When James B. Hunt Jr., who had previously served two terms as North Carolina's governor, was reelected to that post in 1992, he found his state a long way from that goal. Nearly 20 percent of North Carolina's children under the age of six lived in poverty. Many children did not receive basic childhood immunizations. And nearly 10,000 families were on the waiting list for subsidized child care. The national Kids Count Data Book ranked North Carolina 39th out of the 50 states on the health and well-being of its children.
Nothing is more important than providing a better future for our children.
Governor Hunt decided to make improvement in conditions for North Carolina children a cornerstone program of his administration. In 1993 the North Carolina legislature funded his vision for Smart Start, a program designed to provide quality early education, health care, and other important family services for every child under the age of six in the state. The best way we can do that is give them a solid start in those critical first five years of life. Instead of mandating another new program from Raleigh or handing out money to already existing agencies, however, Smart Start did something radical. Parents and representatives from community colleges, local businesses, churches, civic groups, and already existing social service agencies such as departments of housing, health, recreation, and mental health would all sit down together and map out a comprehensive, proactive strategy to improve their community's services for families.