11/8/2018

What is Smart Start?

In 2018 Smart Start is celebrating 25 years of serving North Carolina’s youngest children and their families. In 1993, the North Carolina General Assembly created Smart Start, appropriating $20 million to 18 pioneer counties to begin the work of improving the quality of child care, strengthening families, and supporting healthy child development. By 1997, the funding had increased to $97 million and all 100 North Carolina counties were being served by Smart Start. 11/8/2018

Smart Start is A nationally recognized leader in early childhood and healthy development. Our network of early childhood partnerships provides expertise, guidance and infrastructure to ensure North Carolina children receive the care and nurturing they need to thrive. 11/8/2018

Smart Start is Tailored to meet the specific needs of each community, we invest in early education, literacy, health and family support so that our children are ready to succeed, lead productive lives and contribute to a strong, vibrant North Carolina 11/8/2018

Smart Start’s Vision: Each child reaches his or her potential and is prepared for success in a global community. 11/8/2018

Smart Start’s Mission: Advance a high quality, comprehensive, accountable system of care and education for each child beginning with a healthy birth. 11/8/2018

What is the Challenge Our State is Facing?

Ensuring children come to school prepared to learn Research shows that children are born ready to learn but may not have access to the experiences or environments that foster healthy brain development such as engaged child-parent interaction, quality childcare, or healthcare. 11/8/2018

North Carolina needs a strong workforce to compete in a global market Workforce development begins at birth by investing and building a strong foundation for children to become productive members of society. 11/8/2018

What is the Solution?

To ensure healthy brain development and access to quality early childhood learning opportunities, childcare providers, parents and families must have tools and resources so that every child is nurtured and cared for from birth. 11/8/2018

How Does Smart Start Achieve This?

How Smart Start Works Smart Start builds the foundation for all future learning and increases the health and well- being of young children birth to five so they can be ready and succeed in school. Smart Start programs prepare young children in four main areas: 11/8/2018

Strengthening families through programs proven to work Recent research proves the tremendous long-term benefits of family support and home visiting programs. Studies of these programs highlight improved maternal and child physical and mental health, increased maternal employment, and improved child school readiness. 11/8/2018

Strengthening families through programs proven to work Research has also supports the importance of adult-child interaction, managing behavior, and preparing children to enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Smart Start offers family- focused programs, supported by research, that improve parenting and promote involvement. 11/8/2018

Raising the quality of and access to early education When children are safe, healthy, and have opportunities to learn, they succeed. A top priority for Smart Start is increasing the quality of early care and education across the state so that all children learn and develop skills they need to succeed in school. 11/8/2018

Raising the quality of and access to early education Smart Start supports initiatives to improve and maintain the quality of child care centers, help parents pay for high-quality early education so they can work, and support child care providers by offering professional development and technical assistance to secure and maintain their star rated status. 11/8/2018

Advancing child health for success in school and life Healthy behavior patterns established early in life often lead to lifelong benefits and decreased probability of serious disease later in life, as well as costly intervention services down the road. Smart Start strives to improve outcomes for children by working with medical providers, health departments, families, and communities to improve the health and safety of young children. 11/8/2018

Advancing child health for success in school and life All this is done to help prevent childhood obesity, improve oral health, ensure children are screened for developmental delays and referred to services for help with the ultimate goal of ensuring children are healthy and prepared to learn and grow in school and life without barriers. 11/8/2018

Expanding literacy for a future workforce Literacy affects North Carolina’s ability to develop the type of workforce required to compete in the global market and ensure the state’s future prosperity. 11/8/2018

Expanding literacy for a future workforce Recognizing that a majority 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. 11/8/2018

Accountability and Results

Our Network has established measurable, statewide goals for increasing the health, well-being and development of North Carolina’s children birth to five. Local Partnerships make decisions about how best to achieve those goals based on the needs and resources in their local communities.  Smart Start’s nationally award- winning approach has resulted in: 11/8/2018

More children succeeding in school third-graders have higher standardized reading and math scores and lower special education placement rates in counties that had received relatively more funding for Smart Start when these children were younger. This is according to research released in March 2011 by Duke University, which found that investments in Smart Start generate broad education benefits. More children attending high quality care from 33% to 74% since 2001, when Smart Start began tracking this data. The percentage of children in low quality, 1 and 2 start programs decreased from 46% in 2001 to only 3% in 2017. More children receiving Developmental screenings 98% of children received recommended screenings after Smart Start launched the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program (compared to 81% before ABCD) in participating counties. 11/8/2018

More children reading daily with their families more than 7,000 families participated in the evidence- based Reach Out and Read program in 2017. More than 110,000 children have signed up within eight months of launching the Dolly Parton Imagination Library expansion initiative. Better understanding and fewer behavioral issues Parents report a 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. Healthier early childhood facilities 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. 11/8/2018

“Our business community in Virginia early on looked to Smart Start for advice as we created Smart Beginnings, helping us think about effective program practices, accountability, measuring performance in our community efforts and creating programs to maximize outcomes for young children.” -- Kathy Glazer, Director, Virginia Early Childhood Foundation 11/8/2018

“North Carolina’s Smart Start initiative has been the national pace setter for early childhood systems for more than two decades. A system that is flexible enough for local decision making, yet accountable to the public at the state level, has provided young children access to high quality early learning in ways that is simply unprecedented in the United States.” -- Rhian Evans Allvin, Director, National Association for the Education of Young Children 11/8/2018

How You Can Help

Invest in Our Network Smart Start local partnerships are not adequately funded through public funds.   Layering private funds on top of public investments in early care and education creates opportunity for significant impact benefiting North Carolina’s children and families. 11/8/2018

The Strength of Our Network We are a strong, diverse, fiscally responsible network of early childhood experts that effectively leverages the public-private partnership to achieve positive outcomes for children. The Smart Start Network has built in state level systems for fiscal responsibility and oversight, as well as training and support. 11/8/2018

The Strength of Our Network The Smart Start Network has 25 years of learning and best practices to collectively build upon. Instead of competition, our Network of leaders can focus on resource sharing. 11/8/2018

Why Donate at the State Level? Your investment goes back into the infrastructure of the Smart Start Network and is leveraged with State dollars, creating an even greater impact for all children and families. 11/8/2018

Why Donate at the State Level? Smart Start has always been a national model for public-private partnership. State funds support the foundational infrastructure enabling the network to expand into every community, and private funds allow for innovation, community investment, and expansion of services and programs. 11/8/2018

Why Donate at the State Level? To change lives, we need strong leaders driving the change. As a statewide network of early childhood experts, Smart Start invests in ensuring each of our community leaders has the tools, resources, and skills to bring their community together and improve outcomes for our youngest children. 11/8/2018

Join Us as a Sponsor! We’re throwing a gala to celebrate 25 years of Smart Start. It will be a night for adults to play like children, as well as honor the work of the last 25 years to build strong and vibrant children, families, and communities in North Carolina. 11/8/2018

Join Us as a Sponsor! The event will be a fun, formal affair (black tie optional) We’ll be honoring our original board chairs and of course there will be entertainment, food, and drinks. Sponsors and their guests from across the state will be in attendance. 11/8/2018

Join Us as a Sponsor! Sponsorship levels range from $10,000 to $2,500. Benefits include tickets to the gala, logos and recognition on event materials, VIP table reservations, sponsor display table opportunities, and much more! Reach out to Jessica Griffin, NCPC Fund Development Manger with any questions. (jgriffin@smartstart.org) 11/8/2018