Smart Beginnings
What is Smart Beginnings?
Smart Beginnings is a locally-driven enterprise that creates community commitment to school readiness by bringing public and private leaders together to collaborate on priorities for their youngest citizens. Local Smart Beginnings partners help communities deliver on ensuring conditions for a strong, healthy start for young children and their families.
A successful school readiness network requires the cooperation of parents and families, schools, child care providers, the faith community, higher education, business, and other community assets such as social services, libraries, and museums – and that’s exactly who is involved in Smart Beginnings efforts across the state. Smart Beginnings serves as the public-private connector in communities, harnessing all the parts of the network and driving its coordinated functioning.
Local Smart Beginnings bring public and private leaders together to collaborate on priorities for their youngest citizens:
- Agree on a plan to coordinate effective early learning, health, and family support services for young children in their communities
- Improve services by promoting high quality common standards and evidenced-based practices
- Create efficiencies and leverage funding to ensure that the community's resources are targeted to children with greatest need