Supporting North Carolina’s working families must be a bipartisan cause

The American family is our nation’s greatest strength. Yet our country is failing them. As we navigate a year fraught with partisanship and conflict, we also have an opportunity to recommit to an inclusive America where raising a family, working, and contributing to our communities is not just feasible but easier.

I was recently part of an effort to do just that. The Convergence Collaborative on Supports for Working Families, a bipartisan collaboration of leaders from many backgrounds and political beliefs, was an opportunity to step back from the political maelstrom and concentrate on how to support working families better. We spent several months together, learning from diverse perspectives, sometimes disagreeing but uniting with policies to support the American family.

Sadly, those families are hurting. Many working-class Americans have been left behind as wages have stagnated and inequality has grown. A survey by the conservative American Compass found that in 2021, only those who are married and have the highest income and education levels believe they have achieved the American Dream. This leaves millions more—including the 42.6% of North Carolinians ages 25-44 who do not have a degree—feeling that the American Dream has failed them.

The Collaborative began with four foundational principles essential for any family-supporting policies:

• Meet families’ essential economic, health, and safety needs
• Foster connection among families and their communities
• Bolster the resources families already possess to be resilient in the face of inevitable hardships and challenges
• Give families meaningful choices in caring for their children.

Supported by these touchstones, our recommendations focused on areas where bipartisan opportunities may exist to better support working families.

First, we must reshape the narrative about raising children. Instead of solely highlighting the challenges and financial burdens, we must celebrate the joys and the vital role of parents and young children in shaping our shared future.

Second, give families cash. Low-income families mainly depend on government programs that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed, micromanage their lives. Instead, we must invest directly in families to support themselves and their children. Emerging evidence suggests that cash is positive for parents, their children’s relationships, and their mental health.  Policymakers should find more ways to get more money into the pockets of more low-to-moderate income people with young children.

Third, parents need more choices. Whether working full-time, starting a business, or taking care of sick family members, they need child care options that are flexible and affordable. A uniform approach to child care policy will not work for a nation as diverse as ours. My colleague Elliot Haspel believes stay-at-home parents are given little material or cultural support despite ? of American households with children having a parent who stays home to care for children. Many families make this choice because it is best for them, and they deserve support as much as families who choose to place their children in external child care.

Last, we must support parents with new children. As I write this, my wife and newborn daughter are upstairs. Fortunately, my wife has a generous maternity leave policy at work. Still, too many Americans do not have the flexibility or resources to take time away from work to care for their very young children. This leads to the barbaric practice of expecting new mothers to return to work weeks, if not days, after childbirth while they are still bonding with their children and healing from the strain of childbirth. Our collaborative recommended establishing a baseline of protection and support through a national parental leave policy. This is only humane.

For centuries, North Carolina’s greatest politicians have adopted policies and made investments – from Smart Start to our world-class public university system and our first-in-the-nation system of Area Health Education Centers – brightening the future for children and families. Uniquely in the South, progress is our heritage. On both sides of the aisle, I hope North Carolinians will vote to sustain our heritage of progress for all children and families in the critical election of 2024.