NEWS/EVENTS
Smart Start Request for Proposals (RFP) 2025-2028
The Stokes Partnership for Children, Inc. wants to fund acceptable programs, which relate to young children (birth through age five) for fiscal years 2025-2028. Programs should help ensure that all of Stokes County’s young children enter kindergarten healthy and ready to succeed. All proposals shall be for a three-year bidding term (cycle).
Proposals will be accepted in the core areas of family support, health, early literacy and early care and education. Stokes Partnership for Children has defined the top areas of need and funding priorities for 2025-2028 (not in rank order), which are activities that support:
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Early Childhood Teacher Education
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Challenging Behaviors, Mental Health and Unique Needs of Young Children
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Family Support
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Expanded Access (Availability and Affordability) to Child Care and Pre-K
Contractors must have demonstrated competency in performing services defined in this RFP. Specifically, the contractors must demonstrate a successful history of providing similar services. The contractors should describe all project experience in North Carolina or other states with similar program operations.
The availability of Smart Start funds is contingent upon the final budget adopted by the NC General Assembly for the 2025–2028 fiscal years.
Individuals, organizations or agencies interested in seeking Smart Start funding should obtain details and attend the mandatory grant workshop, to be held at Stokes Partnership for Children, Thursday, December 12, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. Please call to register. All proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, January 16, 2025. For details, contact Stokes Partnership for Children at (336) 985-2676. Applications will be available November 25, 2024, and may be downloaded at www.stokespfc.com or available by request by calling 336-985-2676 or by email request to Cindy Tuttle at ctuttle@stokespfc.com.
Community Needs Assessment Results Released
Lack of child care and social-emotional/behavioral (mental health) issues are two main themes that emerged.
Stokes Partnership for Children (SPC) recently requested input from the community to conduct an early childhood community needs assessment. The needs assessment was conducted in two phases in collaboration with an evaluation consultant, Justine A. Wayne, MSW, MSPH. Phase one involved collecting and analyzing various existing data from various sources. Phase two consisted of an online needs assessment survey. The primary target audience was parents, caregivers, and professionals who work with young children, however; high-quality feedback was requested from various community stakeholders. The survey results will be used as a tool to help identify the Smart Start funding priorities over three years (2025-28) for programs in Stokes County that support children from birth to age five, but not yet in kindergarten.
It is important to note that not all of the data directly relates to the mission of Stokes Partnership for Children or its funding sources such as Smart Start, therefore; SPC will focus mainly on the data that does directly relate to its core focus areas: early literacy, family support, health and early care and education. However, the data may be relevant and useful to other local agencies and the public. In summary, the following key needs were identified in the Needs Assessment:
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Expanded access to child care and Pre-K, through increasing availability and reducing parent cost.
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Support for behavioral and social-emotional (mental health) needs of children, both in the child care setting & directly for parents.
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Increasing child care provider pay (a living wage), access to health insurance, paid sick time; promoting child care providers as professionals.
To see the full summary report CLICK HERE. Coming soon - the entire detailed report will soon be available.
Sincerely,
Cindy S. Tuttle, Executive Director