On Friday, the Southwestern Child Development Commission announced it will close seven early education and preschool centers in far Western North Carolina.
“We no longer have adequate agency resources to supplement the state rate. New county market rates were implemented on October 1, 2023 and these rates offered only small support or improvement to the rural counties of Region A,” said a press release from the nonprofit.
The nonprofit operates nine child care centers from Buncombe County to the Western end of the state. It is the only regional childcare entity left in the state, according to its website.
Here are the seven centers that will close on October 31:
· Murphy Early Education and Preschool; Cherokee County
· Hickory Street Early Education and Preschool; Clay County
· Elf Early Education and Preschool; Clay County
· Clay County Early Education; Clay County
· Eagle Knob Early Education and Preschool; Graham County
· St Johns Early Education and Preschool; Haywood County
· Webster Early Education and Preschool; Jackson County
Ariel Ford, director of the NCDHHS Division of Child Development and Early Education said it is terrible news for the region.
“These closures are devastating to children, families and communities who rely on child care to nurture their children’s healthy development and learning, allow parents to work and support their families, and keep local businesses running. Across North Carolina, we’re seeing a growing crisis of a lack of child care access and increased financial pressures driven by the need for competitive wages and increasing supply costs,” Ford said in a statement.
Ford said the newly passed state budget did not include significant new funding for childcare.
Child care workers in North Carolina received a median hourly wage of $11.23 in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During state budget negotiations, advocates called for those wages to be supplemented by the legislature in order to increase wages and increase access to care as federal funding decreases, ED NC reported.
“Child care is extremely important in today’s economy. Funding levels do not support adequately our community providers for the amazing service they deliver daily to our young families. The cost of child care is high, very high and parents can’t pay higher child care fees. Staff wages are inadequate for the work that our child care teachers provide. Wages for child care staff must be stabilized and increased. Child care is the workforce behind the workforce and stable funding policies must be developed,” Southwestern Child Care Center statement states.
The organization says that it is working with the community to find placements for the children who will be impacted by these closures and new jobs for child care workers who were employed at the centers.
