April Cook

Questionnaire from The Chamber, Leading Business in Cabarrus

Note: The responses below from the candidate have not been edited. 

Please provide demographic information about yourself to help voters (age, education, current occupation, where you live).

I am a resident of Concord, and I am 62 years old. I currently work as the CEO of the North Carolina Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. I have a BS in Business Management from North Carolina State University and a MBA from Meredith College.

Why are you running for this role and why should voters pick you? Please share any experience in an elected role that would be relevant to voters.

I am running for North Carolina Senate District 34 because effective leadership should be grounded in real-world problem-solving. I’ve spent more than two deca of running a community health clinic and, more recently, leading a statewide association representing free and charitable clinics across North Carolina. That work has required me to manage limited budgets, build relationships across the political spectrum, and deliver practical outcomes under real constraints.

I have not previously held elected office, and I view that as an asset rather than a limitation. District 34 deserves a representative who is focused on results rather than partisanship. Voters should choose me because I have a demonstrated record of listening to stakeholders before acting, managing complex organizations responsibly, and applying common sense to difficult problems. I believe the role of government is to function competently and efficiently, and to stay out of matters it is not equipped to resolve.

Tell us about 2-3 professional accomplishments you have achieved in your work experience (not limited to public service) that give voters a sense of your leadership style or skills.

Co-founding and leading Lake Norman Community Health Clinic for more than two decades. In 2001, I worked with four local churches to launch the clinic in a church basement, alongside our co-founder. As Executive Director for more than 20 years, I grew it from a volunteer-run effort into a full-service community health provider offering primary care, dental, and lab services to thousands of uninsured North Carolinians earning below 250 percent of the federal poverty level. That work required sustained fundraising, staff and volunteer management, and disciplined financial stewardship — including securing the funding for a facility expansion — to ensure the clinic remained viable for the long term without ever turning a patient away for inability to pay.

Rising from board member to CEO of the NC Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NCAFCC), and leading the organization through a period of significant change. I served on the NCAFCC board for 10 years, including two years as Board Chair, before being named CEO in 2022. As Board Chair during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I helped guide the association's rapid statewide rollout of telehealth services — a shift that allowed member clinics to continue reaching patients, including those managing chronic conditions, when in-person care was disrupted. As CEO, I now represent and advocate for 72 member clinics across North Carolina, working directly with legislators, funders, and clinic leadership to expand access to care; that work has included securing significant philanthropic funding, such as a $500,000 grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to improve oral health care access in 18 counties. This role has sharpened the coalition-building and consensus-driven leadership style I would bring to the Senate — building trust across a wide range of stakeholders and turning shared goals into concrete results.

What is one thing you would like to accomplish in the first six months if elected?

My first six months would focus on affordability — specifically, making sure North Carolinians aren't forced to delay medical care because of cost. Too many families in District 34 wait until a manageable health issue becomes an emergency room visit, which drives up costs for everyone, including local businesses covering employee health plans. Drawing on more than two decades working inside our healthcare system, I would prioritize strengthening and expanding community-based clinics that provide primary and preventive care, and pursuing policies that reduce the cost-shifting that pushes medical debt onto families and hospitals alike.

Concretely, that means introducing or building support for legislation that helps people access care earlier and invests in solutions that lower long-term healthcare costs rather than creating new ones. I've spent my career finding practical ways to stretch limited resources toward better outcomes, and I intend to bring that same discipline to the General Assembly from day one.

Cabarrus County’s economy depends on a strong and available workforce, yet employers continue to face challenges related to child care access, education pipelines, and labor shortages. How would you use your role in the General Assembly to support workforce participation and long-term economic competitiveness in our region?

Cabarrus County's ability to attract and retain employers depends on whether working families can actually show up to work — and that starts with child care. I've spent my career watching how a single barrier, like the cost or availability of child care, can keep a capable person out of the workforce entirely. In the Senate, I would support policies that reduce the financial barriers to quality child care, including tax credits for businesses that help employees with child care costs, subsidy rates that reflect actual costs rather than outdated formulas, and continued stopgap funding to stabilize the child care workforce while longer-term solutions are built out.

I would also prioritize strengthening the education-to-workforce pipeline, including investment in Career and Technical Education, dual enrollment, and Community College funding models that align training with what local employers actually need. A skilled, available workforce is the foundation of economic competitiveness, and the state has a role to play in removing the barriers — child care, training gaps, cost of living — that keep people from fully participating in it.

As Cabarrus County grows, continued investment in transportation, water and wastewater systems, and technology infrastructure is critical. What priorities would guide your approach to state infrastructure funding, and how should the state partner with local governments to support growth?

As Cabarrus County grows, infrastructure has to keep pace with that growth. My priority would be a modernized, sustainable transportation funding structure that ensures all road users contribute fairly, rather than relying on funding mechanisms that haven't kept up with how people actually travel today. The same principle applies to water, wastewater, and technology infrastructure — the state needs to invest ahead of growth, not scramble to catch up after the fact. We also need to work with our local governments to ensure that the growth coming to communities is managed and that we are preserving local character and autonomy.

On partnership with local governments, I believe the state's role is to be a reliable partner rather than a bottleneck. Local growth should not be held up by state-level delays, and we must continue to invest in local economic development efforts. Local governments know their communities best; the state's job is to give them the funding tools and regulatory flexibility to act on that knowledge efficiently.

State policies often have direct impacts on local governments and school systems. How would you approach legislation that places new responsibilities on local entities, particularly when those responsibilities are not accompanied by recurring funding?

I oppose unfunded mandates, and I'd bring that position to every piece of legislation that touches local governments or school systems. When the state creates a new responsibility for a county, municipality, or school district, it has an obligation to provide the recurring funding to carry it out. Passing costs downstream without the resources to meet them just shifts the burden onto local taxpayers and strains already limited local budgets. Local governments and school systems function best when they can plan with confidence, and unfunded mandates undermine exactly that kind of stability.

State regulations shape the business environment for employers large and small. How would you evaluate whether regulations are achieving their intended purpose without creating unnecessary costs or barriers for businesses?

Regulations should exist for a clear reason. My approach would be to ask three questions of any regulation: Is the policy objective clearly defined? Is it being enforced fairly and consistently? And is it actually the most cost-effective way to achieve that objective, or is there a simpler path that gets the same result with less burden on employers? Where a regulation fails that test — where the cost to businesses outweighs the benefit it's supposed to deliver, or where the objective has become unclear or outdated — I believe the state has a responsibility to revisit and streamline it. Common-sense governance means being willing to ask hard questions about our own regulatory system, not just the ones we inherited.

Over the next several years, what state-level policy decisions do you believe will most influence Cabarrus County’s ability to grow, attract investment, and maintain a high quality of life?

The decisions that will matter most are the ones that determine whether people can actually afford to live in and build a life here. Housing costs, child care, and healthcare are squeezing families across Cabarrus County, and if the state doesn't address the root drivers of those costs, this county's ability to attract and retain the workforce that fuels its growth will suffer.

Our schools are critical to this county's future. Families deserve options when it comes to education, but public schools remain the backbone of our communities. I would prioritize making public school funding a clear, consistent commitment, paying teachers competitively enough to recruit and retain them, and protecting the long-term benefits and retirement security that keep good educators in the classroom. Our schools are one of the most effective long-term investments this state can make in Cabarrus County's economic future, because the businesses considering whether to invest here are also asking whether this county can educate their future workforce.

Healthcare access is also central to Cabarrus County’s continued success. I've spent my career watching what happens when people delay care because they're worried about cost. It ends up costing families, hospitals, and the broader economy more in the long run. State decisions on Medicaid, coverage options for small employers, and support for community-based clinics will directly shape whether Cabarrus County residents can get care before a manageable problem becomes a crisis.

Finally, I'd point to fiscal discipline between the state and local governments. Cabarrus County can only maintain a high quality of life if the state is a dependable partner — funding what it mandates, investing ahead of need, and giving local leaders the tools to manage growth responsibly rather than reactively. Businesses and families alike need a state government that makes decisions based on evidence and follow-through. Ultimately, Cabarrus County's ability to grow and maintain a high quality of life depends on affordability, access to care, strong public schools, and a state government that does its job competently. Those are the priorities that will determine whether this county continues to thrive.