FINDING CHILD CARE

We know finding the right child care program is important to families and caregivers and
can seem overwhelming. Here are a couple of helpful resources.

Finding Child Care in Asheville and Buncombe County

Looking for child care for a child 0 – 5 years old?

Contact Mountain Child Care Connections:

Call 877-752-5955
Email childcareinfo@swdcinc.org
Search online here (you must create an account)

Mountain Child Care Connections provides free, confidential information about quality child care to meet your needs:

Child Care center contact information
Types of care available
Quality indicators and star licenses
Cost of care
Referrals to other agencies

Southwestern Child Development Commission manages this call center and serves Asheville, Buncombe County, and the 10 surrounding counties.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do vouchers work?

Check out our page on child care vouchers! You will need to contact the Child Care Subsidy Unit at Buncombe County Health and Human Services for more information and to apply – (828) 250-5500.

What is the difference between Head Start, Early Head Start, and NC Pre-K?

Head Start is a free program for children 3-5 years old whose families meet the income guidelines. Head Start typically runs from August through May, 6.5 hours a day. Community Action Opportunities runs Head Start in Buncombe County. Call 828-252-2495 for more information.

Early Head Start is a free program for infants and toddlers under 3 years of age. Care is offered daily for 6 hours, with limited extended care possibilities. Families needing help with child care for the rest of the day should apply for child care voucher or pay a parent fee. Families must meet income guidelines to be eligible. The Verner Center for Early Learning runs Early Head Start. Call (828) 298-0808 or email enrollment@verneremail.org for more information.

Buncombe Pre-K is an online portal to apply to BOTH high-quality, no-cost pre-kindergarten programs in Asheville and Buncombe County for children who are 4 years old by August 31. Find out more and apply at www.buncombeprek.com.

Currently in Buncombe County, there are two programs that provide high quality pre-k at no cost to eligible families:

Head Start, administered by Community Action Opportunities
NC Pre-K, administered by Buncombe Partnership for Children

NC Pre-K and Head Start programs are typically offered for 6.5 hours a day for 10 months of the year and are located in public schools, private child care programs, and Head Start centers. Limited options for before- and after care are available.

Child Care Search

The Division of Child Development & Early Education

DCDEE is another great resource to find child care. They have a guide on choosing quality child care and a search feature that allows families to find centers based on name, location, and other criteria like age.

DCDEE’s search database.

What is the Buncombe Partnership for Children’s role in child care?

We do not provide child care directly. We manage the NC Pre-K program in our community and provide various supports to child care providers, but we do not directly provide child care on site. Child care providers can contact us for technical assistance, professional development, and workforce development.

Does the Buncombe Partnership for Children provide referrals?

The referral agency for Western North Carolina is Mountain Child Care Connections (see description above).

We are a member of the Smart Start network, North Carolina’s nationally-recognized initiative to ensure that every child reaches his or her potential and is prepared to succeed in a global community. Smart Start helps working parents pay for child care, improves the quality of child care and provides health and family support services in every North Carolina county. Buncombe Partnership for Children is the local Smart Start agency. Although the names sound similar, Head Start and Smart Start are not related.

Buncombe Pre-K

Buncombe Pre-K is a community effort to make it easier for families to find and apply to publicly funded pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs. Local partners work together “behind the scenes” so that families have one website to go to, one number to call, and one application to fill out to connect with all the pre-k programs and related services they might be eligible for.

Collaborators

Buncombe Pre-K collaborators include all of the agencies and programs that families might come in contact with as they search for and access publicly-funded pre-k. Currently in Buncombe County, there are two programs (offered across the county) that provide high quality pre-k at no cost to eligible families. These programs are:

Head Start, a federal program administered by Community Action Opportunities
NC Pre-K, a state program administered by Buncombe Partnership for Children

Apply to Buncombe Pre-K

FINDING CHILD CARE