Smart Start of Forsyth County

NCPREK (2348):The NC Pre-K Program is a high-quality program that serves at risk children, in Forsyth County, to ensure they are school ready upon entering into kindergarten. The NC Pre-K Program served 805 four-year old children in the Public Schools, Head Start Program, and Private Child Care centers (for profit and not for profit).

TEACHING AND LEARNING SERVICES (3125): Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) will offer the Stars and Beyond program to family child care homes in Forsyth County licensed to serve children birth to five to improve quality or increase to or maintain a four or five star-rated license. Facilities must be willing to enroll subsidized children. Services may include technical assistance and coaching, continuing education credit (CEU) training(s), and unofficial Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS-R) assessments to develop customized quality improvement plans. FCCHs, up for re-licensure, may receive a grant to purchase equipment and materials identified through an unofficial FCCERS-R assessment if funds permit. Communities of Practice (CoP) may be facilitated at the CCRC office to deepen understanding and build skills for curriculum implementation. Small incentives may also be provided for participation in the CoP. Staff positions, meetings, meals for CoPs and CEU trainings, and service related materials may be supported by this activity. Smart Start of Forsyth County will provide Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) to early childhood educators in centers serving children birth to five in Forsyth County to (1) increase licensure status of eligible GS 110-106, temporary, one, two, three and four star centers; (2) maintain licensure status of five star centers; (3) offer leadership development for administrators in centers to improve implementation of program and business practices. Eligible centers must be willing to enroll subsidized children. Teaching and Learning services will include: curriculum and behavioral support, coaching, workshops, environmental rating scale and classroom assessments. Non-cash incentives will be issued to centers meeting required criteria to increase their star ratings. Cash incentives and education bonuses will be paid to eligible early childhood educators and centers for the maintenance of 5-stars

DUAL SUBSIDY (2341): Financial assistance will be paid on a direct per child basis for subsidy for families eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Data will be reported into the state level Smart Start Reporting System (SSRS) on a monthly basis. This activity may include subsidy rate enhancements. Refugee, domestic violence, homelessness, custody issues, separation or divorce, death or illness of a care giver, incarceration, medical issues are specialized target populations for this program.Financial assistance will be paid on a direct per child basis for subsidy for families eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Data will be reported into the state level Smart Start Reporting System (SSRS) on a monthly basis.

DUAL SUBSIDY ADMIN (2361): This activity will provide services to support the implementation of child care subsidy including program administration; family outreach and application; eligibility determination; payment processing; annual recertification; and reporting, etc

CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL (3104): Child Care Resource Center will provide consumer education and child care referrals to assist parents with making informed child care decisions. The Parent-Specialist will conduct in-depth, one-on-one consultation with parents either by telephone or in person and will provide referrals to child care programs that reflect their needs and preferences. Information on the star-rated license and indicators of quality will be provided to parents along with referrals to individual child care options across Forsyth County. Data will be collected from those seeking child care. Smart Start funds will support staff positions and service related materials for this activity.

NCPREK COORDINATOR (3322): See NCPK

NCPK (3323): The NC pre-kindergarten program is a high quality pre-k program that serves children who are at risk and prepares them for success in school. Pre-kindergarten is a research proven strategy for school readiness. This program served 728 children in public elementary schools, Headstart programs, and both non-profit and for-profit child care centers. This program also promotes social-emotional growth and eases the transition from preschool to kindergarten

PARENT EDUCATION (5505): This program provides support to parents through parent engagement meetings, information regarding quality childcare in Forsyth County and advocacy support.

PARENTS AS TEACHERS (5509): The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program will provide: (1) personal visits, based on recommended dosage for each family's number of risk factors; (2) 12 group connections per program year; (3) annual developmental screenings and a health review that includes a record of hearing, vision and general health status; and (4) referrals to community resources provided to families as needed. The PAT program will serve a target population with at least one risk factor and identified as most appropriate for PAT services in the community. The parent educator will have a Bachelor's degree in a human service related field and experience relevant to serving the target population. Parent educators will be PAT trained and certified, and will implement the program with model fidelity. The program will submit an annual report to PAT and participate in the Quality Endorsement and Improvement process as required by PAT National Center (PATNC).

COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND INFORMATION (5517): Smart Start of Forsyth County Inc.'s (SSFC) Community Education and Outreach activity will convene community stakeholders to educate and raise awareness of the importance of building and sustaining an affordable, comprehensive, high quality early learning education system for children birth to five to ensure their success in school and life. This activity will: 1) maximize the use of social media to educate and raise awareness of early childhood education and SSFC funded programs via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.; 2) build relationships with local media to promote early childhood issues through messaging strategies e.g. print, digital, radio and news; 3) participate in and host community events and initiatives to increase awareness of community gaps and/or needs to improve the identification of and ease of access to services and resources for families and early educators as it relate to school readiness; 4) build community relationships through service on coalitions, committees, task forces, corporate boards, civic groups and advisory councils and; 4) identify and engage SSFC and community stakeholders around common goals. Staff will participate in and sponsor community activities such as community conversations, focus groups and civic presentations. Funds will support community education and outreach staff; maintaining an interactive website; printing informative resource materials, meetings, travel and professional development.

REACH OUT AND READ (5523): This activity will collaborate with medical care practices to provide pre-literacy opportunities for children and their parents. The participating trained medical care providers will voluntarily incorporate Reach Out and Read (ROR), an evidence-based model, into young children's regular pediatric checkups or well-child visits. The medical care providers will implement ROR in their practices according to the National ROR guidelines. During each of the routine visits, children will receive a new, culturally- and developmentally-appropriate book to take home and read with their parents. The medical care providers will discuss the importance of reading, model reading a book aloud to the child, and encourage parent-child interactions as part of pre-literacy and language development. The program begins at the child's 6-month checkup and continues through age 5, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Medical practices will participate in the parent survey period and submit parent surveys to ROR Carolinas. This activity will provide a Project Coordinator to support the medical practice with book ordering, data collection, literacy rich waiting room development, and overall program coordination.The medical care practice will display a literacy-rich waiting room area that reinforces the doctor's prescription to read.

INTENSIVE HOME VISITING (5525): The Parenting PATH (TPP) program will provide short-term home visitation services to at-risk mothers of new babies,14-30 years old, residing in Forsyth County along with the child's father or an in-home caregiver, when applicable, to prevent problems adapting to a new child. At-risk factors such as domestic violence, postpartum depression, substance abuse, mental illness, financial problems, isolation and unstable housing will be determined during an initial screening. Family Support/Home Visitors will provide in-home visitation using the Partners for Healthy Baby Curriculum for child development, health and safety education, postpartum support and referrals for child development screenings and community resources. Services will be provided for up to 60 birthing families from Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center and other referral sources. Support services will be weekly to bi-weekly home visits for up to 6 months. Visit frequency will be based on family need and parental knowledge. Staff will provide quarterly Under 5 support group sessions for prenatal, parenting families and caregivers of children, 0-5 to build parenting skills. This activity will support up to 3 positions, mileage associated with home visits and the food cost associated with group sessions.

DOLLY PARTON IMAGINATION LIBRARY (5526): The Dolly Parton imagination library provides books to eligible children regardless of family income. This program recruits families to participate through partnering with local programs and services such as birthing hospitals, family support initiatives, etc., as well as other local partnership initiatives that work directly with parents. Children receive a free book in the mail each month, building a library of books and a love for reading.

PROGRAM COORDINATION AND EVALUATION (5603): Smart Start of Forsyth County (SSFC) will contract with a third party contracted evaluation firm to provide evaluation, research and reporting services in collaboration with partnership staff; assess progress towards SSFCs goals, Community Early Childhood Profile standards, cost effectiveness of activities, program impact, and utilization of evaluation findings for planning and oversight purposes. The third party contracted evaluation firm will provide technical assistance as needed to funded programs in the areas of program design and implementation based on evidence-based or evidence-informed curriculum, evaluation measures, data collection, governance and analysis, and report writing. The third party contracted evaluator will participate in and assist SSFC staff in facilitating evaluation committee meetings, monitoring quarterly reports, providing formative and summative reports, presenting findings to the Partnership Board and staff as requested and support team-based monitoring through joint meetings and communication. Services will be delivered by Partnership staff and/or the third party contracted evaluator at the Partnership and/or local partner sites and/or meeting places in the community and/or via virtual platforms on an ongoing basis. Smart Start of Forsyth County (SSFC) will provide program coordination services to develop and maintain relationships with service providers, and provide services critical to program accountability including: (1) reviewing progress of programs toward meeting programmatic goals and objectives; (2) providing technical assistance to service providers; (3) evaluating community infrastructure for the provision of services to children; (4) serving as a liaison with community providers of services to children; (5) researching best practices for program delivery and; (6) monitoring compliance with, legislative mandates and board approved financial and programmatic provisions of in-house and direct service providers. The program coordinator will serve as a liaison to and participating in the allocation and investment of funds process. This activity will cover the cost of the staff position, training(s), professional development and meetings.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (3105): Forsyth Technical Community College (FT) will provide an Early Childhood Education Outreach Advisor (ECEOA) to address teacher education in Forsyth County. This position will serve as a liaison between the community college and child care facilities, three star and lower, and be responsible for managing and conducting communications with students concerning their enrollment and retention. This position will provide program advisement for new and existing students, academic support, and resources such as referrals for tutoring, learning center, etc. to meet student educational needs as well as identify eligible students for an early education scholarship that will be administered by FT as funds permit. All scholarship awards will pay up to $1,200 for tuition/fees and up to $300 for books or course-required materials per semester. Before applying, all applicants should submit an application for the TEACH Scholarship. In the event they are denied or placed on a waiting list for TEACH, they may then apply for Smart Start funded scholarships. THE ECEOA will be available to assist students in the application process for both TEACH and Smart Start funded scholarships. To encourage enrollment and successful completion of coursework, incentives will be awarded each semester to eligible child care providers and directors. Annually, the ECEOA will conduct a student needs and satisfaction survey to assist in program planning. Early educators working in three-star facilities will complete individual professional development plans to guide and support academic progress. The ECEOA will collaborate with SSFC and Child Care Resource Center to assess the educational needs of Forsyth County early educators. Before applying for the Smart Start of Forsyth County (SSFC) education scholarship all applicants are required to first do the following: complete and submit an application for the TEACH Early Childhood ECE Working Scholars Scholarship; In the event they are denied or placed on a waiting list for the TEACH scholarship, they may then apply for the SSFC education scholarship. Smart Start of Forsyth County (SSFC) will provide education scholarships to qualified child care providers and directors who have met the above criteria and enroll in Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs to increase their level of education. Scholarships for tuition and books will be paid to the college for a minimum of 10 students attending an accredited post-secondary, not-for-profit institution in North Carolina. Participants paying tuition in advance may be reimbursed up to the lesser of 100% or $1,000 of tuition after the drop/add period. Scholarships will be available for students working in a licensed early childhood program in Forsyth County at least 20 hours per week, with children between the ages of birth to Pre-K. Both the childcare program and the student must be in good standing, per the NC Division of Child Development guidelines, at the time the scholarship application is approved. Scholarships will be offered during the fall and spring and if funds are available, summer sessions. This activity will support costs associated with one part-time position. SSFC educator scholarships will not be available to students receiving another State and/or federally funded scholarship, with the exception of the Pell Grant. Services will be provided July 1 to June 30.

CHILD CARE HEALTH CONSULTATION (3414): This program is funded through the NCPC to provide childcare health consultation to multiple childcare providers in Forsyth County. It employees an FTE and contracted staff certified to provide health and safety and medication information to support several hundred children and families.

PRE-SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT GRANT (3127): This program is funded through NCPC and is responsible for providing parent coalitions in Forsyth County with pre-school aged children. It provides family engagement support to allow for young parents and grant parents to obtain additional tools to support their child outside of the classroom.

Kbr charitable trust (3128):

WSF GRANT (3129): This program supports fundraising and strategy planning efforts to organize Smart Start and provide tools to raise up to $30,000.00 per year to support pre-school aged programs in the community and non-discretionary funding.

FAMILY SUPPORT (5506): Family Support includes programs serving parents by enhancing parent skills and parent education.