SSMC 30th Publication

Celebrating
30 years of
Helping Children
Turn 5
Ready to Thrive

A MESSAGE FROM OUR TEAM
Thirty years – what an incredible journey it’s been! While members of the Outreach Team haven’t necessarily been
with the organization for its entirety, we can attest to the innovative spirit with which Smart Start of Mecklenburg
County approaches its work in the community.
Therefore, we express gratitude to our network of families and caregivers, early childhood professionals, and
community members. Without this web of support, we would not have made the impact we’ve seen over the past
three decades.
Since it originated in 1993 as a solution to the problem of children coming to school unprepared to learn, Smart Start
has evolved into a statewide network of 75 partnerships. Smart Start of Mecklenburg County is proud to be a part of
this outstanding model focused on all early childhood needs.
Over the past year in Mecklenburg County alone, we have worked with over 20 direct service providers and five
innovation grant recipients. This collaboration with our partners helps drive us towards reaching our goal of serving
the 88,000+ children under five in our community each year.
As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we have also had the privilege of planning and hosting the third annual
Partner Powered Conference, a full day of relationship-building and professional development.
In conjunction with the conference, we hosted a rooftop reception to honor the transformational impact our partners
and supporters have helped us achieve in the prenatal to five community over the past thirty years.
We also planned and hosted the organization’s first Quality Symposium: A Conversation on Quality for Early Care &
Education.
What started as a solution to help children turn five ready to thrive has evolved into a robust system built to invest,
collaborate and convene, and innovate. The Outreach Team thanks you for your dedication to the early childhood
community and looks forward to connecting with you at our awareness events throughout the upcoming year.
Warmest Regards,
The Smart Start of Mecklenburg County Outreach Team
Tenille Alexander-Banner, Outreach Director
Jacob Brewer, Partnership Communication Coordinator
Katie Grant, Communication Manager
Alexis Louis, Partnership Manager
Oscar Garcia Menjivar, Community Outreach Coordinator

Helping all children in Mecklenburg County
TURN FIVE READY TO THRIVE.
Our Mission
We mobilize resources, forge
partnerships, and support
families to improve early
childhood health, education and
development, and ensure
children are prepared
for kindergarten.
Vision
All children in Charlotte and
Mecklenburg County enter
kindergarten healthy and ready
to succeed.
What We Do
• Smart Start of Mecklenburg County is recognized
as a leader in the community regarding all issues
related to children prenatal to five.
• We administer four internal programs and
campaigns in addition to funding more than 20
other programs in the community that focus on
early care and education, family support, health,
and literacy.
• In order to effectively meet the mission of the
organization, Smart Start must build the capacity
to lead people and processes through a strong
team of professionals. We do this by investing in
the community, collaborating and convening with
other experts, and driving innovation in the early
childhood space.
• Smart Start of Mecklenburg County will invest
over $35 million in early childhood programs
throughout the community this year.

Our Work in the Community
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County aspires to fulfill its mandate
and lead the way for the prenatal-5 community: ALL children
should turn five ready to thrive!
Invest in the Early Childhood Community
Experiences a child has during the first 2,000 days—from birth to
kindergarten—have been shown to have an impact throughout life.
Therefore, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County invests time and money in
local, evidence-based/evidence-informed initiatives to improve early care
and education, family support, health, and literacy as a holistic approach
for children birth-to-five.
Collaborate and Convene
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County serves as a hub for research and
collaboration to improve lives of young children and their families. We
organize and host platforms to share information, prompt discussion, and
generate support and action to promote an aligned, comprehensive early
childhood system. We also partner with other early childhood stakeholder
organizations to provide advocacy and collaborative opportunities.
Drive Innovation
Smart Start was created in 1993 by Governor Jim Hunt as an innovative
way to tackle an important problem: children were coming to school
unprepared to learn. Today, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County both
funds innovation externally as well as seeks to serve as an incubator of
innovative ideas and practices for the birth-to-five space.
How You Can Help
In order to meet the ongoing needs of children and families in our community, Smart
Start relies on the generosity of individuals, businesses, and foundations to support
our efforts. Financial, tax-deductible contributions enable us to expand our services
and partnerships and reach even more children throughout Mecklenburg County.
smartstartofmeck.org

Meet our FY23-24
Community Partners
Health Programs
The Challenge: The first 2,000 days of a child’s life are the
foundation for long-term health and well-being – physically,
mentally, and emotionally. And yet, many children experience
barriers, both individually and systemically, that put them at a
lifelong disadvantage.
How We Help: All children deserve access to high-quality physical and mental health
care, early identification of developmental delays and the intervention services necessary
to catch them up, and healthy models for good habit formation. Therefore, Smart
Start partners with programs that empower parents with information related to brain
development and developmental milestones, promote the adoption of innovative,
evidence-based therapies by Charlotte providers, and expand access to services and
treatments children need to turn five ready to thrive.
Guiding Parents to Services
Guiding Parents to Services (GPS) supports children and their
families as they navigate the evaluation process provided by CMS
for a potential developmental delay. Families get connected to GPS
via referral from the Children’s Developmental Services Agency
(CDSA) or from a Meck Pre-K classroom. The goal is to empower
families to get the early interventions services their child needs and
GPS fosters this through navigation, educational, and emotional
support during this pivotal time.
Community Literacy Impact Program
Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center provides no cost screenings
for over 2,000 young children in Mecklenburg, and connection
to evaluation services for those children who need further
assessment. Additionally, CSHC delivers evidence-based, early
language intervention services for high risk preschool enrolled
children, that builds their skills in early communication, emerging
receptive and expressive language - skills critical for early literacy
success.
www.smartstartofmeck.org

Parent Child Interactive Therapy
The Novant Health Center for Pediatric Development, a local clinic
supporting children with developmental delays and other deficits
contributing to poor school readiness, has added a mental health
therapeutic component - Parent Child Interaction Therapy. This
demonstration project seeks to reduce the behavioral challenges
young children and their families face.
Family Support Programs
The Challenge: All families want their children to succeed, but
given the inequities in our society, some families lack the necessary
knowledge or resources to raise their young children optimally.
Teen parents, adults with poor English literacy, families in poverty,
and parents with trauma may need additional support to help
them prepare their children for future success. Just as each family
is unique, each family’s need is exceptional. Therefore Smart Start partners with a wide
range of programs so that all children turn five ready to thrive.
How We Help: We recognize that the responsibility for a family’s success does not rest
solely with the family; it is shared with the systems within the community and culture
that either help or hinder a family’s ability to succeed. Therefore, Smart Start invests
strategically at all levels. This includes our partnerships with local agencies and early
childhood experts, our convening work within the community, and on a systems level by
identifying the gaps and barriers within our support networks and advocating for change
and additional resources.
Child Adult Relationship Enhancement
Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) is a agency wide
adaptation of Parent Child Interaction Therapy, designed to model
the skills taught to enhance the adult-child relationship. CARE is
to be used by non-clinical professionals working with traumatized
children and their adult caregivers to foster a trauma-informed
environment. Skills are taught via live coaching, and caregivers
practice the skills in pairs and small groups while trainers observe
and coach.
Safe Journey’s Parents as Teachers
Safe Journey uses the evidenced based Parents as Teachers (PAT)
model to provide teen parents with child development knowledge
and parenting support so that they can successfully stay in school.
Case Managers provide one-on-one home visits, monthly group
meetings, developmental screenings, and a resource network. Safe
Journey may serve families from pregnancy to kindergarten entry,
or until parent graduation, whichever comes first.

Nurse-Family Partnership
The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is designed for low-income
mothers and their children. It includes one-on-one home visits by a
trained public health registered nurse to participating clients. The
visits begin early in the woman’s pregnancy and conclude when
the woman’s child turns 2 years old. During visits, nurses work to
reinforce maternal behaviors that are consistent with program
goals and that encourage positive behaviors and accomplishments.
Topics of the visits include prenatal care; caring for an infant; and
encouraging the emotional, physical, and cognitive development of
young children.
YMCA Parents as Teachers
The goal of the YMCA Parents as Teachers (PAT) program is to
provide Hispanic parents with child development knowledge and
parenting support. The PAT model includes one-on-one home visits,
monthly group meetings, developmental screenings, and a resource
network for families. PAT may serve families from pregnancy to
kindergarten entry.
The Basics Mecklenburg
The Basics is a public education campaign built on five evidence
based parenting and caregiving principles important for healthy
brain development for children from birth to age three. Eighty
percent of brain growth happens in the first three years of life,
and every child from every background can benefit from routinely
engaging in these fun, simple, and powerful learning experiences.
The Basics brain development campaign is working through a
variety of local partners to ensure that every parent and caregiver
is fully supported by family, friends, and the community to use ‘The
Basics’ practices in everyday life.
Moms Moving Forward
Feedom Communities’ Moms Moving Forward Program uses the
evidenced based EMPath model to take a holistic and community
based approach to drive upward mobility and family stability for
single mothers and their children in the 28208 zip code. During the
12 month, paid program, mothers build a network of support with
other program participants and make connections to resources
to address their area(s) of need, as identified on the Bridge to Self
Sufficiency.

Early Care & Education Programs
The Challenge: In Mecklenburg County, most infants and young
children live in families where all caregivers work outside the
home. To have peace of mind, families want conveniently located,
high-quality care for their young children, delivered by educated
professionals at a price that doesn’t break the bank. Yet, too
often, families are forced into situations where care is unstable,
unaffordable, or of questionable quality.
How We Help: Smart Start recognizes the high cost of poor childcare and invests
80% of its funds accordingly to educate families on how to locate good childcare, to
increase access to high-quality childcare for low-income families through subsidies and
accessible, high quality pre-school, to offer teacher training, and bonus payments for
teachers intent on attaining higher education levels, and on supporting the licensure
and safety of childcare centers with technical assistance.
Charlotte Bilingual Preschool
A 5-star program that provides high-quality, tuition-free preschool
education to low-income, at-risk Hispanic/Latino children. Charlotte
Bilingual Preschool prepares students for a successful transition to
kindergarten and offers parent training and engagement.
Child Care Health Consultants
The Mecklenburg County Health Department employs highly
trained nurses and health educators to work with child care
facilities to ensure the health and safety of all children in their
care. These professionals provide training, ongoing coaching and
technical assistance on a wide variety of topics related to health and
safety, including safe sleeping, sound nutrition, disease prevention,
supporting a child with special health care needs, and much more.
Social Emotional Teacher Coaching
Young children are learning how to deal with strong emotions in
themselves and others and often need help in learning regulation
skills; and yet preschoolers are expelled at three times the rate of
K-12 students. Social Emotional Teacher Coaching (SETC) recognizes
this as gap in early care providers’ capacity to meet this need and
strives to: 1) improve Mecklenburg licensed child care professionals’
knowledge and skills to provide consistent pro-social environments
that foster children’s social-emotional development, and 2) nurture
teacher practices that appropriately and constructively address
children’s behaviors and maintain their child care placements.

The Learning Collaborative
Serves preschool children from at-risk families through a 5 star,
tuition-free program with literacy-rich activities that address their
educational and social needs. A Family Support Specialist builds
and nurtures relationships with parents to lay the foundation for
ongoing involvement in their child’s education.
Quality Everyday
Helps directors and teachers improve each child’s experience in
the classroom through supportive adult-child interactions and
high-quality learning environments. Specialists deliver in-depth
training on various topics and on-site coaching to help achieve
identified goals. Various tools guide the coaching process, including
Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), North Carolina
Foundations for Early Learning and Development, Environment
Rating Scales, Program Administration Scale, and Business
Administration Scale. QED partners with Central Piedmont
Community College to deliver a 2-credit course on making the most
of classroom interactions and also engages local wellness experts
to support staff resilience. 3-, 4- and 5-star child care centers, family
child care homes, and new operating programs with a temporary
license in Mecklenburg County are eligible.
MECK Pre-K
MECK Pre-K is a Mecklenburg County-funded program that offers a
high-quality Pre-K experience to ensure children are academically
and developmentally prepared for kindergarten. Classrooms are
located in 4 and 5 star child care centers and children attend a 6.5
hour school day program.
North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten (NC Pre-K)
Offers a high-quality pre-k option for at-risk children and prepares
them for success in school. Children attend a 6.5 hour school day
program following the CMS schedule. Classrooms are located in 4
and 5 star child care centers and Head Start programs.
Early Childhood Workforce Development
This new project recruits individuals who are interested in
becoming childcare teachers in Mecklenburg County, provides
them access to the required training, and gives them on the job
experience by placing them in participating member centers as
substitute teachers.

WAGE$ NC
The Child Care WAGE$® Program provides education-based salary
supplements to qualifying teachers, directors and family child care
providers working with children between the ages of birth to five.
The program is designed to provide preschool children more stable
relationships with better-educated teachers by rewarding teacher
education and continuity of care.
Literacy Programs
The Challenge: Children must learn to read so that they can read
to learn. Yet, many families do not realize that language and literacy
skills begin early, years before entering kindergarten.
How We Help: Children need daily access to high-quality picture
books and a loving adult to share them with, and so Smart Start
provides access to engaging children’s books, with practical suggestions for parents,
so that caregivers can share them in loving, everyday interactions that expand a child’s
understanding of the world.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Provides books, free of charge, to children living in Mecklenburg
County until their 5th birthday. Enrolled children receive one ageappropriate
book in the mail each month until their 5th birthday.
Raising a Reader
Promotes literacy between parents and children by sending home
weekly, rotating bags of high quality books to children enrolled
in targeted child care centers and by offering onsite early literacy
workshops, to enhance the shared reading skills of parents and
teachers.
Ready4K
A research-based, free, text-messaging program for parents with
young children, aged birth to five. Each week, parents receive ageappropriate
facts, tips and easy to use suggestions to boost their
child’s learning by building on existing family routines.

SMART START OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY ANNOUNCES ITS
THIRD ANNUAL INNOVATION GRANT RECIPIENTS
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County (SSMC) is committed to innovation in early childhood. In order to drive
innovation, we seek partnerships with organizations that have the potential to deliver meaningful outcomes for
children and families.
We value change centered on community, collaboration, and collective action as integral to shifting entrenched
power structures. Our third annual Innovation Grants support efforts to champion equitable access and
opportunities for all in early childhood. Smart Start funded projects engage community voices, particularly
communities of color, to build equitable solutions.
how programs get funded; and key advocacy skills.
The Academy will address the root causes of white
supremacy, entrenched mindsets about race and power,
and scarcity mindsets.
Black Child Development Institute
Funding will fully implement The Family Empowerment
Program, FEP, a holistic approach to build the capacity
of families through education on brain development,
toxic stress, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and
the importance of building resiliency and developing
protective factors. FEP is culturally relevant and
responsive, trauma Informed, and evidence-based.
Family Childcare & Center Enrichment
Foundation
Funding to help build the capacity of this new
organization to meet the needs of area family child care
providers and the families they serve. A consultant will
be hired to facilitate focus groups with families and to
support the strategic focus and goal setting.
BYE Foundation
Funding will increase family engagement by establishing
a Family Leadership and Engagement Coalition (FLEC),
where parents/caregivers work alongside early
childhood education providers as equal partners to shift
from agency-centered to family-centered policies.
Educational Equity Institute
Funding provides a 12-month Family Advocacy Academy,
a community organizing approach, to build power
and advocacy skills within traditionally marginalized
neighborhoods. Participants will learn about power
(e.g., what it is, who holds power in Charlotte); what
early childhood education is, why it is important, and
Safe Alliance
Funding to engage families, survivors of violence and
direct service providers to inform the creation of a
model, trauma-informed early care and education
program capable of fostering the social and emotional
wellbeing of children exposed to violence. The model
program will be housed at the new Umbrella Center,
formerly named the Family Justice Center.
We are incredibly thankful for both the Innovation Grants
Committee and the Community Investment Committee for their
time and consideration as well as the private funders that
support this year’s innovation grant process. We look forward to
witnessing how these investments permeate our early
childhood community today, tomorrow, and in the future!

30 YEARS OF PEOPLE, PARTNERS AND PROGRAMS
At Smart Start of Mecklenburg County, we are enormously proud of the partners who support local families with
young children. Therefore, as Smart Start of Mecklenburg County celebrates 30 years of helping children turn five
ready to thrive, we are honored to highlight 30 people, partners, and programs that have helped advance our mission.

READ WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT
SMART START OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY
Tara Alexander-Young, Early Childhood Educator,
Alliance Center for Education
A lot of people think playing, that’s not learning, but
that’s their job. It’s the basics, it’s the foundation of
every child. It’s that starting point, that’s the child’s
job at that time and they learn how to interact, they
learn how to be social, they learn how to basically do a
job by routine. Smart Start is a community supporter
that affords education opportunities to those in early
childhood, to families seeking other opportunities and
needing services as well. Working in early childhood
and doing classes that were sponsored by Smart Start, I
saw the opportunity and I took it. It’s something to see
a child come in and they’re afraid, they’re not speaking,
or they can’t write their name. And then they get
excited when they can spell their name, they can write
their name for you. Or, when they want to have a conversation with you when they first meet you and they were like,
“I don’t want to talk to you, that’s a stranger,” but now I hear, “Ms. Tara, Ms. Tara, let me show you this, let me show you
what I did today” or “Come watch me write this.” That’s a big thing.
Stacy Baker, The Basics Mecklenburg Manager,
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
The Basics is an outreach program targeted to children
and families age 0 to 5. 80% of the brain is developed
by the time a child reaches 3, so a child without that
engagement then can have more issues when it comes
to behavior control and emotional control, where a
child that thrives during that time, they’re going to be
more successful in the classroom. Our goal is to bring
awareness as to how important and critical that time
frame is. The way that parents say that they’re able
to really use The Basics as a tool for them to really
understand what their children are going through and
how they’re wired and why they do the certain things
that they do. It brings a really good understanding to
parents. I feel proud to know that I’m bringing that
education to other parents to engage with their children in their daily lives.

Mike Blackwelder, Chief Executive Officer,
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County (effective FY 2024)
We’re in a great place. I just think now is the best time,
the most exciting time to be part of Smart Start of
Mecklenburg County. We have done so much great work
through and with our partners. Our partners are the most
important thing to us. You know, we will never be the sole
force making change in early childhood in Charlotte or
Mecklenburg County. We can’t do it without our partners
and whether they are funded partners through our Smart
Start network, whether it’s our Meck Pre-K and county
partners, or just people that we collaborate with, the
CMS, CCRI, county, city, state…it’s so invaluable. At the
end of the day, the work that’s being done, the impact
that’s made on the kids and the families, that’s what’s
most important. So that’s our focus, and we really want to
make a difference in all of the children and families that live in Mecklenburg County. We’re bringing in innovative ideas and
programs and things that haven’t been done in the community before and really disrupting the system and making systems
change and community change that’s just really needed in our sector. Knowing the results that are happening, knowing
the change that is being made, the impact on the lives of the people that we serve, is incredibly rewarding and I’m just so
honored to be part of an organization that is making that change and has the potential to make even more positive impact.
Hannah Beavers, Executive Director, Freedom Communities
Freedom Communities is family-centered community
transformation. We’ve partnered with Smart Start
now on two initiatives. First, we were a recipient of
an innovation grant and they helped us to cover some
childcare scholarships for folks that couldn’t afford
to pay for childcare. And then last year Smart Start
partnered with us on our Moms Moving Forward
Program, and we work with them to really build that
healthy mindset that they need to move themselves
and their whole family forward. When you think
about what Smart Start is all about, in my opinion, it’s
helping to equip children at the most critical age of
their brain development, and of course education is
part of that, but also parenting is really critical to that.
So having a child go home to a safe and stable home environment is critical to the equation for child stability and for
later outcomes. I mean this is an organization that is putting investment in resources at the most critical time of the
development of a human being, and so I think of Smart Start as being one of the most vitally important organizations
here.

Dr. Nicole Campbell, Director of Expansion,
Charlotte Bilingual Preschool
Charlotte Bilingual definitely fills a safe space for
children and families of Latin descent. We’re able to
have such creative teachers that create such printrich,
literacy-rich classrooms. The foundation is so
important, exposure is super important, especially
in dual-language education. Smart Start has a huge
investment in wanting to see all of the same things that
we want for our children and even more. We know
that a strong foundation creates strong kids, and so
to be partners in that is so important. To be able to
be present, to be able to assist, to be able to identify
programs that are doing things really well and say hey
we found some additional support for you because we
see what you’re doing, to be able to be present and do
all of those things, that is being a true steward of an investment, and so I think that Smart Start is invested.
Lizzie Carson, Executive Director, The Learning Collaborative
Stronger families create stronger children, and we are
a part of that partnership. The Learning Collaborative
is a nonprofit preschool housed in the neighborhood of
Grier Heights here in Charlotte, North Carolina. Smart
Start is absolutely critical, they are the hub for research
and collaboration. And it’s so true, we feel it everyday.
They are the hub for connecting all of us and the goal
is to create a stronger family so that children are
ready to thrive by five, so they go to kindergarten and
they are ready. It’s hard, it is very hard, because every
child deserves a high-quality education. But, it’s so
rewarding to see those children when they walk across
that graduation stage in their little cap and gown and
they get that diploma. And for so many of our families in
their mind we are charging them with, “This isn’t their only graduation. We want a high school graduation. We want a
college graduation. We’ve got big plans for your child.”

Sherri Chisholm, Executive Director, Leading On Opportunity
Leading On Opportunity is focused on improving
economic mobility. One of the major pillars to improve
economic mobility is early childhood education, so we
often look to Smart Start as a resource to us to help
us understand not only what’s going on in the space,
but what we could be doing better. So really they’re
an expert for us as we communicate further to the
community. I think Smart Start is a fantastic example
of what it looks like to be the holder of research and
innovation, while also making it very relevant for
children and families. Families look to Smart Start for
an understanding of where the best locations to send
your child for early care are as well as to understand
what’s happening in the field. I think that they strike
the balance between someone who’s on the forefront of what works and then also balancing what we need right
now. I see Smart Start really as that linchpin between understanding programming, communicating with the county
leaders and also with business leaders to help understand why childcare is so important. And so we are in a place now
in Charlotte, largely due to Smart Start, where we understand the impact of childcare, not only on the child, but the
family and workforce as well.
Amy Cubbage, President, North Carolina Partnership for Children
We are the statewide, backbone organization
supporting the Smart Start network. At the North
Carolina Partnership for Children, the state office,
we are responsible for ensuring accountability and
compliance, but also critically important is a strategic
vision for early childhood… Smart Start is a system
of early childhood that is then replicated in local
communities and counties across the state. Smart Start
of Mecklenburg County is the largest local partnership.
From the beginning, under the founding of Governor
Hunt and the legislature in 1993, the vision was that
we would get kids ready for school, but that it had to be
from a comprehensive, whole-child approach. And if we
could get kids to that place of readiness, physical, social,
emotional and cognitive, then the follow on is so much easier. A dollar saved is so much easier and greater when we
invest in those early years.

Amy DeShazo, Guiding Parents to Services Coordinator,
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
Smart Start is positioned to be able to be a wide lens,
to look at all children. So the impact that our program
has had is focusing on the underserved population
of children with disabilities. I help families navigate
the special education process as they enter into the
school system. I am a special needs parent myself. I
did these processes myself for my own children and
so when parents talk to me, it’s not just talking to a
professional. They are talking to another mom. I am
also a family advocate, so I sit with families, I go to the
meetings and help them understand what’s going on.
Having somebody to be able to support them really
sets families up for success. Having my own children,
I have seen what early intervention and what special
education can do, and to be able to make sure that all of these children are receiving that type of support as early as
possible, while their brains are still developing, while we are still able to pace them out to hit as high of a bar as they
possibly can.
Dena Diorio, County Manager, Mecklenburg County
We’ve had a relationship with Smart Start for many,
many, many years, but the most recent collaboration
is on our Meck Pre-K Program. Smart Start has been
the organization that has really run the program,
has really helped us develop the program, has really
helped us grow the program, and has brought a level
of excellence to that program that we would not have
been able to achieve on our own. Pre-K is incredibly
important, all the research shows that children that
have access and participate in a high quality Pre-K
experience have much more success over their lifetime.
Outcomes are so much better by having that one
4-year-old experience, and so when we start talking
about economic opportunity and economic mobility,
for Mecklenburg County, investing in Pre-K for us was really a no-brainer. I love the way Smart Start has grown, it has
really started to lean in other areas, it’s going to be very helpful for us. They’re a great partner and are going to work
side by side with the county. We see a long, very productive partnership with Smart Start.

Joanette Freeman, Board Chair, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
I joined the organization in 2018, so I’ve been a member
now going on five years. We are doing phenomenal.
Smart Start has really come a long way. When I joined
the organization, it was in a very different place,
but now we have more community partners. I think
our exposure in the community and our impact has
definitely broadened since the time that I joined the
organization. So now that we have more capacity within
the organization, it gives us the opportunity to do more
in the community. I would love to just continue to see
us expand. I really have this mentality that every child
that wants to be a part of Smart Start, that meets the
criteria, should be able to be a part of that program. So,
I’m just hoping with our Smart Start and Meck Pre-K
tag team that we’ll impact as many children as possible in Mecklenburg County.
Dr. Devonya Govan-Hunt, Executive Director of Charlotte
Affiliate, National Black Child Development Institute
Our mission is to improve and advance the quality of
life for Black and brown children and families through
education and advocacy. We are bridged between
parents, community, and school. Right now we serve 15
different schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School
System, two charter schools, and we serve a whole
wealth of childcare centers. Families cannot do it by
themselves, parenting is one of the most challenging
things that we’ll ever decide to do with our lives, yet
one of the most rewarding. We are always trying to
purge the preschool-to-prison pipeline. Smart Start
was actually bold enough to say this is worth taking
a look into because we can’t talk about preparing
children to enter the formal school system if we’re not
providing more optimal early learning environments. So a part of achieving equity is acknowledging that there is an
issue in some areas and then trying to figure out what do we do about it. Smart Start has made it okay to have difficult
conversations in the early ed space. Smart Start has made it okay to convene those with lived experiences who are
on the ground, who are most proximate to the challenges that we’re trying to solve. They’ve made it comfortable and
they’ve normalized having those folks around the table.

Jake House, Chief Executive Officer, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
(through FY 2023)
The 30th anniversary of Smart Start, it is just incredible,
and seeing the generations of children grow up with the
services here in Mecklenburg County is a real legacy
to everybody that has been a part of this. So, there’s
three things that Smart Start does. The first thing we
do is we invest in the early childhood community. We’re
more than a funder, we put our people and our funding
to work in over 20 different organizations across
family, health, early education, literacy, and that’s a big
core piece of what we do. The second thing we do is
we try to serve as a lead collaborator and convener in
the space. We publish research, we’ve done a seminal
piece on children with special healthcare needs, we’ve
done a prenatal-to-three landscape study. What we do
is we get the research out and then we bring people together to have discussions and try to move the ball forward
to advance the ideas and recommendations. And then the third area that we focus on is innovation. We want to be
a hub for innovation in early education. So, we invest, we collaborate and convene, and we drive innovation. Here in
Mecklenburg County, we are impacting children and families from prenatal up to five years old. We have the ability to
say that any 4 year old living in Mecklenburg County has access to high quality, free public Pre-K education.
Zuni Johnson, Executive Director, Twirl to the World
Jason McCraw, Co-Founder, Twirl to the World
Twirl to the World is a local nonprofit here in the
Charlotte area and our mission is to bring relief and
joy to the world through social advocacy and hardship
assistance for the most vulnerable of Charlotte’s
LGBTQ+ community. As such, as part of our signature
event, we collect toys. At our very first event, we
collected teddy bears as admission to our event for
children with HIV or AIDS. We had overwhelming
success, collecting 1,200 teddy bears. We have
partnered with Smart Start for well over a decade and
just the hundreds and hundreds of toys each year, to
see them collected, it’s impactful. And again that’s
where Twirl has really synergized. We’ve engaged
partner agencies, so let them focus on their core
services while we can help provide the other ways. And to see people bring in toys just as they are coming into an
event and to see them being collected on the stage or a spot in the venue is just mind-blowing.

Dr. Mary-Margaret Kantor, Chief Early Education Officer,
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
Almost 95% of a child’s brain development takes
place between 0 and 5. That’s not to say you don’t get
smarter, you don’t learn more later in life. You do, but
you can only learn more if those connections in your
brain have been fired when you’re young. Even though
it was intuitive before and people knew it anecdotally,
we now have great science to back that up, that we
have to give these kids all of these experiences early in
life in order for any successful learning to happen later.
So, the biggest chore I have as Chief Early Education
Officer is to serve as the senior administrator for
the Meck Pre-K program. That’s a free year of prekindergarten
for any 4-year-old in Mecklenburg
County. Of course the biggest way it helps is getting
their child ready for schooling, getting ready for the education for the rest of their lives. But, the other huge
advantage to Meck Pre-K is that there is no income ceiling, there is no special need, it’s open to any 4-year-old child.
Mecklenburg County wants all of its children to be well-educated, have a well-rounded education, have the same
opportunities for all children, to excel in life, and to exceed. Meck Pre-K provides the perfect foundation for that.
Jared Keaton, Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Center for Education
If you’re having a bad day, as soon as you walk through
the threshold of one of these classrooms, that’ll change
your whole perspective, it’s irresistible. The young ones
will come up to you, they’re eager to greet you, learn
about you, and interact with you. So if you’re having
a bad day, it’ll bring some sunshine into your life real
quick. The Alliance Center for Education, we give the
community and schools a hug in terms of the students.
One arm is we help prepare young families and young
students for school in a school readiness program. And
then the other arm is we continue to work with that
family as the student goes into school in an afterschool
and a summer day camp perspective. We would not
be quite the organization we are today without Smart
Start. From the standpoint of understanding the industry that we work in, understanding the unique challenges that
families are facing, we’ve been able to take advantage of that in partnership with them on behalf of the community
served.

Veronica Kirkland, Home Visitation Expansion Coordinator,
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
Our children’s parents are their first teachers. So with
them being the first teachers, if those parents and those
households do not have the necessary support and
they don’t even know how to build protective factors to
support their children, their children will go to pre-K,
kindergarten, first grade unprepared. We are trying
to support programs in the county that are actually
doing that work. So, we’re here to expand or produce
a landscape analysis, publish that so that others in the
community — parents and community providers and
stakeholders — will know exactly what those homebased
services are actually doing in the homes because
they’re doing really good work. Personally, I’ve been a
family that needed home visiting services. So for me,
knowing what it does, it totally gives me a different purview. Secondly, I’ve been a home visitor, so I know what it is
as a professional to even go in and to provide this type of support to families and how transformational it really is for
them. So, it’s really near and dear to my heart.
Laura Meier, District 5 County Commissioner, Mecklenburg County
Smart Start is an essential partner for Mecklenburg
County and the early childhood and family
development space. We need them to help establish
and implement the programming that we are
funding. We have to help the children who don’t
have the financial ability to pay for Pre-K or pay for
early childhood education. It’s just giving them that
foundation that otherwise they may not have had. I’m
excited to see what’s going to happen to the children
who are in Pre-K now, all the way to high school. We
are absolutely making a difference. There is no doubt
in my mind we’re making a difference. Smart Start is
leading the way in this community for early childhood
development, family development, creating that
foundation for our children to be successful academically, to be healthy physically, promoting that family unit, so yeah
we’re successful.

Tchernavia Montgomery, Chief Executive Officer, Care Ring
Since 1955, Care Ring has served as a trusted pillar
of community healthcare. We provide a wide range
of healthcare services along the continuum for
individuals who are uninsured and underinsured of
Mecklenburg County. Our most enduring relationship
and partnership began when Smart Start became one of
our first funders for Nurse-Family Partnership. Nurse-
Family Partnership is an evidence-based and nationally
recognized program that provides home visitation
services for women prenatally and through the child’s
second year of life. So we are very grateful for that
ability to continue to partner with them so that we can
change the landscape for children before they even
enter the world. We have collectively served over 1,600
families, so we have improved the health and well-being and economic self-sufficiency of low-income and vulnerable
families in this county. And we are helping children enter the world healthy. We are helping to reduce the morbidity
and challenges that women of color experience during pregnancy. And when a child has a healthy start, they have a
better opportunity to thrive in the world.
Avery Payne, Equity & Inclusion Director, Diaper Bank of North Carolina
The Diaper Bank of North Carolina is a nonprofit
that distributes diapers, period products, and adult
continence items to low income families. We distribute
about 7.5 million diapers each year across the state.
Smart Start was a part of statewide conversations that
we were having about our work and they expressed
great interest in getting this assistance for families
here in Mecklenburg County. With their help and
guidance, we’ve been able to serve around 200 babies
each month, and by the end of 2023 we expect to grow
that to 600 babies each month. One in three families
experience diaper need and have to make really tough
decisions about basic necessities, but we know that
something as simple as a diaper can go a long way.
Families say that they can buy medicine, pay for bills, and that they feel better and better equipped as parents to take
care of their thriving children, so the work that we do is much bigger, and Smart Start has been very important in that
success for us here in Charlotte.

Anisse Puryear, Supportive Services Manager, Safe Alliance
With Safe Alliance, we do provide services to families
and victims who have experienced domestic violence
and sexual assault. So with those families, they do
include children, specifically children ages 0 to 5.
We do work with them and through the funding
provided through Smart Start, we’re able to provide
the nurturing parenting education to parents. We’re
able to use the care model to make sure that children
are receiving the services, and it would not be possible
without Smart Start. Smart Start has really allowed Safe
Alliance to look more at the culture of our agency when
it comes to providing supportive services and delivery.
And so, with the funding that we do receive, it allows us
to use some innovative methods, not just with how we
present an idea, but also how we implement that idea. We are allowed to navigate some areas where we’re able to be
creative beforehand and then it is demonstrated through the way that we provide the support and services. We do
believe that when it comes to having a healthy family, it helps everyone - it helps the child to continue to develop, it
helps the parent to continue to feel like their purpose is being served and they grow together.
Ayesha Rahim,Literacy Coordinator, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
Children that are exposed to literacy and language
building prior to starting school are more successful
and more likely to become successful readers. I used
to be a first grade teacher and, in the classroom, I did
see the difference in my students and their abilities and
I did see that correlation to what was done at home.
A lot of times it is hard to address that with parents,
so I thought one way that I could help was to provide
parents with the resources and the knowledge that
they needed to help prepare their children for school.
With Smart Start, our space is 0-5 (years old). Early
literacy skills does not necessarily mean learning to
read, it’s learning that words have meaning, what
letters are, knowing that letters make up words. It’s all
the things that you need to know about reading before you actually start learning how to read. Research has shown
that just by having books in the house, children are more likely to have more of a positive attitude toward reading and
learning.

Cheryl L. Richards, Ph.D., Past Board Chair,
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
I got involved with Smart Start almost a decade ago.
A colleague of mine invited me to attend Toys For
Tots which was one of the signature events for Smart
Start back in the day where we were fundraising and
trying to raise awareness in the community for early
childhood education and children… A little while after
that, I was invited to be on the board and a little while
after that, was invited to chair the board, and really
poured a lot of passion into the organization because I
saw the potential that it could serve for the community.
One of the things Smart Start does is provide resources
across a spectrum of family health and literacy and
early childhood education, and if you think about it, I
think one of the greatest detriments to a community
is not knowing what you don’t know. And Smart Start provides those resources for families, for new parents, who
just don’t know how to navigate the systems, they don’t know what they don’t know. So Smart Start plays that
critical role in our community to bring them resources, to deliver books to children, to provide high-quality early
childhood education and so much more that goes on behind the scenes. We really touch a lot of lives in the Charlotte
community.
Dr. Munro Richardson, Executive Director, Read Charlotte
Read Charlotte is a county-wide early literacy initiative,
and our focus is increasing the number of children that
finish third grade reading proficiently. But that work
doesn’t begin the moment a child enters a school door.
It literally starts the moment that a child comes into
the world. The work of Read Charlotte covers birth to
third grade and Smart Start as an important convener,
thought leader, funder in our community in birth to
five, really working at the foundational level for early
literacy and of course early childhood development.
More children, particularly the most vulnerable
children in our communities have a chance to realize
their full potential and be ready to go the moment
they hit the school door. Smart Start is one of our most
important partnerships in the community. They have been one of our most reliable partners and we’ve really enjoyed
the opportunity to work with Smart Start over the years to really focus on ways that we can improve the system so
that more children have a fair chance at starting school ready to learn to read.

MaryBeth Simon, Past Board Chair, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County
80% of a child’s brain is developed in those first three
years. And learning through the work that Read
Charlotte was doing, I just became inspired. I learned
those messages and knew that those messages needed
to get out so other parents in my position had to
be aware of those messages and the importance of
brain development. There is no training, there’s no
license, there’s nothing that you need to go through
to become a parent, and being a parent is one of the
most important things that somebody does in their
life. They’re responsible for everything that that child
is going to turn into. You just all of a sudden one day
become a parent and you’re like, “What the heck am I
supposed to do?” Smart Start really does focus not only
on the children, but it’s also the parents. There is so much opportunity to change the systems that support that early
childhood phase and the parents, but the systems are broken. And Smart Start is needed to be an innovator, to use
research, to change the systems, not only here in Mecklenburg County, but across the United States.
Janet Singerman, President & CEO, Child Care Resources
Smart Start is part of a state-wide effort to advance
the school readiness of children by investing in early
care and education, family support, and child health
support for children ages birth to five. It wasn’t
always here. Governor Hunt started this initiative
really intentionally to raise the access to high quality
childcare in particular, to help ensure the readiness
of young children for school. As a society, we really
haven’t yet invested fully in children as a public
good. Mecklenburg County is to be commended for
its investment in Meck Pre-K, which Smart Start
administers, to really advance the well-being of young
children. Smart Start has always been since its creation
a co-planner and convener and collaborator to advance
child well-being in our spaces through early care and education.

Tara Lynn Sullivan, Assistant Superintendent of Learning and Teaching,
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Smart Start is a huge partner for us, particularly
through the birth to five range. In our partnership
with them, they have helped to provide support,
resources, and funding for us to be able to ensure we
have high-quality teachers, high-quality resources, and
high-quality programming within our North Carolina
Pre-K programs that we serve and support across the
county. Smart Start in general across our county has
been instrumental in really being the center point to
connect the child and the family to the resources and
the support, whether its educational resources, health
resources. In our collaboration with our CMS team and
the Meck Pre-K team, we’re working together to really
make sure we’re meeting the needs of our four year
olds, and I think the needs are so diverse across our county, and it really does take a village. As a parent, I know I rely
on all the different resources, whether it’s family, friends, community, or school with my own personal children. I think
that’s what Smart Start also helps to do is to be that connection for those.
Sandy Weathersbee, President/Owner,
Providence Preparatory School
My connection to Smart Start is that we opened
Providence Preparatory School, the first building, in
2012. As that business sort of began to mature a little
bit over time, my wife and I decided that we needed
to pay a little more attention to the advocacy role we
could play in the community, looking beyond our own
4.5 acre campus. And it happened that we just started
talking to Smart Start about making a contribution
because they do things we can’t do because we’re not
in their business. So, we wanted to help their business
financially, and so we began to contribute to Smart
Start. We have 340 children and so to look at what
happens to children from three months old to when
they graduate and leave us as Pre-K age children, we
get to see what happens and we get to hear from our parents about what happens. Smart Start is a mighty powerful
agent in that process in this county, and across North Carolina, but certainly in Mecklenburg County.

Braxton Winston, Mayor Pro Tem, Charlotte City Council
One of the things that I’ve tried to do in my time in
office is really focus on interconnection; places where
government, business, and community intersect. If
more families, if more young children, have access to
accessible, high-quality, highly resourced childcare in
their early years, it helps build those family dynamics
and therefore the neighborhood dynamics. Smart Start
is standing in the gap, being the advocate, being the
connector, doing the work to prioritize early childhood
education in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. It
really does solve so many issues that relate to upward
economic mobility. I’m excited because the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg community, we will rise up to the
occasion so that we can have another 30 years of good
work and then put another 30 years on top of that because the landscape is going to continue to change. But what’s
not going to change is the value and the need for high-quality early childhood care and education for all families.
Laura Yates Clark, President and Chief Executive Officer,
United Way of Greater Charlotte
Smart Start fills a critical role in the community and
United Way is thrilled to have been their partner for
the entire time that they’ve been in existence. Smart
Start is the lead organization for young children and
their families, and they wake up every single day
thinking about how we get children prepared for life.
They serve as a convener around young children’s
issues, they serve as an advocate, and they also fund
critical programs in the community that help keep
the lights on for those organizations working with
our youngest children and their families. What they
really bring to the table so beautifully is that singular
focus on young children and their families and how
we build a community to support them. I think Smart
Start has been embraced as a leader in the early childhood space. They’re seen as a respected source of information,
a funder of wonderfully effective programs, and a convener around these issues. So, I think they, like so many other
organizations, are doing their part and collectively, we’re all optimistic that we’re going to see better outcomes for
children.

1993
OUR HISTORY
Smart Start was established under the leadership of Governor Jim Hunt, as a state-wide,
public/private partnership to help all North Carolina children enter school healthy and
ready to succeed.
2013
PNC sponsors Toast 4 Tots, an awareness and fundraising event in honor of Smart Start’s
20 years of serving families with young children, raising over $35,000.
2015
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County began the initial rollout of Dolly Parton’s Imagination
Library, distributing books to Charlotte’s most vulnerable zip codes located in “the
crescent.”
2017
State legislation provided funding that allowed Smart Start of Mecklenburg County to
expand Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library countywide.
2018
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County celebrates 25 years and launches the Basics
Mecklenburg campaign, a growing international network of Basics initiatives promoting
brain development among young children.
The Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) approved a historic investment
in expanding pre-kindergarten, allocating $9 million to MECK Pre-K, a free program for
eligible children in Mecklenburg County which address upward mobility challenges.
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County begins funding WAGE$, a salary supplement program
impacting the economic security and education attainment for over 700 qualified childcare
teachers and directors. Ninety-five percent (95%) of the Mecklenburg respondents stated
that WAGE$ encourages them to stay with their current child care programs.
2019
2021
MECK Pre-K receives $1 million in funding from both Bank of America and Duke Energy.
To increase impact and innovation, Smart Start of Mecklenburg County launched its
inaugural round of Innovation Grants, allocating over $115,000 in one-time funding to five
projects addressing gaps in services for families with young children.
2022
The second round of Innovation Grants increased to ~$300,000 allowing us to reach 14
organizations.
2023
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County celebrates 30 years, investing in over 30 programs
with a budget of nearly $40M.

PARTNER POWERED QUALITY SYMPOSIUM AND RECEPTION
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County is truly a partner-powered organization. When we are connected, we build a
more substantial web of resilience for those we serve: families with young children.
Therefore, we kicked off our 30th Anniversary, strategically planned during the Week of the Young Child, with a
quality symposium titled A Conversation on Quality for Early Care and Education.
As an organization founded on collaborating and convening, we understand the importance of local stakeholders’
participation. Participants were invited from various organizations supporting early care and education in
Mecklenburg, including Child Care Centers, Family Child Care Homes, local government, Charlotte Mecklenburg
Schools, DCDEE, higher education, local philanthropy, and early childhood advocates.
The annual Partner Powered Conference, a full day of relationship-building and development, followed the quality
symposium. This conference featured two tracks to meet the needs of both clinicians and managers/administrators.
Our annual week of festivities concluded with a rooftop celebration, where we highlighted and honored the
transformational impact our partners and supporters have helped us achieve in the prenatal to five community.
Attendees could network with other professionals, observe our combined successes, and share ideas for the future
while mingling under the dazzling Charlotte city skyline.
Observing 30 years of service, we understand there is no better time to invest in our future. Together we look
forward to continuing to build communities grounded in healthy families and opportunities for children.

OUR SPONSORS

OUR BOARD
BOARD LEADERSHIP
Ben Gilman
Chair
Amanda Nitto
Vice Chair
Joanette Freeman
Past Chair
Liz Buckingham
Treasurer
Tamar Goldblatt
Secretary
BOARD MEMBERSHIP
Heba Abdelbaky
Teressa Beam
Dr. Tamikia Greene
Kimberly Henderson
Jake House
Elaine Liberato Jenkins
Jared Keaton
Kelly King
Dr. Shivani Mehta
Laura Meier
Maddie Myers
Emily Nanney
Latoya Scott
Krutesh “Kru” Trivedi
Braxton Winston

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS!
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County (SSMC) is proud to celebrate 30
years of mobilizing resources, forging partnerships, and supporting
families to improve early childhood health, education and development.
Created in 1993 by Governor Jim Hunt, Smart Start tackled the issue of
children being unprepared to start school. Over the past 30 years, SSMC
has been a leader in the community for early childhood, helping ensure
that all children in Mecklenburg County enter kindergarten healthy and
ready to succeed. Today, SSMC continues our mission by investing time
and money in local, evidence-based early childhood initiatives, being a hub
for research and collaboration to improve the lives of young children and
their families, and serving as an incubator and funder of innovative ideas
and practices within the birth-to-five space. Please join us in celebrating 30
years by supporting our 30th Anniversary campaign and events, ultimately
helping us ensure that all children in Mecklenburg County turn five ready
to thrive!
THREE WAYS YOU CAN JOIN THE CELEBRATION
Make a donation and help children turn
five ready to thrive.
Become a valued sponsor.
Join Smart Start staff at local venues
through the year.

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www.smartstartofmeck.org
info@smartstartofmeck.org