Wake County Smartstart

Family support/health and safetywake county smart start funds family support, and health and safety activities that benefit families and children in wake county. Family support provides parenting skills training, ongoing parent education, family literacy initiatives, transportation, community outreach, and family navigation. Health and safety provides training, technical assistance, counseling, nutrition, physical activities, and referrals to address healthcare, mental health needs, and preventative services. Approximately 890 children directly benefited from at least one wake county smart start family support or health and safety activity. Programs are supported by state and private grants .

Wake threeschoolthis program provides early education to young children in a play-based, dynamic environment, like the nationally recognized nc pre-k program. Research shows that when three-year-old children receive support for learning early, they learn better, gain stronger skills, and are better prepared for success in pre-k and kindergarten. This program leverages the rapid brain growth and development that happens at age three. This "framework" is what all future learning is built upon. Children participating in the program are served in licensed private child care facilities and head start programs. For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, 333 children participated in the program. The program is supported by a local government grant.

Child care education and qualityin wake county, 33 percent of the "birth-to-five" population attended regulated child care. Because a child's experiences in the first five years are of such a critical nature, wake county smart start works to ensure that quality child care is both accessible and available to families who need it. Wake county smart start invests in community partners who provide subsidy payments in regulated childcare, work with licensed child care facilities to maintain or improve quality, and provide opportunities for child care professionals to increase their skills. Additional areas of support include training, curriculum enhancements, and mentoring programs. For fiscal year 2024 - 2025, approximately 31 child care facilities were served. Programs are supported by a state grant and program service fees.

Program coordination and evaluationwork with community stakeholders to achieve goals articulated in the strategic plan; work with partners to develop evaluation plans and track implementation; assess progress towards goals, participate in strategic planning; gather and analyze relevant data; community needs assessments; manage requests for proposals process and participate in the development of funding recommendations. The program is supported by a state grant.