Post Author
Michelle Hughes
Executive Director
NC Child is pivoting to focus on the immediate needs of children and families during this public health crisis. We are specifically focusing on how we can meet those needs through sound public policy actions. While the situation is changing rapidly, our commitment to ensuring every child is healthy, safe, educated and living in a financially secure family and community stands firm.
Our Promise to North Carolina’s Children
As we assess children’s needs across multiple policy areas: health care, financial security, early education, foster care, immigrant health, and juvenile justice, we will continue to analyze and share updates about actions that federal and state governments have already taken in response to COVID-19, and to determine gaps where action is still needed.
We will share that information and ask for your input in our biweekly email updates, weekly policy update webinars, and across our social media channels.
NC Child’s COVID-19 Updates & Resources for Child Advocates
We Need Voices for Children
Our elected officials and community leaders must act right now to prevent the loss of life, to protect children, and to provide emergency support to working families who are caught in the middle of global pandemic and a rapidly cascading economic fallout. NC Child and colleagues are advocating with state and federal officials around several important areas:
- Coverage for the Uninsured: One in ten adults in North Carolina is facing this pandemic with no health insurance – many of them while working on the front lines in child care centers and food service. Together with business and health leaders, we are pushing state officials to bring in billions in desperately needed federal Medicaid expansion dollars to bolster our health systems and provide coverage for North Carolina’s families.
- Emergency relief to enable essential child care centers to operate safely, and to ensure that the child care sector will be there for parents and children when we can finally return to work; and
- Bold, compassionate budget and policy decisions that allow our state agencies maximum flexibility to meet human needs, from fighting hunger to supporting kids in foster placements.
We Work Best When We Work Together
You are the reason why NC Child can be a powerful advocate for children and families. We rely on you – our local networks of advocates and service providers, philanthropic partners, and elected officials to keep us connected to the issues as they play out in your local communities.
We are so grateful for you. We are walking right beside you in the weeks and months ahead to do right by our kids and families. Never hesitate to reach out to our staff in the days ahead if you need help or support. We are in this together.
Take Action Today
Together, we can take direct actions for North Carolina kids. Click below to see a list of our current actions, including calls for legislators to provide coverage for uninsured families and invest in early education programs so parents can get back to work.
Resources for Child Advocates
We’re updating our COVID-19 Response and Resources page for child advocates at least once per week. Click below to watch our latest weekly legislative update and access the latest resources from state leaders and our partners across the state.