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News

Board Meeting

The next Board of Directors Meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at the Smart Start office. The meeting will begin at 12:00 noon. The Smart Start office is located at 668 Withrow Road in Forest City, NC  28043.        

Rutherford/Polk Smart Start, McDowell Partnership for Children and Rutherford/Polk/McDowell Health District Receive $3,500,000 Nurse Family Partnership Grant!!!!

Rutherford-Polk Smart Start along with McDowell Partnership for Children and the Rutherford/Polk/McDowell District Health Department has been chosen as a potential site for a Nurse-Family Partnership initiative.  Our region is competing with 13 other counties/areas for the opportunity to receive a 3.5 million dollar grant to implement this initiative over the next 5 to 7 years.  Please see formal announcement below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nurse-Family Partnership Expands

To Seven More Counties in North Carolina

 

RALEIGH – The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a nationally recognized, evidence-based nurse home visitation program that helps transforms the lives of first-time, low-income parents and their children, is expanding to seven more counties in North Carolina.

In addition to the existing Nurse-Family Partnership in Guilford County , the program now will serve parents and children in Cleveland, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Polk, Robeson, Rutherford and Wake counties. NFP and its partners in the state are working to expand to additional counties in the near future.

 

In its 30-year history, NFP has shown substantial, consistent and dramatic results related to infant mortality, child health, child abuse and neglect and school readiness, including:

·        48% reduction in child abuse and neglect;

·        56% reduction in emergency room visits for accidents and poisonings;

·        59% reduction in arrests at child age 15;

·        67% reduction in behavioral and intellectual problems at age six; and

·        72% fewer convictions of mothers at child age 15.

 

The Duke Endowment, The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service Division of Public Health, North Carolina Partnership for Children and Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina are providing significant, long-term support of the program to expand it in North Carolina .

 

North Carolina ’s children and families will benefit greatly from this large investment in their health, parenting skills and overall well-being,” said Dr. Leah Devlin, the state health director. “This collaborative partnership between foundations, nonprofit organizations and government sets the example for how strong partnerships can address the health needs of children.”

 

– more –

 

NEWS  

 

 

 

For more information on NFP in North Carolina , please contact:

 

Charity Perkins

The Duke Endowment

(704) 969-2100

 

Allen Smart

Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust

(336) 397-5511

 

Bill Furney

N.C. DHHS, Office of Public Affairs

(919) 733-9190

 

Vivian Muzyk

North Carolina Partnership for Children

(919) 821-9571

 

Rosemarie Allen

Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina

(919) 256-6600

 

Shannon Carstens

Nurse-Family Partnership

National Service Office

(303) 327-4264

 

Under the program, first-time mothers meet with a registered nurse early in pregnancy and nurse home visits that continue through the child’s second birthday. Registered nurses visit weekly for the first month after enrollment and then every other week until the baby is born. Visits are weekly for the first six weeks after the baby is born, and then every other week until the child is 20 months old. The last four visits are monthly until the child is two years old.

 

“The nurse really becomes part of the family,” said Rhett Mabry, Director of Child Care for The Duke Endowment. “And with that compassionate, professional, consistent support, families do better. The Duke Endowment is very pleased to support this program, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact it will make on families and children.”

 

The North Carolina NFP plans to share the successes from these expansion counties to encourage continued support for the program through public and private sources.

 

“The evidence is clear and compelling. Nurse-Family Partnership works to help both parents and children,” said John Frank, Director of the Health Care Division for The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. “We think it’s important to leverage that success for people across North Carolina .”

 

NFP Nurse Home Visitors work with their clients to achieve three goals:

·        Improve pregnancy outcomes by helping women engage in preventive health practices, including obtaining thorough prenatal care from their healthcare providers, improving their diet, and reducing their use of cigarettes, alcohol and illegal substances;

·        Improve child health and development by helping parents provide responsible and competent care; and

·        Improve the economic self-sufficiency of the family by helping parents develop a vision for their own future, plan future pregnancies, continue their education and find work.

 

“We have a longstanding tradition of supporting quality early childhood initiatives in North Carolina that show strong, long-term results,” said Stephanie Fanjul, president of the North Carolina Partnership for Children. “Expanding the NFP to more counties will give us the opportunity to reach even more families and make a difference for the parents and their children.”

 

Independent research proves that communities benefit from this relationship every dollar invested in Nurse-Family Partnership can yield more than five dollars in return.

 

“We have no doubt that Nurse-Family Partnership will have powerful and positive results for North Carolina ’s children and families,” said Rosemarie Allen, CEO/President of Prevent Child Abuse NC. “We hope that children in all 100 of our state’s counties will be able to benefit from this program in the future, and we will continue to work to make sure that happens.”

About the North Carolina Nurse-Family Partnership Partners

 

The Duke Endowment, in Charlotte , N.C. , seeks to fulfill the legacy of James B. Duke enriching lives and communities in the Carolinas through higher education, health care, rural churches and children’s services. With assets of over $3 billion, the Endowment has awarded more than $2.4 billion in grants since its inception in 1924.

                   

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust works to improve the quality of life and quality of health for the financially needy of North Carolina . Since the Trust began in 1947, its assets have grown from $5 million to $600 million, placing it among the largest in the state, and the Trust has invested more than $400 million toward improving life and health for needy residents of North Carolina.

 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the largest agency in state government, responsible for ensuring the health, safety and well being of all North Carolinians . The mission of DHHS is to provide efficient services that enhance the quality of life of North Carolina individuals and families so that they have opportunities for healthier and safer lives, resulting ultimately in the achievement of economic and personal independence. The Division of Public Health (DPH) works to promote and contribute to the highest possible level of health for the people of the state.

 

Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina is the only statewide, nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect in all of its forms. We are a state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America with a thriving statewide Prevention Network. Our Prevention Network consists of over 300 organizations and volunteers working to implement child abuse prevention programs in their local communities.

 

The North Carolina Partnership for Children leads the state’s Smart Start initiative. Smart Start is North Carolina ’s early childhood leadership network dedicated to assuring that every child reaches his or her potential and is prepared for success in a global community.

 

The Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office is committed to producing enduring improvements in the health and well being of low-income, first-time parents and their children by helping communities implement and sustain an evidence-based program of home visiting by registered nurses. It is the most rigorously tested program of its kind. Randomized, controlled trials conducted over the past 30 years demonstrate multi-generational outcomes that benefit society economically and reduce long-term social service expenditure. Mothers and children who have participated in the program have consistently demonstrated significantly improved prenatal health, fewer childhood injuries, fewer subsequent pregnancies, increased intervals between births, reductions in child abuse and neglect, reduced involvement with crime, increased maternal employment and improved school readiness.

 

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Rutherford/Polk Wins State award for excellence in Early Childhood Placements

Rutherford/Polk Smart Start was notified in Spring of 2007 that our partnership was being recognized for excellence in the area of placing children in high quality child care.  The partnership received the award at the National Smart Start Conference in May 2007. 


Smart Start

Innovations in American Government Award

 
 

 PO Box 823
Spindale, NC  28160
ph: 828-287-2775, fx: 828-288-9552
smartstart444@bellsouth.net