Each Child. Every Community.

The first five years of life are a critical window of development, shaping a child’s brain architecture and building the foundation for future cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, and health outcomes.

Because of this, the Smart Start Network has dedicated itself to ensuring that children birth-to-five have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

By declaring September as Smart Start Month, the State of North Carolina acknowledges the collective impact and leadership of the Smart Start Network over the last thirty years.

Through continual support and investments in Smart Start, we can ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive!

The Smart Start Network will be celebrating Smart Start Month throughout September. We invite everyone—families, caregivers, community members, and local leaders—to join our efforts in fostering a brighter future for North Carolina’s children.

Connect to your local Smart Start Partnership to find out how you can celebrate Smart Start Month in your community.

Our Mission and Impact
Advance a high quality, comprehensive, accountable early childhood system that benefits each child in North Carolina beginning with a healthy birth.  

• Who We Are: A dedicated network ensuring every child has the chance to thrive.
• What We Do: Providing whole-child support through education, family support, and health services and by building a system of connections statewide to ensure each child can thrive. 
• Why It Matters: Supporting young children and their families builds a stronger, healthier future for North Carolina.

Smart Start improves the quality and access to early care and education. Smart Start is also focused on finding solutions and to the State’s child care crisis. These efforts include:

• Implementing strategies to improve recruitment, retention, and workforce development for professionals.
• Providing valuable infrastructure support in administering NC Pre-K statewide 
• Managing over 65 million in subsidy funds to boost early education effectiveness while increasing access for children who are most under-resourced. 

Local Partnerships have taken innovative approaches to support early learning through private funding. This includes: 

• Partnerships serving on early childhood taskforces 
• Supporting the opening of new facilities and homes 
• Creating workforce pipelines to increase teacher recruitment 

Smart Start partners with families to create nurturing and safe environments for children. This includes:

• Leadership Opportunities: Building advocacy capacity  
• Parenting Education: Strengthening parent-child relationships  
• Community Connections: Linking to peers and resources to support concrete needs  

Local Partnerships may offer:  

• Parent Education: Tools and strategies for effective parenting 
• Community Playgroups: Engaging activities for children and caregivers 
• Home Visits: Personalized support and guidance 

Smart Start works to ensure children birth-to-five years old are health and that families have access to needed health resources and referrals.

Partnerships refer parents to and administer programs focusing on:

• Prenatal Care 
• Safe care seats and child passenger safety education 
• Screening for development delays for their children  
• Lactation and mental health support  
• And more!