Department Initiatives
Back@Home Program
The Back@Home program is the latest iteration of Back@Home North Carolina, a collaborative rehousing effort led by state and local partners. With a focus on reducing unsheltered and rural homelessness, the program aims to stabilize households with severe service needs, experiencing homelessness within the 79-county NC Balance of State Continuum of Care area. Through a service and support infrastructure utilized by multiple programs, the Back@Home program provides financial assistance and housing stabilization services that help households obtain and maintain stable housing.
Child Behavioral Health Dashboard
The Child Behavioral Health Dashboard was developed to give service providers, policymakers and stakeholders the information they need to make more data-informed decisions about child behavioral health in North Carolina. The dashboard brings together data from multiple sources and includes key metrics on behavioral health diagnoses among children and adolescents, risk factors and utilization of Emergency Departments, mobile crisis services and Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs) for behavioral health care.
Community and Partner Engagement
NCDHHS has launched a Community and Engagement Plan and website to ensure the voices of North Carolina communities and families continue to be at the center of the department’s work.
Early Childhood
All North Carolina children should get a healthy start in life and be able to develop to their full potential in safe and nurturing families, schools and communities. DHHS is leading work on a statewide Early Childhood Action Plan to improve outcomes related to young children’s health, safety and well-being, and developmental and academic readiness, for children ages 0-8.
Home and Community-Based Services
North Carolina supports serving individuals with disabilities in the most integrated settings possible based on what is clinically appropriate as defined by the individual’s person-centered planning process.
Inclusion Connects
Inclusion Connects is an NCDHHS initiative to connect people with I/DD to more choices and more access to services and supports. The initiative is a collaboration among NCDHHS divisions, including the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services and Medicaid, to provide resources for connecting individuals with I/DD to services and supports available to live, work and play in their chosen communities.
Inclusion Works
Inclusion Works is an NCDHHS Initiative to promote Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) for Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (I/DD). Everyone has a right to work in an integrated setting for fair pay if that is their choice. Inclusion Works offers services and support to help individuals with I/DD find and maintain jobs in the community at competitive wages.
Infant Plan of Safe Care
Refers an infant who may have been exposed to substances during pregnancy to Care Coordination from Child Welfare, including services and linkages that the infant and family may benefit from.
NC Advisory Council on Cannabis
In June 2025, Governor Stein announced the creation of the North Carolina Advisory Council on Cannabis. Recognizing that intoxicating THC is accessible across the state to all ages, the Governor charged the new Council with recommending a comprehensive approach to regulate cannabis sales and create a safe, legal market for adults that protects kids.
NC Innovations Waiver
The Medicaid Innovations Waiver helps Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities live a more independent lifestyle.
NC Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs
The Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs (ICCHP) promotes interagency coordination and partnerships on issues relating to housing stabilization, services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and strategies to end homelessness in North Carolina. Gov. Stein reinstituted the Council, which will bring together state officials, housing and community development leaders, advocates and other stakeholders to help align programs and funding, support system integration and leverage resources in support of the Council’s goals.
NC Medical Debt
New actions leveraging the state’s Medicaid program will encourage hospitals to forgive existing medical debt and ease the burden of medical debt on North Carolinians in the future.
SCRIPT Act
The SCRIPT Act, signed into law (S.L. 2025-69) by Governor Stein on July 9, 2025, relates to regulation of the pharmacy benefit manager industry and prescription drug pricing transparency. Part VIII of the law requires drug manufacturers to notify interested parties about certain price increases and the price of newly introduced prescription drugs.
Strategic Priorities
NCDHHS is focusing on three priorities through 2024:
- Investing in behavioral health and resilience;
- Supporting child and family well-being; and
- Building a strong and inclusive workforce.
These priorities are grounded in whole-person health and equity and cut across a broader strategic plan that NCDHHS uses to drive effective operations and measure the impact of services provided throughout the state.
Suicide Prevention Resources
Resources for you, your community and providers, as well as data sources and toolkits related to preventing suicide. Call, text, or chat 988 to access support from a trained crisis counselor. The lifeline is free, confidential and available 24/7.
Transitions to Community Living
The Transitions to Community Living Initiative provides eligible adults living with serious mental illnesses the opportunity to choose where they live, work and play in North Carolina. This initiative promotes recovery by providing long-term housing, community-based services, supported employment and community integration.