Each Child. Every Community.

In celebration of the upcoming new year, Smart Start is celebrating our hard work and taking this time to recognize the role of Smart Start local partnerships in each community. Smart Start is working across the state to create a brighter future for each child in every community. Throughout the first weeks of December we will be showcasing the impact of Smart Start by diving into our work with early care and education, family support, early literacy, health and nutrition, and our innovation throughout the pandemic. To learn more about Smart Start, you can read Smart Start’s 2020-2021 Impact Report.

Smart Start local partnerships are committed to providing parents and caregivers the tools they need to help their children develop and learn. Supporting families has been even more essential during the pandemic as health concerns, economic uncertainty, and shifting child care options have pushed families to their limits.

In 2020-2021, Smart Start has:

• Served 1,146 families in ongoing parenting programs
• Supported 370 families through participation in the Smart Start funded home visiting program Nurse-Family Partnership
• Served 589 caregivers through the Nurturing Parenting Program

In addition to administering home visiting and parenting education programs throughout the state at the local level, the Smart Start network is also leading several family support initiatives.

One initiative, the NC Home Visiting and Parenting Education (HVPE) System, aims to ensure all families have access to a range of parenting education supports in early childhood to strengthen parent-child relationships and improve family and child well-being. Guided by a Collaborative Board and supported by stakeholder committees and advisory groups, members are working to build and maintain a family support ecosystem that remediates racial and economic inequities by improving coordination across state funders and programs.

Smart Start has also launched Family Connects pilot sites throughout the state. These sites will serve nearly 10,000 North Carolina families over three years with participating families receiving a visit from a registered nurse to help with newborn and postpartum health concerns, breastfeeding and home safety, and with referrals to community services.

Locally, Smart Start partnerships are working in each community to facilitate parenting education, home visiting, and other family support programs to improve parenting, promote parent involvement, and parent leadership.

One notable example of this work is being completed by the Carteret Partnership for Children. The partnership through the home-based therapy program, Better Beginnings, is working to prevent child abuse and neglect for young children by focusing on specific childhood behavior characteristics such as repeated aggression, environmental conditions, and experiential risk factors such as caregiver absence. This is especially important due to the trauma experienced due to multiple hurricanes. By providing this parental support, Carteret is helping parents develop specific tools to improve outcomes for young children.

Other local partnerships are providing family support in other innovative ways—through collaborative partnerships with community organizations and by leading home visiting pilot programs in rural communities. You can learn more about this important work within the Smart Start 2020-2021 Impact Report.