Here Are Some Models of Recovery for Early Care and Learning After Hurricane Helene

This story was originally published by EdNC.org.

Unlike North Carolina’s K-12 schools or community colleges, child care programs aren’t consolidated under a public system. That makes it harder for early childhood programs to acquire funding and coordinate recovery from disasters such as Hurricane Helene, creating short- and long-term effects on children, families and communities.

The longer it takes for young learners to return to their early care and learning settings, the longer it takes for their families to resume regular working schedules. Young children thrive on that regularity, and their healthy development depends on trusted and caring relationships with caregivers and educators during this critical period.

Without a unified public system for early care and learning, local, state and national organizations — as well as individuals in communities across Western North Carolina — are providing resources and ways to address short-term needs and long-term recovery of the early childhood community.

Here are some of the models, strategies and resources supporting the recovery of young children, families and child care programs in Western North Carolina.

Reopening Without Water, Usual Requirements

The state has loosened child care licensing requirements for affected counties, both through relief legislation and Gov. Roy Cooper’s Oct. 9 executive order.

Programs that sustained damage or lack access to services are working with licensed child care consultants from the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) to create emergency plans to reopen without meeting usual requirements but still maintain safety for children.

In Buncombe County, programs have been navigating how to open without access to drinking water. In larger centers with large kitchens, boiling water has been an option. For smaller centers and home-based programs, providers are using bottled water for hand-washing and drinking.

And starting at the end of October, FEMA and the National Guard are delivering potable water to licensed programs in the county, said Jenny Vial, director of child care resources at Buncombe Partnership for Children.

About a third of programs in the county have reopened, Vial said. Another third were planning to open by the end of October. Programs are creating emergency plans that are reviewed by local environmental health staff. If a plan is approved, child care consultants have allowed programs to reopen, Vial said.

“We’re seeing lots of creative solutions,” Vial said.

Water has come in donations of pallets from community members and businesses. One center figured out how to connect large containers of water to their plumbing so they could use their sinks. Most have been dumping water bottles into dispensers.

She said resources for future emergencies, including plans to ensure child care can reopen after disasters, are needed so families can rebuild.

“Early childhood education is an essential part of infrastructure,” Vial said. “As much as we want to be considered educators, and we are educators, we are also a basic service.”

Reopening in School Buildings

Hurricane Helene destroyed Burke County’s two largest child care centers, displacing about 250 children from their learning environments and impeding parents from working. In the weeks after Helene, Burke County Public Schools was able to provide classroom space for about 170 of those students on the campuses of Salem Elementary and Oak Hill Elementary.

One reason Burke County Public Schools could help so quickly was the strength of the district’s relationship with Burke County Smart Start, a nonprofit that supports licensed child care programs and early childhood development.

Working with a DCDEE licensing consultant, Burke County Smart Start determined that the school setting didn’t meet the criteria for serving infants and toddlers, but could accommodate children 3 years and older under temporary licenses without some of the usual regulatory requirements. A local church plans to provide classroom space for displaced infants and toddlers.

The child care programs signed memorandums of understanding with the district for 90 days, during which the district will not charge for rent or utilities. The programs are buying food from the district for children to eat at the cafeteria through the federal Community Eligibility Provision program.

Emergency Child Care Sending Volunteers

The National Emergency Child Care Network is a corps of volunteers who are vetted and trained to respond to child care emergencies. The network is sending volunteers to Western North Carolina to respond to short-term child care needs for families.

“We want to be the 911 for child care,” said Silke Knebel, founder and CEO of the organization, who lives in Durham and is building the model in North Carolina for everyday emergencies before expanding it across the country.

The network is deploying volunteers to help with such short-term needs as a few hours of care for displaced families as they navigate paperwork, jobs or clean-up, or extra support for child care programs, schools and other organizations as they reopen without their usual staff.

State Assistance via Smart Start

The legislature allocated $10 million for child care recovery in its second Helene relief package released on Oct. 24. The funds are allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services to be disbursed through the local Smart Start partnerships for affected child care centers and family child care homes.

The committee report says the funds should be used “to provide assistance in reopening and maintaining operations, including, but not limited to, cleaning, repairs, and relocating.”

“We are deeply grateful for the $10 million from the NC General Assembly to the western Smart Start local partnerships to provide crucial support to the unsung heroes, our dedicated providers and teachers at child care centers and family child care homes affected by Hurricane Helene,” said Amy Cubbage, president of the North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC), in an emailed statement.

The bill directs NCPC, Smart Start’s statewide umbrella organization, to give the funding to the local partnerships in affected communities.

“This funding is critical to restore services and ensure that children and families can return to stable early care and education environments,” Cubbage said. “Together, with many others in the private and public sectors, we can rebuild and strengthen our communities.”

Gov. Roy Cooper’s relief package, released one day before the state’s bill, included $36 million for child care relief.

Smart Start partnerships throughout the region have coordinated to assess needs, distribute donations, and connect providers with funding and temporary locations.

The Iredell County Partnership for Young Children has received donations from across the state and is using its mobile resource van to deliver materials, equipment,and furniture to child care programs. The organization is coordinating with Wilkes Community Partnership for Children to assess needs and deliver supplies across the region. The Harnett County Partnership for Children is serving as the hub for donations in the eastern part of the state, and it delivers the donations to Iredell’s partnership.

Local Chamber Covering Tuition

At the beginning of October, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation allocated $125,000 to go toward tuition payments for licensed child care programs in Watauga County. The funds are being distributed to centers and family child care homes by the Children’s Council of Watauga County, the local Smart Start partner.

“Our foundation board felt this was a direct way to ensure stability in the critical early childhood industry, while also freeing up cash for families to cover other storm-related expenses,” said David Jackson, president and CEO of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce.

Disaster Relief Grants and Funds

Child care nonprofits, including Smart Start partnerships, are eligible to apply for grants from the Emergency and Disaster Response Fund (EDRF) being administered by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC).

These $25,000 grants are being awarded on a rolling basis and should be for “frontline human service needs,” according to the CFWNC website. That includes nonprofit early care and learning programs.

There is also specific funding support available to home-based providers. Home Grown, a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based child care, has seeded a fund with $150,000 to make direct payments of $800 to $1,500 to home-based educators who were operating or offering care as of mid-September. Eligible caregivers include:

• Licensed family child care homes.
• Licensed centers in residence.
• Family, friend and neighbor caregivers.
• Grandparents who provide regular child care.

Providers and caregivers can access support via an invitation and application link from a partnering child care network, including Smart Start of Transylvania County, El Telar, and the Family Childcare and Center Enrichment Foundation (which is is also conducting a needs assessment for home-based providers in Western North Carolina). For more information about the Home Grown fund, email: EmergencyFund@homegrownchildcare.org.

Save the Children Funding, Training on Child Care Recovery

Save the Children, a global humanitarian aid nonprofit, has specialized in early childhood disaster recovery since Hurricane Katrina. The organization is raising funds and providing support to families, child care providers and local early childhood organizations in the region.

“Our North Star is really to mitigate that learning loss,” said Militza Mezquita, senior adviser for education in emergencies at the organization. “Kids from Hurricane Katrina; they did a longitudinal study, and they just never recovered educationally.”

The nonprofit has disbursed $25,000 to Project Camp for emergency child care, $20,000 to Child Life Disaster Relief for psychosocial programming in shelters and $15,000 to Horizons at Carolina Day School.

Mezquita said the organization is assessing hundreds of programs across the region with varying needs. The organization provides a train-the-trainer program to early childhood leaders like licensing consultants to help child care programs through the recovery process, including how to determine relief funding eligibility and access funds.

Their priority is for-profit centers and home-based providers that are ineligible for FEMA assistance and often don’t have consistent funding streams.

“Ten to 15 percent of child care providers after a disaster will close forever, and then you’re talking about kids that don’t have seats, kids that are now without quality care, and it just creates a downward spiral, economically and educationally for these kids,” Mezquita said. “Our for-profit child care centers are the most vulnerable in a disaster because they don’t have as many resources as one would think, and so we really work with them to understand where to go.”

In addition, the organization provides trainings that support providers and early childhood leaders in psychosocial recovery, and how best to support the children they serve in the months and years ahead.

“What we do know is that we’re going to be there for the long term,” Mezquita said.