The NC Tri-Share Child Care Pilot Program began beta–testing and registering families in July. NC Tri-Share is a program that creates a public/private partnership to share the cost of child care equally between employers, eligible employees, and the State.
NC lawmakers allocated $900,000 to The NC Partnership for Children/Smart Start and the Division of Child Development and Early Education to divide among three Regional Hubs who would pilot the program and serve families in North Carolina for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and FY 2024-2025.
NCPC awarded funding to three Smart Start Local Partnerships to serve as Regional Hubs to plan and implement NC Tri-Share. The regions include:
- Cleveland County Partnership for Children and Families (serving Cleveland, Rutherford, Henderson, Lincoln, and Gaston Counties)
- Martin-Pitt Partnership for Children (serving Martin and Pitt Counties)
- Partners for Children and Families of Moore County (serving Moore, Chatham, Cumberland, Hoke, Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland, and Union Counties)
The Regional Hubs provide administrative support of the program at the local level and work to recruit businesses and child care providers to participate in NC Tri-Share.
“We are excited to share that during the beta-testing phase of this work in July, the first families, child care providers and employers to benefit from NC Tri-Share have been enrolled. We look forward to enrolling many more participants to help alleviate the cost of child care on working families,” said Mary Scott, NCPC’s director of Strategic Initiatives.
NC Tri-Share’s goals include 1) making high-quality child care affordable and accessible for working families, 2) helping employers retain and attract employees, and 3) supporting the stabilization of child care businesses across the State.
Families participating in Tri-Share will are:
- Employed by a participating business
- Part of a household with an income between 185% and 300% of the federal poverty level
- Otherwise ineligible for other subsidized child care
Scott continued, “The average price of care in our state for infants is $9,255 and $7,592 for 4-year-ods. North Carolina’s rates are higher than the national average and rival the cost of college tuition. While the child care crisis will not be solved with one program, this innovative initiative will help to alleviate the financial burden on many working families.
Michigan launched the Tri-Share model in 2021 and is now serving 59 of the 83 counties in the state, with plans to scale to full state coverage within the year. Michigan Tri-Share found that 82% of employees agreed or strongly agreed that Tri-Share makes them more likely to keep working and stay in their current job.
Smart Start was selected to support the NC Tri-Share’s Pilot program due to its statewide infrastructure as well as strong local ties.
“There is a child care crisis in North Carolina and local Smart Start partnerships have worked quickly to make a difference,” says Amy Cubbage, president of NCPC. “This is a natural progression for Smart Start with its history of collaboration with businesses and employers, as well as serving as a key partner in the child care subsidy program and NC Pre-K. I look forward to seeing what lessons we learn as we scale out NC Tri-Share to more families.”
NCPC has contracted with Catapult Employers Association to serve as the benefit administrator for NC Tri-Share. Catapult has established a streamlined system for employees, employers, and child care providers to apply for NC Tri-Share and is responsible for collecting funds and administration fees from employers, employees, and NCPC (on behalf of the State) as well as to make timely payments to child care providers who are participating in the program.
Employers, families, and child care providers interested in participating in NC Tri-Share program should contact the Smart Start Regional Hub that covers their county. More information about NC Tri-Share can be found at https://www.smartstart.org/trishare.
