North Carolina

Behind North Carolina's New Data Platform Powered by Upfront

As a lead agency for North Carolina's entire Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) network, Child Care Resources Inc. (CCRI) supports families, providers, and regional partners in ways that go far beyond what appears on a website.

Together with Upfront, CCRI has built an integrated statewide system that redefines how child care data is collected, managed, and acted upon — connecting every piece of the ecosystem in one place.

For Families

Search, Connect, and Access Care in Minutes

CCRI's new public online search portal — FindChildcareNC.com — is the most comprehensive child care search in the state. Families can:

Filter by schedule, age, quality rating, pricing, languages, special needs, and more
View real-time vacancy data, so they're not calling closed or full programs
Access the tool seamlessly from any device, with full mobile optimization and multilingual support
Find results ranked for SEO to ensure every family searching online can discover it

Behind the public search is a robust referral intake system used by family specialists statewide, allowing CCR&R staff to create referrals in minutes, manage family cases through a full call intake workflow, and view dashboards showing call volume, trends, and response rates.

For Providers

Easy Account Management and Professional Growth

CCRI's work extends equally to supporting the providers who make North Carolina's early care and education system possible. The provider portal enables every licensed program to:

Quick Onboarding

Claim and verify their account in less than two minutes

Direct Updates

Update data directly — from vacancies and pricing to hours and contact information — ensuring accuracy across the system

For Professional Development and Training, CCR&R teams can publish courses in a public catalog for providers to register through directly. Providers can pay online for training through a fully integrated payment system that automatically routes funds to the correct region.

The Technical Assistance and Coaching module gives CCR&R specialists the tools to quantify their impact with early educators, including configurable assessment templates and analytics showing where coaching efforts are most concentrated.

For All

Real-Time Data and Reporting That Drives Change

Every module connects into a single data and reporting backbone. CCRI and regional partners can:

Run pre-built report templates or create custom self-service exports across families, providers, training, coaching, and referrals
Access real-time supply and demand maps visualizing where care is available — and where it's not
Analyze affordability deserts by viewing program costs as a percentage of median household income (MHI), revealing where child care is financially out of reach

Why It Matters

The launch of this statewide system is more than a technology upgrade — it's a rethinking of how North Carolina serves its families and early educators. From the first call a parent makes to the data driving state policy decisions, CCRI's infrastructure ensures that every interaction is informed, efficient, and equitable.