Smart Start is committed to increasing access and raising the quality of early care and education across the state. The Network does so by:

• Creating a strong foundation for high quality early learning environments in each community by addressing individual community needs.
• Establishing infrastructure support for the delivery and implementation of sustainable evidence-based services across the state. Infrastructure support includes support for programs
• Leading Smart Start’s Coaching for Technical Assistants Initiative that focuses on working with technical assistance providers and child care programs to implement best practices in physical activity, child nutrition, and outdoor play and learning environments.
• Supporting the early care and education workforce through the help of statewide programs and innovative solutions.
• Improving the quality of early learning by offering professional development, technical assistance, and other supports to raise the quality (and/or licensed) star rating of each center.
  • The percentage of children in 4 and 5 star programs increased from 33 percent in 2001 to 71 percent in 2022.
  • In 2021, Local Partnerships supported 607 child care homes and centers serving 18,210 children. In 2022, this number grew to Smart Start supporting 707 child care homes and centers serving 28,270 children.

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• Incredible Years is an evidence-based program that works to provide parents with appropriate expectations for their children’s behavior.
• Parents as Teachers is an evidence-based program that provides the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children develop optimally during the early years of life.

In the last fiscal year, these programs accomplished the following:

• Parents participating in the Incredible Years program reported a statistically significant decrease in the frequency with which their child displays problem behaviors, as well as a significant decrease in the number of behaviors that are a problem for the parent.
• 84% of eligible children participating in Parents as Teachers received a developmental and health screening. PAT promotes that all enrolled children have a primary medical home and this includes screenings at medical homes).
• 62 % of families participating in Parents as Teachers were linked with more than one community resource.

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Early childhood health is critical to ensuring children grow into healthy adults. Smart Start works within communities to ensure children have the tools and resources they need to establish healthy behavior patterns. Local partnerships work with medical providers, health departments, families, communities, and other organizations to improve the health and safety of young children, prevent childhood obesity, and ensure more children are screened for developmental delays and referred to services for help long before they start school. 

These healthy initiatives include Shape NC, Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD), and Child Care Health Consultants.

• Shape NC– A technical assistance model to support child care programs to address early childhood obesity.
• Assuring Better Child Health and Development(ABCD) is a proven, universal approach to screening young children in primary health care settings.
• Child Care Health Consultants are health professionals knowledgeable about child health and development as well as child care safety.

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Literacy affects our state’s ability to create a workforce needed to compete in the global market and ensure our future prosperity. Recognizing that over 90% of language development occurs in the first few years of life, Smart Start provides programs that develop early literacy skills needed for success in school, work and life. Smart Start brings proven, national programs to the children and families of North Carolina. These programs assist parents in developing habits of daily reading with their children, and assist children in discovering an early love of reading.

• Dolly Parton Imagination Library provides a free, age appropriate book each month to children age birth to 5.
• Reach Out and Read supports doctors in their efforts to “prescribe” reading to young children and families during well-child visits through early literacy guidance.
• Raising a Reader rotates bright red bags filled with award-winning books in children’s homes on a weekly basis, exposing children to over 100 books per cycle.
• Motheread/Fatheread combines the teaching of parent literacy skills with child development and family support.

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