About the North Carolina Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) System

CCRI, a private non-profit, 501(c)(3) child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agency founded in 1982, was established as a result of a community planning process initiated and commissioned by the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners to improve and expand the county’s child care services.

The agency was the county’s first partnership to privatize government services (it now administers child care subsidy funds), was among the first CCR&Rs in the state and has provided high quality CCR&R services to Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Union Counties’ children, families, early care and education and school-age child care programs since its founding.

CCRI works with families, early care and education and school-age child care professionals/programs, and communities to ensure that all children have access to high quality, affordable early learning and school-age opportunities and experiences which enable them to succeed in school and in life. CCRI was the first nationally certified CCR&R agency and first IACET approved CCR&R agency in NC and currently serves as lead agency for Region 6 (Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Union, Rowan and Stanly Counties) with Child Care Development Funds received from NCDCDEE.  Governed by a 25-member Board of Directors, the organization has a long record of sound fiscal management practices, evidenced by annual audit reports. CCRI is based in Charlotte.

Early Years is a private, nonprofit corporation dedicated to leading efforts to strengthen accessible and affordable quality early care and education by providing supports for families, communities, and the workforce. Established in 1974, the agency has extensive experience administering national, statewide and county level outcome-driven programs addressing critical issues facing children, parents and child care providers. Early Years receives funding from a variety of sources including both public and private dollars.

Much of Early Years’s work has evolved from research done by the agency. Quality child care is linked to the education and stability of the workforce. In response to research about the early childhood workforce, Early Years created the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Program, Child Care WAGE$® Program and Infant-Toddler Educator AWARD$®. These statewide programs have improved the workforce by increasing education and compensation and reducing turnover and have been replicated across the country. Currently, T.E.A.C.H. is licensed in more than 20 additional states and WAGE$ licensed in other states as well. From its inception, Early Years has provided scholarships to low-income families and professional development and technical assistance services to child care programs. Early Years has provided resource and referral services since July 1996, has been nationally certified and is an IACET approved deliverer of Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Early Years began by providing CCR&R services for Orange County only, later expanding into Durham and Wake counties. Early Years serves as the lead agency for Wake, Durham, Orange, Alamance, Caswell, Franklin, Granville, Person and Vance counties.

Currently, CCR&R services provided by Early Years include referrals, scholarships, technical assistance, professional development, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and a child care meal service program. Early Years is based in Chapel Hill and Durham.

SWCDC is a private, nonprofit agency located in Webster, NC. Established in 1972, SWCDC’s goal is to provide comprehensive high-quality child development services for young children and their families. SWCDC meets this goal locally by the provision of direct care and child development services and regionally/statewide by participation in and contribution to initiatives that provide system changes for early childhood education.

SWCDC has been a State-Level Contractor with NCDCDEE since 1972. Over the years, SWCDC has contracted for a variety of tasks, the largest of these including regional subsidy administration and resource and referral. In this contractual role, SWCDC routinely submits a year-end audited financial statement to NCDCDEE.

SWCDC is governed by a 21-member Board of Directors that is appointed (three from each of the seven counties in the region) by the local Boards of County Commissioners. A management team of six staff hold advanced degrees in early childhood, public policy and other fields related to their individual work and serve locally, regionally, and statewide on a variety of committees and advisory boards that develop public policy to improve the early childhood education field.

SWCDC was among the first CCR&Rs in the state and provides high quality CCR&R services to parents, early childhood providers, school-age care providers, and community partners in their catchment area. SWCDC serves as the lead agency for Region 8 (Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Polk, Rutherford, Swain and Transylvania Counties) and is an IACET approved provider of CEUs. In addition to direct services and CCR&R, services to the community offered by SWCDC include the provision of child care subsidy funds in 9 counties, the administration of the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the provision of direct early intervention services to preschool children and the operation of a Family Resource Center in Jackson County.