History

The Guilford County Partnership for Children was founded in 1997 to provide the state's Smart Start program. Early efforts focused on identifying needs, coordinating services, and developing new resources to serve young children and their families. Planning and assessment of community programs have continued every year since then to assure that services are coordinated, meet the needs of a changing community, and take advantage of new opportunities.

Today the Guilford County Partnership for Children supports a collaborative continuum of services that increase and maintain quality child care, provide education and support to families, and ensure that children have access to health services. Most of the Partnership's funding from the State is granted to non-profit and government organizations that have the knowledge and expertise to provide effective, evidence based programs that are sensitive to client need.

In addition and as a complement to Smart Start, the Partnership has administers the NC Pre-K program (previously More at Four) for at-risk four-year-old children. When More at Four began in 2002, Guilford County was prepared to pilot the program because of the foundation that had been laid by a similar pre-kindergarten program provided by the Guilford County School System and Guilford Child Development Head Start. With More at Four funding, the pre-kindergarten program expanded to high quality private child care centers to provide different environments and additional opportunities for parents to enroll their children. Guilford County is able to provide the largest pre-kindergarten program in the state because of the collaborative spirit and commitment of providers and volunteers to assure that all Guilford County children are ready to succeed when they enter kindergarten.