At A Glance

July 2024

Program Spotlight

Breastfeeding Support

The Breastfeeding Support Program, located at Union County Human Services, recently renovated their lactation rooms with funding support from Alliance for Children. Their lactation rooms provide a welcoming space for their breastfeeding families to feel comfortable and supported. The rooms have become a retreat for the families to meet with their peer counselors when stopping by for breastfeeding support. The calm and friendly environment of the rooms allow the peer counselors to better connect with the families and develop more meaningful interactions. The program has had positive feedback from their families and employees about the feeling and functionality of the rooms and they are so happy that they are able to provide such an inviting space for the families they serve.



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North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten is a free, high-quality state program designed to enhance school readiness for eligible four-year-old children. Studies show that children who participate in a high-quality pre-kindergarten program are more likely to succeed in grades K-12 and throughout their lives.

In NC Pre-Kindergarten, NC licensed teachers provide developmentally appropriate instruction to help children learn and strengthen a variety of skills in a classroom environment.

Click here for more information.

Kaleidoscope Play and Learn

Alliance for Children is excited to announce that our new free weekly play group, Kaleidoscope Play and Learn is open for registration. 

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Dolly Parton Imagination Library

Smart Start and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library work together to get books into the hands of North Carolina's youngest children. This free program for children birth to kindergarten supply age-appropriate books to help foster a love for reading.

In Union County the Dolly Parton Imagination Library serves 6,519 children each month. Through Alliance for Children a new, carefully selected book will be mailed in your child’s name directly to your home every month. He/she can look forward to new and exciting reading adventures from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library until he/she turns five years old as long as you remain a resident of Union County. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a FREE GIFT to our children! All you have to do is read to your children. (Please allow up to 60 days to receive your first book.)

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Dolly Parton Imagination Library

Story Spotlight

It is a bittersweet time of the year for children who are turning five and heading off to Kindergarten for the upcoming school year. This month any child who is turning five will receive a special book from Dolly Parton.

Look out Kindergarten Here I come!

The first day of kindergarten is finally here, and Henry can't wait to paint pictures, sing songs, and practice counting. When he gets to school, though, he's not so sure he's ready for kindergarten. But before long Henry discovers that the only thing he's not ready for is how much fun he's going to have at school! This gently humorous, encouraging story will give children about to enter kindergarten an extra boost of confidence.

State is losing more than $5 billion per year due to lack of child care access, study finds

Insufficient child care is costing North Carolina about $5.65 billion each year, a new study from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation estimates.

The report, released in partnership with the N.C. Chamber Foundation and NC Child, looked at the ways a lack of child care access hurts the state’s economy. Employers lose $4.29 billion a year because of job disruptions and turnover related to child care, and the state loses another $1.36 billion in tax revenue, the report found.

“When we couple the immediate needs of employers with the long-term workforce projections in the state, we simply cannot afford to leave people on the sidelines — and that is where access to affordable, quality child care is so critical,” Meredith Archie, president of the NC Chamber Foundation, said at a news conference Wednesday.

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Farm to Early Care & Education

Through a grant from Union County Community Foundation with the Foundation For The Carolinas, Alliance for Children awarded mini grants to five of our local childcare centers who are participating in our Farm to Early Care and Education (Farm2ECE) program. The grants were to help them bring gardening experiences into their centers. After the projects were completed, Alliance for Children hosted a luncheon to allow each center to present how they used their grants with their students. 

Want to get involved in our mission? Donations are a great way to make a difference in the future of the children we serve. Alliance for Children accepts donations of products, books, and monetary contributions. All donations are tax deductible.

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Alliance for Children | 704-226-1407 | www.theallianceforchildren.org