Child Care

Child Care Services Association, Inc.

Child Care Services Association (CCSA) is a nationally recognized nonprofit working to ensure affordable, accessible, high quality child care for all families through research, services and advocacy. The Child Care Services Association provides child care scholarships for low/moderate income families, information to help families find appropriate child care and services to help improve the quality of child care in Durham, Orange and Wake counties.

North Carolina Division of Child Development

The North Carolina Division of Child Development regulates child care centers and homes. The Division provides information on what to look for when choosing child care, receiving child care financial assistance, child care center licensing information and other resources.

Wake County SmartStart Quality Enhancement Initiative

The Quality Enhancement and Maintenance Initiative (QEI and QMI) is a department within Wake County SmartStart, Inc. Through QEI, Quality Enhancement Specialists (QES) work with one to three star child care centers and family child care homes (hereafter called facilities) to improve both the quality and level of care for children, and the level of education for staff in those facilities. Through QMI, Quality Enhancement Specialists work with four and five star facilities to maintain their higher level of care and licensure. Facilities must apply to participate in the program and participating facilities receive a variety of services including consultation, training and technical assistance at no cost to the facility.

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During the 2008-2009 fiscal year, 89% of children on subsidy with special needs were placed in a 4 or 5 star child care center, a percentage which exceeds the state's rating by 2%.

Wake County SmartStart funds services and activities through which almost 70% of child care facilities in Wake County received consultation and training, resulting in more highly-trained child care workers, which is critical to the quality of care a child receives.

Additionally, during the 2008-2009 fiscal year, over 20,000 children, birth to 5, benefited from child care subsidy assistance, More at Four, Quality Child Care and health and family support activities.