A call for bold, compassionate leadership 

This unprecedented time of hardship in North Carolina calls each of us to speak up for the children and families we serve.   

Today NC Child and 75 child advocacy partner organizations across North Carolina submitted this letter to the NC House Select Committee on COVID-19. We are urging our state’s elected leaders to act swiftly to enact policies that will ensure the well-being of our state’s children and their families, and help us all to recover as quickly as possible once the crisis is over.  

This call to action includes the following requests to the NC General Assembly:  

1. Enact a $125 million Child Care Emergency Economic Support Package, put forth by the NC Early Education Coalition, to assure the availability of emergency child care and prevent the collapse of North Carolina’s early education system.
2. Ensure that children and families  are not hungry by appropriating emergency funding, and waiving restrictions for food relief programs during this public health crisis.
3. Enhance North Carolina’s technology infrastructure to enroll and provide relief services virtually and efficiently.
4. Protect the safety of children and youth involved in the foster care system.
5. Take steps to ensure that the 110,000 NC children on NC Health Choice get uninterrupted health coverage during this crisis.
6. Finally and critically, we call on the NC General Assembly to immediately do everything in its power to cover North Carolina’s uninsured, including accepting the federal funds to expand the NC Medicaid program.

Read the full text of the letter and view the 76 signatories here. 

COVID-19 is unlike any health crisis our state and country has experienced before. Over a million people in North Carolina are facing a pandemic with no health insurance whatsoever. The financial impacts may be devastating for families, and for our hospitals and health systems.  

We encourage each of you to reach out to your legislators to let them know how important their leadership is in this moment. While our state has certainly experienced challenging times before, we have never been asked to rise to a challenge of this magnitude. We are in a time of unprecedented danger, to our health and our economy. We ask that legislative actions be proportional to the dire challenge before us.  

In the months ahead, we look to North Carolina’s legislators, Republicans and Democrats, to demonstrate in every legislative action and every budget decision the kind of leadership that our kids and families so desperately need. This is not business as usual in NC. We need leadership that is collaborative, visionary, courageous, and compassionate. Please join us in calling on our legislators to provide that kind of leadership in the months ahead, because our kids and families are depending on it.  

You can use this portal to submit your own comments to the NC House Select Committee on COVID-19. 

Finally, our COVID-19 Resource and Updates page for child advocates is updated frequently to keep you connected.  

We are so grateful for you. We will be 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 if you need help or support. We are in this together. 

Support NC Child’s COVID-19 response work with a secure donation.