JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina has named September “Smart Start Month” for the whole state.
Smart Start is a group of 75 area nonprofits working together to make sure kids are healthy and ready to learn when they start school.
That’s what One Place in Jacksonville does for the community: it helps kids get stronger, families stay together, and stops child abuse. Smart Start Month is a time to honor the state’s efforts in early childhood education.
“There is no other time in a person’s life when their brain develops in the same way and at the same rate as it does between the ages of 0 and 5,” Sunrise Rochelle, CEO of One Place, said. “Those early years are so important in a child’s life.”
Lots of kids are already getting help from groups like One Place, and Smart Start is an extra way for families to get a lot of different services.
“Smart Start is really what One Place needs to get started.” “Smart Start’s main goal is to make high-quality early childhood education available to everyone,” Rochelle said.
“That’s why we work together with all the child care centers in the area, including Onslow County Schools, to bring those services into the classrooms to help teachers.” We all remember how important teachers were in our lives.