Each Child. Every Community.

Healthy behavior patterns established early in life often lead to lifelong benefits and decreased probability of serious disease later in life. Smart Start strives to improve outcomes for children by increasing young children’s access to healthcare and by working with providers, health departments, families, and communities to improve the health and safety for young children, prevent childhood obesity, and ensure that more children are screened for developmental delays and referred to services for help before they start school.

• Shape NC – NCPC is in its tenth year of a partnership with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation on an effort, 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.

In the 2020- 2021 fiscal year, these programs accomplished the following:

• Child care centers participating in Shape NC displayed quick improvements in the use of best practices related to physical activity and nutrition.  Across the 213 participating centers:
  • All participating centers improved their use of 86 best practices related to physical activity and nutrition during the year.
  • 16 childcare centers became demonstration sites (centers that have reached a high level of best practice implementation in areas of healthy weight, good nutrition, and enhanced outdoor learning environments).
  • Over 2,800 children are currently being reached.
  • 5,963 children are receiving healthier food options and more physical activity in child care as part of the evidence-based Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAPSACC) program
• 1,276 children with special needs or at-risk for developmental delay that received Smart Start health-related enhanced services
• 2,078 child care facilities received child health consultation services funded by Smart Start. Assessment scores of 80% or higher on sanitation, medication administration, hand washing, and toileting/diapering knowledge rose from 82% to 98% after Smart Start consultation.