Mitchell County Partnership for Children (MCPC) is the project name of the Smart Start Kansas Grant awarded to Mitchell County. The vision of MCPC is to provide every preschool child and every parent access to quality and affordable child care, health care, family support and literacy education so that every child enters school ready to learn. The grant was awarded to the county under the auspices of Mitchell County Communities that Care Resource Council.

According to the Kansas Action for Children, Smart Start is already making a difference for thousands of children in 47 counties by providing flexible funding to allow communities to respond to the needs of local families and their children, birth to age five.

The services are dictated by community needs, but all fall within three areas:

• Child Care and Education which includes higher quality and availability of child care; services to children with special needs; child care subsidies; and teacher education, compensation and support.
• Family Support Programs which includes parent education; literacy programs; family resource centers; child care resource and referral; transportation; and support for teen parents.
• Health Services, which includes healthcare access; health screenings; health and safety education; immunization; vision care and dental care.

Smart Start allows flexibility yet provides structure by requiring implementation of proven and effective core services. It brings agencies and citizens together to solve problems and share resources.

Mitchell County was initially awarded a planning grant in the fall of 2003. This planning grant allowed the MCPC project staff a year to prepare the Smart Start grant. During the planning year, county data was collected. To insure that the numbers told the true story a community survey was conducted as well. The data showed that the community needed a center based accredited/licensed preschool program available to all four-year-old children in the county. The barriers to childcare included availability and affordability of quality daycare. The early childhood service most requested was Mother's Day Out Playgroups. The Health and Social Services service needed most was dental care. The most needed parenting and family support service was parenting education/classes followed closely by early learning/literacy. In the area of school readiness for children, the biggest need in preparing children for school was parent information on what your child needs to know for kindergarten, followed by a centrally located place in the community that provides information about all services available to children birth through age six.

In order to meet the early childhood needs in Mitchell County, MCPC will provide preschool for all four-year old children in the county; offer parent training and Parents as Teachers to all families with children birth to age five; Parents as Teachers playgroups twice a month; provide incentive programs for providers; partner with local mental health agency to provide community resources for pre-school age children; offer health and safety education; implement a community literacy program and open a parent resource center to improve accessibility to these services.

In response to the Community Profile and much strategic planning, the Mitchell County Partnership for Children steering committee has developed this Early Childhood Comprehensive Plan and Smart Start Project. MCPC has begun the implementation process look forward to countywide collaboration and continuation of the project for years to come. We feel that this project will benefit our entire county and fulfill a dream we all share; All children will enter school ready to learn.