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Craven Smart Start

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New Bern, NC
Craven Smart Start

Craven Smart Start, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that administers Smart Start funds and programs in Craven County.

Smart Start is designed to ensure that young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed.

05/11/2026

Exciting news at Craven Smart Start! This week Lauren Simmons, our new coordinator for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, announced that Craven Smart Start now has 500 Craven County children who are or will soon be receiving the Dolly Parton Imagination Library books in the mail. Remember that on January 31, 2025 the North Carolina General Assembly announced that they no longer had the funding to support new registrations state-wide beginning on February 1, 2025 and new registrations stopped in Craven County and in the other 99 counties of North Carolina, unless the local Smart Start program had financial support for the program. Craven Smart Start did not have local funding for the program. However Cassandra Bennett, our Craven Smart Start Executive Director, and our Board of Directors, persisted in their efforts to secure funding to re-activitate the Imagination Library program for Craven County children. Fortunately, the Craven County Board of Commissioners recognized the early learning benefits of the program for young children (birth to 5th birthday) in Craven County before they enter kindergarten and provided the needed funding. For more information about the Imagination Library for children who live in Craven County, email Lauren Simmons at [email protected]

04/29/2026

Craven Smart Start, Inc. is requesting applications to implement the following activity for a two year cycle beginning July 1, 2026.
• KALEIDOSCOPE PLAY & LEARN

Applications and more information may be obtained by visiting our website, www.cravensmartstart.org or by contacting, Cherie Holt at (252)636-3198

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:
Submissions are due by Monday, May 18, 2026, at 5:00 P.M.
Late submissions will not be accepted.
Only electronic submissions of applications with original signatures will be accepted. Responses must be submitted in PDF format.
Application submissions will be electronically date- and time-stamped.

No faxed applications will be accepted.
All funding is contingent on approval of Craven Smart Start, Inc. Board of Directors; funding by the NC General Assembly; and the North Carolina Partnership for Children.

04/28/2026

Craven Smart Start would like to give a BIG Shout Out to the area childcare facilities that are helping us celebrate Autism Awareness this week (April 27-May 1). Thank you to following childcare facilities who sent photos: Excel 6, Excel 7, and Pamlico Child Development Center. ENJOY!!

04/18/2026

Craven Smart Start is excited to host the 2nd Annual Joey Hardison Memorial Golf Tournament for Teeing Up Fore Craven Kids". The tournament will be held at the Emerald Golf Club in New Bern on Saturday, June 13th. The competition is four-person teams with handicap. The tournament is limited to 20 teams @ $500 per foursome. The entry fee for individuals is $125 per player. Check-in and lunch will take place between 11:30 -12:30 with a Shotguin Tee Off at 1:00 p.m. Gift certificates will be presented to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams. The tournament includes lunch, prizes for winning teams, 50/50 raffle door prizes and closest to the pin prize. The registration deadline is May 23, 2026. Registration may be paid by check or on-line. Checks should be made payable to Craven Smart Start, Inc.. with Hardison Memorial Tournament on the memo line and mailed to Craven Smart Start at 2111 Neuse Boulevard, Suite F, New Bern, NC 28560. To register on-line , visit www.cravensmartstart.org/golf-tournament. Proceeds from the tournament will be used by Craven Smart Start to expand learning opportunities for Craven County children between 2-to 5 years of age in underserved areas of the county, via a mobile learning unit, "Joey's Learn and Play".
The golf tournament honors the late Joey Hardison, a New Bern four-time golf champion at the Emerald who passed away from a massive heart attack in November, 2023, after playing a round of golf. He was only 61. Joey was an outstanding golfer, but most of all, he was a husband and a dad who loved children and who loved to see them participate in play activities in their early years, as he knew the importance that play has on children's future development and learning.

Sponsorships, tee signs, and donations are critical to the success of our golf tournaments. Our first memorial golf tournament last October was a great success because of the sponsorships and donations that we received. Many thanks to all of our sponsors and donors. We hope that we can count on your support again! For more information, please contact Lynn, Hardison, Lee Moore or Pinkie Moore at the numbers on the flyer.

04/01/2026

Thanks to all who participated and/or contributed to our 20th Annual Building Brighter Futures Conference, which was held last Saturday at Craven Community College in New Bern. Alisha Plescher, who is a speech-language pathologist and autism specialist, helped to kick-off the conference with a very informative keynote presentation focused on "building bridges for the youngest learners". The conference also included five breakout sessions during the morning and in the afternon. These sessions focused on topics related to aspects of early learning and were all led by early childhood professionals. The conference concluded with closing remarks from Bonnie Gould and Cassandra Bennett and with drawings for door prizes, that were donated by staff, board members, and friends of Craven Smart Start. Many thanks to Craven Community College for the use of their facilities and to Maria Eid, CCC Early Childhood Education Professor, for recruiting volunteers from her early childhood education students. Also, a Big Thank You goes to Craven Smart Start staff for their work on the conference, with special recognition to Mandy Morris and Debbie Cashwell, for their leadership in planning and coordinating the conference.

03/20/2026

Our 20th Annual Building Brighter Futures Conference is only a week away......on Saturday, March 28th at Craven Community College in New Bern.... and Craven Smart Start is still accepting registrations at the Early Bird price of $20.00 per person!! Our CCR&R staff have worked hard to have a very special conference for early care educators, childcare providers, foster parents, parents, and others from all over North Carolina. The conference still includes all the same benefits: informative & interesting speakers; .5 CEU's for the full day; continental breakfast; lunch: door prizes and networking opportunities. Don't miss this conference! Hope to see you there.

03/14/2026

Craven Smart Start's staff and Board of Directors would like to express congratulations to Talisha Whitehead, the operator of the Peculiar Patch Learning Academy in New Bern and a Craven Smart Start Board Member, who received a community grant of $6,000.00 from the CarolinaEast Medical Center on March 11th. Talisha's child care facility is a Specialty Family Child Care Home that specializes in special instruction and care. Amanda Morris, Elizabeth Brown and Pinkie Moore, staff members from Craven Smart Start, attended the event to show support for Talisha and for what she has accomplished. The event, which awarded community grants to many non-profits in ENC was held in the CarolinaEast Medical Center Auditorium. Many thanks to CarolinaEast Medical Center Foundation for their support and recognition of local non-profits.

03/10/2026

****CLOSED****
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FOR CCR&R AND LENDING LIBRARY COORDINATOR

Specific Duties and Responsibilities: This is a full-time position (40 hrs.), 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday

Advocate for children, families, and early childhood professionals to assure quality care and education.

Create a warm, welcoming and friendly environment in the lending library.

Oversee and maintain the CCR&R Lending Library resources, assure that all machines are in good working order, maintain the database, reorder materials as needed, replace all worn or outdated items as well as add new updated materials.

Maintain library program (membership list, agreements, and guidelines, new/renewal library cards, late/damage fees, and receipts/log for program income from library)

Assist, model for, instruct, and/or interact with members and visitors who are working in the library or resource room when needed.

Maintain a clean environment and materials

Answer phone system in a cheerful and polite manner.

Maintain professional development calendar and training room schedule.

Schedule providers/parents for trainings

Process all incoming monies and forward to admin assistant

Keep, prepare, and maintain information and data for strategic planning and for monthly/quarterly/annual reports for monitoring as required.

Participate in the planning and implementation of the annual CCR&R conference and other CCR&R activities.

Maintain confidentially regarding families, providers, agencies, office matters and/or personal matters.

Complete duties as assigned by the CCR&R director.

Qualifications

A minimum of a high school diploma.

Have a friendly, polite and positive attitude.

Ability to; work well and effectively communicate with others, work in stressful high-pressure situations, work independently, multitask. organize with attention to detail, be flexible, be punctual; be a team player!

Experience with; Microsoft office programs, office machines, data collection.

Possess a professional appearance and demeanor.

Bilingual with proficient verbal and written skills in Spanish would be a plus.

****CLOSED****

03/06/2026

Attention Friends. Our Early Bird Special registration fee of $20.00 for our 20th Annual Building Brighter Futures Conference HAS BEEN EXTENDED! Don't miss this opportunity. Remember how much fun you had and how much you learned from previous conferences. Here are some photos from some of them.

02/26/2026

Craven Smart Start and Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) in partnership with Craven Community College will host the 20th Annual Building Brighter Futures Conference on March 28th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The conference will take place on the New Bern campus of Craven Community College. We are honored that Alisha Plescher, a speech-language pathologist and autism specialist with a professional emphasis on early intervention, will be our Keynote Speaker. Alisha will focus on bridging meaningful, lasting connections between families and community partners as a child's growth is strongest when "the circle" operates as one team. The conference will also feature other breakout sessions on early childhood topics and includes a continental breakfast, lunch, a participant bag with resource information and door prizes. Individuals who attend the full conference will receive up to .5 CEU's. The Early Bird Special registration is $20.00 by 5:00 p.m. 2/28/26, Registration after that date will be $30.00. Early care educators, parents, grandparents, and foster parents, don't miss this special opportunity!

02/23/2026

Craven Smart Start's Childcare Resource and Referral staff held their first Center Directors Forum in 2026 on February 19th at Craven Smart Start. Much of the discussion during the session dealt with the QRIS changes at the state level. CCR&R Staff went over many of the changes and explained how these changes will impact childcare classrooms, especially through the interactions with the children in care.
FYI: The NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) implementeded significant licensing and regulatory changes in July, 2025 which are aimed at moderizing the Quality Rating & Improvement system (QRIS) and addressing the workforce and capacity needs. The changes aim to make the states childcare quality rating system more inclusive, practical and reflective of real-world care environments. Our CCR&R staff would like to thank the Center Directors for attending the meeting and for participating and for sharing their questions and concerns.

Address

2111 Neuse Boulevard, Ste F
New Bern, NC
28560

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+12526363198

Website

http://cravensmartstart.org/

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