Special to IFN
Gov. Roy Cooper has proclaimed September as Smart Start Month. This proclamation acknowledges the Smart Start Network’s 30-plus year commitment to ensuring all North Carolina’s young children enter school healthy and prepared for success.
Iredell County Partnership for Young Children (ICPYC) is a proud member of the Smart Start Network.
Investments in high-quality early childhood initiatives like Smart Start can yield substantial long-term benefits for children, families, and society through increased educational attainment, higher earnings, reduced crime, and better health outcomes.
Smart Start is a network of 75 local nonprofit partnerships serving all 100 North Carolina counties to create better outcomes for children from birth to age 5. The N.C. Partnership for Children (NCPC) guides and facilitates the Smart Start Network, supporting the work of local partnerships and connecting them to the statewide early childhood system.
Smart Start local partnerships work to 1) increase access to and enhance quality of early care and education; 2) collaborate with families to reach their goals through family support and education, engagement, and referrals; and 3) improve child health and development for children from birth to age 5.
Smart Start local partnerships have the flexibility and the data to determine how to improve the health, well-being, and development of children in each community based on local needs and resources.
In Iredell County, ICPYC provides needed services and supports for the community by providing services focused on raising the quality of early care and education, supporting families, advancing child health, and expanding literacy.
The first five years of life are a critical window of development, shaping a child’s brain architecture and building the foundation for future cognitive, social, emotional, behavioral, and health outcomes.
Through Smart Start’s comprehensive approach, the state’s youngest and those that care for them can receive the support they need to thrive.
“For more than a quarter century, ICPYC has been championing quality services for children, families, and the early childhood workforce. This has impacted hundreds of thousands of Iredell County residents, resulting in positive outcomes and meaningful change,” said Lisa Familo, executive director.
Smart Start helps to provide critical infrastructure for North Carolina’s early childhood system through collaboration and partnerships with state and federal agencies and other nonprofits, bridging service gaps and providing needed administration to statewide programs. This includes the administration of state, federal, local, and private programs and services such as NC Pre-K, child care subsidy, Head Start, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and more, serving as North Carolina’s infrastructure for promoting childhood development, learning, and health.
“We are honored that the State of North Carolina is recognizing Smart Start in September,” said Amy Cubbage, president of NCPC. “This recognition underscores the vital importance of investing in a comprehensive approach to supporting our youngest children and their families that is both statewide and locally designed. By working together with families, educators, and communities, we can build a brighter future for our children and our state.”
About ICPYC
The Iredell County Partnership for Young Children (ICPYC) is a 501 (c)(3), nonprofit organization, dedicated to measurably increasing learning and healthy development of children birth to age five in Iredell County. ICPYC provides services focused on raising the quality of early care and education, supporting families, advancing child health, and expanding literacy. For more information, please call (704) 878-9980 or visit http://www.iredellsmartstart.org/. ICPYC is located at 734 Salisbury Road in Statesville, and 249 Williamson Road, Suite 102, in Mooresville.