Governor Cooper Celebrates Week of the Young Child and Highlights Child Care Stabilization Grants in Mecklenburg County | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    RALEIGH: Today, Governor Roy Cooper visited and toured Nana's Place Learning Center in Charlotte to celebrate Week of the Young Child and highlight the North Carolina Child Care Stabilization Grants. The Governor also spent time reading to a Pre-K class at Nana's Place.

    "During the Week of the Young Child, we celebrate our early childhood educators who teach, nurture and support our children," said Governor Cooper. "Child care and early learning programs lay the foundation for future success, and it's great to see how these grants not only help care for our children but help their parents get and keep jobs."

    "Nana's Place is extremely excited to have Governor Cooper visit our early education site during the Week of the Young Child. This week holds great value for our community as we celebrate young children, early educators, families and communities," said Karen Smith-Jones, Executive Director of Nana's Place Learning Center. "We are grateful to Governor Cooper for his support in ensuring our programs received stabilization grants and regulatory support we needed during this pandemic. The pandemic created extreme hardship for much of the early education community. We are ecstatic that our important work is now recognized as a valuable community asset for families and children and the support we have long needed is available. His commitment to ensuring our programs are successful and sustainable is to be commended."

    "The Week of the Young Child is every week for North Carolina's early care and learning teachers," said Dr. Kristi Snuggs, Deputy Director of the NCDHHS Division of Child Development and Early Education. "Supporting the early childhood teachers who help families ensure that children are prepared for success in school and life is a top priority of the department. That's why the Child Care Stabilization Grants are so important - to keep early care and learning teachers in the profession and keep child care accessible for families."

    In October 2021, Governor Cooper announced the launch of the North Carolina Child Care Stabilization Grants, a historic, federal $805 million investment in the state's early care and learning programs. Since the launch of the program, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has distributed over $340 million to more than 4,000 child care centers across the state. The application for stabilization grants is open and conducted on a rolling basis.

    90% of eligible child care programs have applied for and received Stabilization Grants. Of those programs that have received Stabilization Grants, 92% of the programs have used the funding as compensation support for their workforce. Grants have been distributed in 99 counties.

    The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration to highlight the needs of young children and their families and recognize early childhood programs and services. Governor Cooper has proclaimed April 2022 as Month of the Young Child and April 2-8, 2022 as Week of the Young Child.

    Nana's Place Learning Center serves children ages 3 to 12 years old in the Charlotte area. They offer academics, quality care, field trips, enrichment opportunities, introductory Spanish, STEM lessons and sign language.

    To learn more and apply for North Carolina Child Care Stabilization Grants, visit ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov.

• Contact: Ford Porter
•     govpress@nc.gov