Agenda - 06-29-1993 - VII-A - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 J North Carolina Partnership for Children ($600,000 in 1993-'94, $600,000 in 1994-'95) The Governor's initiative would establish a nonprofit public-private partnership to create a vision for the quality of life of children in North Carolina and to map out a comprehensive blueprint for improving early childhood education, health care, and other crucial services. The partnership would bring together North Carolina leaders—from business, government, education, churches, nonprofits, communities and children and family advocacy groups—outside the framework of government to develop a collaborative strategy to serve children and families. It would be a catalyst for bold change in communities through local, nonprofit public-private partnerships. The partnership would: • >- create a statewide vision for children. >- map out a comprehensive blueprint of services for children. >- develop benchmarks for specific, measurable performance. >- seek applications from interested counties to serve as demonstration partnerships. >- showcase existing programs that promote collaboration and quality of services. >- mobilize public support for change. >- recommend 12 initial partnerships from among the applications (one in each Congressional district) based bn recommendations from a panel of early childhood experts. An additional eight partnerships would be recommended beginning 1994-'95. The remaining 80 counties would be phased in over the next few years. A monitor and hold local partnerships accountable for quality services. >- report to the General Assembly in April 1994 and March 1995 on the progress of the initiative and recommend a process for future expansion statewide. J Local Partnerships for Children ($19.4 million in 1993-'94, $39.4 million in 1994-'95) Local partnerships would receive funds to develop comprehensive early childhood programs tailored to the individual needs and resources of their communities. The bulk of the money provided to local partnerships would go toward direct services to children and families: • funding child development services: developmentally appropriate child care services, parenting education programs, home visits to help families, start-up funding to meet building code and licensing standards, quality enhancement of existing services, technical assistance, technology-based and other innovative educational enrichment efforts. A raising the subsidy rate received by child care centers to a statewide "market rate" that more closely reflects actual cost of quality services. expanding eligibility for subsidies to reach more families. The income ceiling for eligibility would be raised from its current level of$18,000. Local efforts would be tied to quality and accountability. An evaluation system would be developed to assure quality and performance. Local commitment and involvement, both financially and strategically, would be required. Each county would bring public and private interests together to develop a plan for all children who need services, using both existing resources and new resources.