By Kayla Henson
CC Smart Start
Gov. Josh Stein has proclaimed September 2025 as Smart Start Month, recognizing the essential role of the Smart Start Network in supporting North Carolina’s youngest children and the adults who care for them.
Columbus County Partnership for Children, serving Columbus County, is proud to be one of 75 local partnerships that make up the statewide Smart Start Network.
“For over 30 years, Smart Start has served as the backbone of North Carolina’s early childhood system,” said Amy Cubbage, president of the N.C. Partnership for Children (NCPC), the nonprofit that leads the network. “This proclamation celebrates the local leadership that makes Smart Start a trusted, responsive, and effective part of every community in our state.”
Smart Start is a network of 75 local nonprofit partnerships serving all 100 North Carolina counties to create better outcomes for children birth-to-five.
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 birth-to-five.
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 Columbus County, CCPC provides needed services and supports for the community such as childcare subsidies, wage supplements for early childhood educators, technical assistance for early childhood educators, literacy programs like Raising A Reader, resiliency workshops, and parent leadership initiatives like the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC).
“Smart Start is more than an initiative—it’s North Carolina’s promise to its youngest citizens and their families, that every child, regardless of zip code, deserves a strong foundation in health, early education, and family support to thrive for a lifetime,” said Dr. Selena Rowell, executive director of CCPC. “Columbus County Partnership for Children strives to ensure that all children and their families have access to the resources offered through Smart Start.”
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, childcare 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 proud to see the State of North Carolina recognize Smart Start Month for a second year,” said Cubbage. “This acknowledgment reinforces what we already know: early childhood systems must be prioritized, funded, and strengthened, and as a network, we are doing that every day, in every community in North Carolina.”
Investments in high-quality early childhood initiatives like Smart Start yield substantial long-term benefits for children, families, and society through increased educational attainment, higher earnings, reduced crime, and better health outcomes.
“Smart Start shows what’s possible when state leadership, local communities, and private investment work together to build real systems of support for children and families,” Cubbage added. “It’s how North Carolina moves from patchwork programs to lasting systems that ensure access to early care and education, support for families, and strong foundations for child health.”
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