With Smart Start funds, SSMC supports evidence-based & evidence-informed programs for children ages prenatal through five years and their families. The application for the 2023-2024 funding cycle (July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024) can be accessed here.

Work With Us
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County's Innovation Grants support efforts committed to championing equitable access and opportunities for all in early childhood. We value change that's centered on community, collaboration, and collective action as integral to shifting entrenched power structures. Smart Start will fund projects that engage community voices, particularly communities of color, to build equitable solutions.
These funds will develop innovative projects to help us come closer to our vision that every child in Mecklenburg County enters kindergarten health and is ready to succeed. The grants focus on rapid cycle, evidence-based or evidence-informed projects that will lead to the identification of outcome disparities for vulnerable families and the fall-out of pandemic response on preschool-aged children.
These funds will develop innovative projects to help us come closer to our vision that every child in Mecklenburg County enters kindergarten health and is ready to succeed. The grants focus on rapid cycle, evidence-based or evidence-informed projects that will lead to the identification of outcome disparities for vulnerable families and the fall-out of pandemic response on preschool-aged children.