Each Child. Every Community.

Farm to School is a program that ensures communities have fresh, healthy food and local food producers by changing food purchasing and education practices at schools and early care and education settings. This is especially important as healthy...

Raising Healthy Children is a Community Effort by Khadijia Tribié Reid, MD, MPH It was my turn. After two years of providing guidance to thousands of parents as the town pediatrician, I would become a mom for the first time. I...

The Smart Start network understands that North Carolina families’ needs are great in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their continued struggles have impacts for us all. Difficulty finding reliable child care is keeping many parents from the...

A new statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) makes a clear connection between early childhood health and resilience. The statement emphasizes the importance of building safe, stable, and nurturing relationships to buffer adversity and build resilience. The North...

“We envision a world in which every family is supported at every step along the infant feeding journey, with warm and coordinated hand-offs and transitions so that the needs of lactating families and those who support them are anticipated...

In a journey that began in 2010, Shape NC: Healthy Starts for Young Children, sunset on December 31, 2020 (the Healthy Starts for Infants and Toddlers project ends September 2021). Over the course of the grant, Shape NC reached...

Through funding support from the Division of Public Health and Kate B. Reynolds, Smart Start is launching a Resilient Communities Initiative. The purpose of the Resilient Communities Initiative is to build healthy and resilient communities for young children and families...

Shape NC: Healthy Starts for Young Children is funded by AmeriCorps (formerly known as the Corporation for National and Community Service), which is an federal agency whose mission is to engage volunteers in serving directly with nonprofit organizations to...

Family Forward NC COVID-19 Rapid Response Program Supporting children and families is critical, especially as the early childhood system grapples with challenges brought on by COVID-19. One way to support young children is by supporting working parents, who are facing...

Now more than ever, as communities are facing both the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing crisis of racial injustice and police violence, there are even more significant needs for support across communities and within the workforce that supports children...