To ensure every child in Durham enters school ready to succeed, we lead community strategies for children birth to 5 and their families that promote healthy development and learning and enhance access to high quality care.
For 30 years, Durham’s Partnership for Children has been a trusted convener of our early childhood ecosystem, bringing together local organizations, services and families. With community partners, our organization facilitates the early childhood ecosystem through:
High quality programming – Smart Start, NC Pre-K, and Early Head Start programs provide early education, health and family support services.
Community awareness – We raise awareness throughout the community about the importance of early childhood development and available resources.
Community planning and collaboration – We lead efforts to identify needs, connect services and systems, and develop strategies.
Smart Start, a state initiative that funds early education and health and family support programs, including: child care referrals, child care scholarships, home visiting services, parent education and support, and interventions for children with challenging behaviors.
NC Pre-K, high-quality early education for 4-year-olds who meet eligibility criteria in classrooms in Durham Public Schools, Durham Head Start, and private child care centers.
Durham Early Head Start, federally-funded, free, and comprehensive child development and family support program for low-income expectant women and
families with infants and toddlers age birth to 3.
Durham’s Transition to Kindergarten Initiative, a collaboration between the Partnership and Durham Public Schools, which helps rising kindergarteners and their parents get ready to enter school through a series of events and school readiness resources.
The Partnership was founded in 1994 to administer North Carolina’s pioneering early childhood initiative, Smart Start, in Durham County. This initiative, launched by former Governor Jim B. Hunt, Jr., was created as a public-private partnership to address a critical state-wide problem: children were coming to school unprepared to learn. Providing comprehensive programs and access to early care and education in the first 5 years of life is the solution. With intent to inspire innovation and have strong governance on a local level, the Smart Start early childhood system was, and continues to be, a broad network of independent, private organizations working in all 100 North Carolina counties.
