement, nonprofit, citizen and faith communities to be First 2,000 Days Champions for Children. These individuals carry the message of the importance of early childhood development in many ways, including, but not limited to: public speaking at local organizations such as the Asheville Chamber, Kiwanis/Rotary Club meetings, or at business “Lunch and Learns;” writing letters to the editors of local papers; meeting with local legislators; and promoting the importance of the First 2,000 Days in their professional and personal networks.

Currently, there are 21 Buncombe County First 2000 Days Champions for Children:

• Leslie Anderson, Leslie Anderson Consulting, Inc.
• Chief William Anderson, Asheville City Police Department
• Melissa Baker, Health Improvement, Mountain Area Health Education Center
• Kit Cramer, Asheville Chamber of Commerce
• Susanne DeFerie, Asheville Savings Bank
• Sheriff Jack Van Duncan, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office
• Alice Elio, Buncombe County Dept. of Health
• Tyrone Greenlee, Christians for United Communities
• Gibbie Harris, Buncombe County Dept. of Health
• Lori Hilliard, Buncombe County Schools
• Holly Jones, Buncombe County Commissioner
• Julie Klipp Nicholson, Pisgah Legal Services
• Sheila Meadows, Mission Hospital
• Dr. Susan Mims, Mission Children’s Hospital
• Paul Perrotta, Asheville City Schools
• Guy Sales, First Baptist Church
• Missy Sherburne, DonorsChoose.org
• Christina Simpson, Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.
• Suzanne Swanger, Buncombe County Schools
• Terry Van Duyn, Community Activist
• Mike Weizman, MD, Our Family Doctor

WNC Early Childhood Coalition

With the awarding of this grant to the Western North Carolina (WNC) Child Care Subsidy Consortium, effective, July 1, 2013, the WNC Early Childhood Coalition was formed to improve and expand child care subsidy services in WNC, beginning in Buncombe, Henderson, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain, Haywood and Jackson Counties. This group had origins from the Buncombe County Cares for Child Care Committee and expanded to partners in Henderson County and Region A when policies from the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) adversely impacted these nine counties in WNC. In North Carolina, DCDEE is responsible for implementation of the County Market Rate Formula and the Subsidy Allocation Formula. Both of these powerful formulas determine the success and equity of NC's Subsidized Child Care Program. The work of the Coalition will be focused on revisions to both of these important pieces of public policy.

The WNC Early Childhood Coalition immediately began to partner and to work collaboratively with NC DCDEE for policies that would both expand and improve subsidized child care services in WNC. Coalition membership has been a valuable resources for the Buncombe County subsidy roundtable. Several of members participate on a regular basis.

ABCCM, Asheville City Preschool (Early Head Start), Children First-Communities in Schools, Community Action Opportunities (Head Start), Family Support Network (Parent Advocacy group), Mountain Area Child and Family Center, Pisgah Legal Services, Public Health Advisory Council, Smart Start (Champions for Children, First 2000 Days Campaign and NC Pre-K), Southwestern Child Development Commission, YWCA

In July 2013, advocates from the Coalition worked in a bi-partisan manner with the local delegation from Western North Carolina and were successful in having a special provision bill for the State Budget pass in the North Carolina House. The amendment would have brought fair and equitable policies in the distribution of subsidized child care funds to western North Carolina as well as to North Carolina as a whole. This special provision was lost during conference committees between the House and Senate due to language in the bill that determined census rules which was not acceptable to the full conference committee. However, it is important to note that the Coalition built relationships with other organizations and legislators to support this effort. The amendment passed the House with bipartisan support 97 to 1. We will build on this support for the upcoming short session.

The Coalition worked with the NC DCDEE to be a part of the Subsidized Child Care Advisory Committee in Raleigh. Two members of the Coalition, Jacque Penick and Sheila Hoyle, are appointed as voting members of the committee. This partnership was also utilized to increase participation in this state-wide group by making it a routine practice that each of the meetings offered telephone connections so that more people who work with child care subsidy issues can have access to the policy development of this program.

On October 28, 2013, the Coalition invited Rob Kindsvatter, Director of NC DCDEE to Asheville to meet with our group to continue work on both the allocations formula and the county market rate formula. The Coalition obtained two commitments from Mr. Kindsvatter – (1) that the NC DCDEE would continue to pursue the changes in the allocations formula and (2) that the NC DCDEE would commit to re-establishment of the sub-committee from the Subsidy Advisory Committee to study revisions of the County Market Rate Formula. Again, the Coalition has two members on this sub-committee.

This work has been initiated by members of the Coalition who joined forces with the NC Child Care Coalition to continue working on the changes for the allocations formula that the Coalition had worked on previously. The Coalition takes great pride in initiating changes on the allocations formula state-wide. Local advocacy outreach is already happening to obtain sponsor support for amendments for the allocation formula in WNC with our legislative delegation, specifically Representatives Susan Fisher and Chuck McGrady, .

The following example from Henderson County, led by one of our Coalition members, shows the power of parent advocacy in response to information about about subsidy. In response to the government shutdown in October 2013 and its impact on Child Care Subsidy to families in Henderson County, NC, the Department of Social Services (DSS) Child Care Subsidy Program and Smart Start of Henderson County (both subsidy administrators) hosted a meeting at the Children & Family Resource Center on October 15, 2013. The meeting consisted of concerned child care center directors, family child care home providers, and some community organizations like the United Way of Henderson County, who had been informed by the DSS Child Care Subsidy program that subsidy funds for their families would end that Friday. This action would have devastating impact on these small businesses who were providing child care. Without the support of the child care subsidy, over 500 local children would lose safe places to stay during the day while their parents worked. On October 16, 2013, ten (10) local child care providers spoke at the County Commissioner's meeting asking them to intervene on behalf of the local children who would lose this support. Both child care providers and parents were in direct contact with Congressman Mark Meadow's office over this issue as well.

For more information on early childhood programs, please visit:

• The First 2,000 Days: North Carolina
• The First 2,000 Days: Buncombe County
• WNC Early Childhood Coalition
• Subsidized Child Care and Child Care Vouchers
• Head Start: North Carolina
• Head Start: Buncombe County
• North Carolina Prekindergarten: North Carolina
• North Carolina Prekindergarten: Buncombe County

For more information on evidence supporting early childhood initiatives, please reference:

1. Schweinhart, L. J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z., Barnett, W. S., Belfield, C. R., & Nores, M. (2005). Lifetime effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool study through age 40. (Monographs of the HighScope Educational Research Foundation, 14). Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Press. Retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/.
2. Campbell, Frances A., Craig T. Ramey, Elizabeth Pungello, Joseph Sparling, and Shari Miller-Johnson. (2002). Early Childhood Education: Young Adult Outcomes from the Abecedarian Project. Applied Developmental Science. 6(1): 42-57. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S153248....
3. Harvard University. (2015). Center on the Developing Child. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/.
4. Heckman J, Pinto R, and Savelyev P. (2013). Understanding the Mechanisms Through Which an Influential Early Childhood Program Boosted Adult Outcomes. American Economic Review. 103(6): 2052–2086. Retrieved from http://heckmanequation.org/sites/default/files/F_P...

Two longitudinal studies have shown the long-range impact early childhood education can have on the lives of children. The HighScope Perry Preschool Study examined the lives of 123 children born in poverty and at high risk of failing in school. The findings of this study showed that participants who received a high-quality preschool program had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool (1). Children from low-income families in the intervention group in the Abecedarian project received full-time, high quality educational intervention in a childcare setting from infancy through age five. The study showed that children who participated in early education scored higher on cognitive tests through age 21, had higher academic achievement in reading and math through young adulthood, completed more years of education, and were more likely to attend a four-year college (2).

The Harvard Center for the Developing Child found that work-based income supplements for parents can increase the achievement of some young children from poverty situations. Positive experiences for children before school will lead to better outcomes than remediation programs as they get older. Although it requires a significant investment, it will be more cost-effective and show a greater return (3). The research of James J. Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economics and expert in the economics of human development, estimates that every dollar invested in early education produces a 7- 10% return on investment through increased personal achievement and social productivity (4).