The Moore County Chamber of Commerce and Partners for Children & Families recently announced that Moore County has been selected as one of three counties to lead North Carolina’s new Tri-Share Child Care pilot program.

Adopted and funded by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2023, Tri-Share is a public/private partnership that spreads the cost of child care equally among employers, employees and the State of North Carolina. 

The goals of Tri-Share include making high-quality child care affordable and accessible for working families, helping employers retain and attract employees and supporting the stabilization of child care businesses across the State. 

The program will be administered in Moore County by Partners for Children & Families, Inc, a 30 year old charity based in Moore County which serves as Moore County’s Smart Start agency.  Partners for Children & Families will also administer the program in six adjacent counties:  Chatham, Cumberland, Hoke, Montgomery, Richmond and Scotland. 

“Partners for Children & Families was selected to lead a Tri-Share region because of their strong community ties, particularly regarding workforce relations; leadership within early care and education, and  relationships with other Smart Start local partnerships,” said Amy Cubbage in a press release. Cubbage is president of the North Carolina Partnership for Children which is spearheading the Tri-Share pilot across the state.

The Moore County Chamber of Commerce has led a county-wide task force on child care since February 2022.

“The goal of the Child Care Task Force is to provide resources to recruit and train child care workers and to increase the availability and accessibility of child care in Moore County. The Task Force has studied the development of the Tri-Share program since it was first introduced as a bill in the legislature. We are so pleased that Moore County was selected as a regional hub for Tri-Share,” stated Linda Parsons, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, in a press release.

Stuart Mills, the Executive Director of Partners for Children and Families, said in a press release “We wouldn’t have been selected for this new role without support from the Chamber and its Task Force.  We look forward to working even more closely with the employers and child care providers in Moore County, but also with the Smart Start partnerships in each of these adjacent counties. This is an opportunity for all of us, but particularly for the children of these seven counties.”

Families that qualify for participation in Tri-Share will be:

• Employed by a participating business
• Have a household income between 185 percent and 300 percent of the federal poverty level
• Otherwise, ineligible for other subsidized child care

Employers interested in participating in the Tri-Share program can contact Partners for Children & Families or their local Smart Start partnership.  For a list of Smart Start Local Partnerships, visit www.smartstart.org/smart-start-in-your-community/.