What is Smart Start?
Smart Start is North Carolina's nationally-recognized initiative to ensure all children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Smart Start helps working parents pay for child care, improves the quality of child care and provides health and family support services in every North Carolina county.

Is Smart Start just for low-income families?
No. Smart Start works to ensure all children have the skills they need to be successful in school. That could include hearing, dental or developmental screenings, access to higher quality child care and support for families.

How can I enroll my child in a Smart Start center?
Smart Start is not a child care center. Smart Start helps make child care centers better through educational opportunities for child care teachers, reducing teacher turnover, providing resources and educational materials, etc. Smart Start can help you find high quality child care arrangements in your community.

How can I get help paying for child care?
There are two ways to receive help paying for child care: 1. Contact your local Department of Social Services; 2. Contact your local Smart Start Partnership.

What is the difference between Smart Start and Head Start?
Head Start is a federally-funded preschool program that targets low-income 3 and 4 year olds. Smart Start is funded through state and private funds and provides a variety of services for children less than 6 years of age and their families.

What is the difference between Smart Start and More at Four?
Smart Start is a statewide initiative that begins serving young children at birth with high quality child care, health and family support services. Education begins at birth, so it's important to reach children early. More at Four Pre-Kindergarten is a new program specifically targeted to reach four-year-olds at-risk of school failure in a quality preschool classroom.