Child Care WAGE$

AWARD$ Plus
Savion Thorne

A Goal to Thrive

Child Care Services Association (CCSA) is proud to offer two education-based salary supplement programs in North Carolina. The Child Care WAGE$® Program issued its first checks in 1994 in one county and as of 2023, is available in 63 counties across the state with funding from local Smart Start partnerships that choose to participate and the Division of Child Development and Early Education. Funding partnerships determine compensation amounts and some of the program’s eligibility requirements, and supplements are issued to qualifying educators working with children birth to 5. Infant-Toddler Educator AWARD$® started in 2018 and expanded eligibility in July 2023, rebranding as Infant-Toddler Educator AWARD$® Plus. Funded solely by the Division of Child Development and Early Education, the supplements are available in all 100 counties to qualifying educators working with children birth through age 2 at least 30 hours per week.

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CCSA
Logan Jackson

Incentivizing Education and Quality: I am WAGE$ with Stephanie Marshall

“WAGE$ makes me want to keep going with my coursework. I love what I do, but there is not a lot of money in it. WAGE$ is an incentive to do it, to keep going because there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. My supplement increases with more classes. Who doesn’t like getting more money for more education when that coursework also helps change your life? You have education and you have money. It is a win-win. I don’t want to lose my supplement. It’s a big incentive.”

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CCSA
Savion Thorne

“Where There is a Will, There is a Way”: I am WAGE$ with Carolina Jarquin

“WAGE$ makes me want to keep going with my coursework. I love what I do, but there is not a lot of money in it. WAGE$ is an incentive to do it, to keep going because there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. My supplement increases with more classes. Who doesn’t like getting more money for more education when that coursework also helps change your life? You have education and you have money. It is a win-win. I don’t want to lose my supplement. It’s a big incentive.”

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A young girl walks on a bridge
CCSA
Savion Thorne

Black History Month and Early Childhood Educators

In celebration of Black History Month, it is essential to lift up the important work every day of the early childhood workforce, a majority of which in North Carolina are individuals of color. In fact, in North Carolina, nearly three-quarters (73%) of family child care providers are individuals of color. And, to be fully transparent, about 99% of the early education workforce are women.

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A diverse group of a teacher and 3 toddlers read a book
CCSA
Savion Thorne

How can we improve early childhood education? Implement a permanent solution that uses public dollars to pay teachers more.

We’ve said it before. We need a way forward – a post-pandemic strategy to better compensate the child care workforce. This period of temporary increases in child care funding offers states an opportunity to provide a bridge for longer-term solutions. It is time to build the bridge between the pandemic-related supplemental federal funds for child care and the post-pandemic child care landscape upon which parents and employers will depend. Economic recovery and growth depend on it.

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A teacher and 2 children play with blocks
CCR&R
Savion Thorne

The Top Ten Blogs of 2021 Show What to Expect in 2022

Supports for child care, the early childhood workforce and early childhood homelessness were on the mind of our families, early childhood providers, advocates, politicians and communities in 2021.

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