• Smart Start is a public-private early childhood initiative to help ALL North Carolina children enter school healthy and ready to succeed.

• Its unique, comprehensive approach allows communities to make decisions and plans that are specific to the needs of young children and families.

• Smart Start services are targeted for children 0-5 and their families and include making sure child care is of high quality and affordable and accessible to those who need it, as well as health services and screenings and resources for family support.

How is Smart Start different from Head Start?

• Smart Start and Head Start are different even though they share similar goals.

• Head Start is a federally-funded program that targets a particular population of at-risk children. – It is based on a very specific program model and

serves children 3-4 years of age.

How is Smart Start different from Head Start?

• Smart Start is funded by state and private funds and, although the program targets children with need, it improves services for ALL children under kindergarten-age.

• The specific goal of Smart Start is to assist young children to enter school healthy and prepared for success.

• Typically, Smart Start funds are spent on a variety of different programs

Is Smart Start just for poor children?

• No. Smart Start is making an impact on North Carolina's early childhood system which benefits all of North Carolina's children.

• Many projects that are funded by Smart Start are directed toward children who don't have access to high quality services such as child care.

• When services are improved for these children, they are improved for all children in care.

• Families also have access to more resources through Smart Start.

Which children are served by Smart Start?

• Potentially, all children in a county may be impacted by Smart Start.

• Children may receive multiple services from a variety of programs funded by Smart Start, such as subsidized child care, developmental screenings, an enrichment program at the local library, and their parents may receive parent education.

• Because of these multiple services, it is difficult to know an exact unduplicated total number of children served, although it is possible to determine a total number of children served in a particular program.

Is Smart Start an invasion on the family and family values?

• Smart Start provides an opportunity for local citizens to make decisions about services needed for their young children, based on each county's particular circumstances, need and resources.

• In addition, Smart Start allows citizens to hold local agencies accountable for the services they are already providing and affords the opportunity to those who are most familiar with local needs to fill in the gaps in services.

How is Smart Start funded?

• Smart Start is a non-profit which is funded by the North Carolina General Assembly.

• An additional 10 percent of Smart Start's funding must also come from private contributions.

• Each year, Smart Start has exceeded its 10 percent private funding requirement.

• Smart Start's corporate supporters include all of the major banks in North Carolina.

How are Smart Start funds currently being spent?

• At least 70 percent of Smart Start direct service funds is spent on child care and child care-related activities.

• However, local Smart Start partnerships can choose to spend more in this area. Child care-related services include direct child care subsidies, child care and education and teacher education and support, etc.

• Of that 70 percent, a minimum of 30 percent must be spent on child care subsidies.

• The remaining 30 percent is spent on health care and family support programs and services