It’s a new year, but the pandemic and its many harms to the people and communities across our state continue to deepen. As families are struggling to put food on the table and stay up-to-date on bills and rent, landlords and neighborhood businesses are struggling as well, and the ability of neighborhoods, communities, and the economy to start a recovery will stall.

In HB 1105, General Assembly leadership acknowledges that North Carolina families and communities face enormous hardships, but makes only token gestures to help people survive the COVID-19 pandemic North Carolina can and should allocate the remaining federal COVID-19 relief funds to meet the pre-existing needs that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

As we all confront the ripple effects of the an unprecedented pandemic throughout North Carolina, we should pause to acknowledge the fundamental lesson that our fates are intertwined. And we should not let this moment pass by without demanding that public leaders put people and communities first as they craft solutions to our public health and economic realities.

It is the job of the North Carolina General Assembly to make the decisions that will help our state thrive and assure that all North Carolinians – Black, white or brown – have a real chance at prosperity. It is also the General Assembly's job to construct and pass the single most important law our state enacts every year – a budget that provides a blueprint for how those connections between people and opportunities will help our communities thrive. Unfortunately, as lawmakers reconvene yet again tomorrow, they will have been in session in all 11 months of 2019 without finishing their job.

The recent proposal from state Senate leaders for the next two-year state budget compromises North Carolina’s future by underinvesting in our communities while prioritizing the special interests of a select few. As House and Senate leaders confer on the final budget, let’s be clear that a different path — one that involves smart investments and better outcomes — is possible.

We aren’t in an economic downturn yet, but economists who find themselves marveling at the historic duration of the current national expansion are urging policymakers to prepare for one now. Key to that preparation will be smart public investments that minimize the harm to communities and families and, in turn, the long-term growth trajectory of the economy.

North Carolina’s dubious ranking of having the 10th highest rate of uninsured people in the nation continues to play out across the state in ways that challenge our collective well-being and community stability, even as it leads to worse health outcomes and diminished livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of our neighbors.

The start of the Great Recession, and the collapse of financial markets in the fall of 2008, is more than a decade behind us, yet its impact still reverberates through North Carolina communities and households. Policymakers should use the lessons learned from the Great Recession to prepare now to protect North Carolina’s people and communities from the next economic downturn.

Making certain that every infant is safe and developing, every toddler is thriving, and every preschooler is prepared for kindergarten smooths the pathway to lifetime success and happiness for all North Carolinians. Recent data collected by the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation finds that North Carolinians recognize the importance of the early years and want to see policymakers make a significant investment to ensure more children can access quality early childhood education.