Future-Ready North Carolina
Lieutenant Governor Hunt will focus on tackling the child care and early childhood education crisis in North Carolina and champion strong investments in community colleges to bolster workforce development. These priorities will support the Lieutenant Governor’s vision of making North Carolina a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Together, these priorities make up Lieutenant Governor Hunt's Future-Ready North Carolina plan.
“North Carolina’s future is bright but we have to make sure our people are trained and capable to take on the innovative and exciting new jobs coming to our state,” said Lieutenant Governor Hunt. “This plan will help us tackle the child care crisis and champion our strong community colleges to build a Future-Ready North Carolina.”
Access to a skilled workforce is North Carolina’s number one resource when it comes to recruiting good-paying jobs to our state. We need to ensure North Carolina continues to be a leader in developing and attracting a skilled workforce – to set us up for success, Lieutenant Governor Hunt is championing strong investments in child care, early childhood education and workforce development, including:
- Two major proposals to address child care shortages;
- Expanded career planning and placement programs to ease the transition from school to career;
- Championing North Carolina’s strong community colleges and promote PropelNC funding to support workforce-focused initiatives at our community colleges
In order to make sure our state continues to be a leader in developing and attracting a skilled workforce, the Future-Ready North Carolina plan will make child care more affordable and accessible, expand career and technical education programs and bolster our workforce.
Click each tab below to learn more about the Future-Ready North Carolina plan.
Policy Priorities
While we have strong public education and job training programs, maintaining our skilled workforce means addressing the needs of skilled workers to keep them here after graduation – including making sure they have access to affordable and high-quality child care. According to the North Carolina Chamber, the economic disruption due to insufficient child care availability is already having a $5.65 billion impact in lost economic activity every year. [1]
Making Child Care Affordable: Renew and Expand the NC Tri-Share Program
The NC Tri-Share program was launched in 2024 as a two-year pilot program based in three regions with $900,000 in funding. In each region, parents making between 185% and 300% of the federal poverty level who work at a participating business can split the cost of care evenly between themselves, their employer, and the state government.[2] While the Tri-Share program is still in its early stages, anecdotal results show approval of the program from families, businesses, and providers.[3]
Currently, the pilot program is set to expire at the end of 2026 unless additional funding is allocated. With groups like the NC Chamber of Commerce advocating for reforms like this, there is an opportunity for true bipartisan reform that can impact the lives of thousands of families across the state. Lieutenant Governor Hunt will lead a coalition of business leaders, families and policymakers to make child care more affordable by renewing and expanding the NC Tri-Share Program to communities across the state.
Strengthening Child Care Workforce: Expanding Community College Training Centers
Since 1993, the state of North Carolina has provided funding for community colleges to establish on-site child care services. As of 2024, only 13 of the 58 community colleges provide this program and four more colleges have shuttered their programs in just the last four years.[3] A 2022 North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation (NCECF) study found that 45% of parents of young children in NC had either dropped out or declined educational or job training opportunities because of a lack of child care.[4]
The 2023 state budget allocated $3 million to this program but half of that funding is not set to renew for the next budget.[5] Ensuring sustained funding and incentives to expand this program to all 58 community colleges would help fill critical gaps in staffing for child care providers and provide free child care for parents at the college.
Addressing the child care crisis across NC is an incredibly complicated task but expanding these programs would leverage our excellent community colleges, strengthen experiential programs for child care professionals and increase options for students and working families.
Lieutenant Governor Hunt will champion an expansion of Child care Training Centers in our Community Colleges. With campuses in over 58 counties, community colleges offer sites within a half-hour drive of most North Carolina citizens in every corner of the state.
North Carolina’s strong public schools have career readiness programs that start as early as fifth grade continuing through high school graduation that help students develop durable skills and align their studies with individual talents and interests. These programs give them hands-on experience with potential careers the closer they get to graduation. This type of transition is critical to prepare our workforce with the rapid pace of innovation across all fields and industries. A 2020 survey by MyFutureNC showed non-supportive transitions, particularly at this point in a student’s educational career, was a major barrier to post-secondary attainment. (NC DPI, Career Development and Work Based Learning)
While addressing the looming childcare shortage to retain our skilled workers is our most pressing concern, we also have to ensure our graduates are ready for the jobs or next steps that best fit their talents and interests. Lieutenant Governor Hunt will champion the expansion of career planning and placement programs to communities across the state.
Our community colleges provide North Carolinians with the most value in preparing for a career and our state the most value in recruiting good-paying jobs. Lieutenant Governor Hunt will launch a tour to visit all 58 community colleges across the state and hear directly how the state can better support their work and highlight their strong programs. During each visit, the Lieutenant Governor will highlight unique programs focused on workforce development and meet with local employers and community leaders to enhance partnership and collaboration.
The Lieutenant Governor will also champion Propel NC, the proposed new funding model for North Carolina’s community colleges that incentivizes funding programs to meet workforce demand. As a member of both the State Board of Education and Community College Board, she will also emphasize Career and College-Ready Graduate Programs.[7]