Each Child. Every Community.

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...

Join Smart Start for Resilience Week, starting November 18th! This multi-platform campaign is supported by organizational and institutional partners across the state and is designed to achieve the following impact goals: (1) build the awareness of ACEs; (2) increase knowledge of trauma...

In 2017, Durham County rallied stakeholders to engage in developing a taskforce to drive efforts to improve early childhood outcomes for children in the county. The work of the task force led to funding from the county government to...

Ever wonder about the history of preschool in the United States? In the 1960s only ten percent of the nation’s three and four-year olds were enrolled in a classroom setting.  Head Start, the first publicly funded preschool program, was created in 1965...

Engaging families in early childhood programs is not about parents attending parent-teacher conferences or volunteering in the classroom, it’s about creating opportunities where families are seen as equal partners and an integral part of educating young children and...

Family Connects, formerly Durham Connects, is the first home visiting model used for entire community. Results already show the positive impact of the program in Durham and the model has expanded to other communities such as Forsyth and Guilford...

In North Carolina, home visiting programs, such as Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) and Parents As Teachers (PAT) Intervention, are the primary services for supporting families and young children to reduce child abuse and neglect, improve maternal–child interaction, and enhance positive parenting. Home visiting programs...

Just Ask! : One CFLE’s Lesson Learned in Becoming a Culturally Responsive Home Visitor by Ebonyse Mead, EdD, CFLE (Certified Family Life Educator) Home visiting programs offer coordinated and comprehensive support to families. Services often include parenting education, health care information,...

Smart Start Healthy Families Mecklenburg is a home visiting program that provides education on healthy pregnancy, child development, healthy life choices, and links to community resources through services provided by a nurse or social work until a child is...

Children develop the skills needed to learn to read long before they ever enter a kindergarten classroom. Early Ed Watch interviewed Gabrielle Miller, a national expert on early literacy interventions  and national executive director for Raising A Reader about what the...