Copyright 2010 Down East Partnership for Children. All Rights Reserved
"Launching Every Child as a Healthy Life Long Learner"
Parents,
Children & Families
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Parents,
Children & Families
Our Community
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Our History
Early Education Professionals
Policy Makers & Investors
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In 1995, the DEPC expanded its focus of improving the quality of early care and education to include strengthening families to ensure that all children are nurtured, reinforcing their innate level of readiness. Receiving funding from the NC Division of Social Services, the DEPC developed its Family Resource Center to provide training and support groups to local families.
In 2001, DEPC became one of the demonstration sites for the Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK) Initiative, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. This national initiative supported 8 sites throughout the nation to create systems to support Ready Kids, Ready Families, Ready Communities, and Ready Schools.
This led DEPC to expand its model of services to include young children, birth through age eight, with the goal that every child is successfully launched as a life-long learner by the end of third grade.
To accomplish this goal, DEPC and local elementary schools are working together to create schools that can meet the needs of all children. DEPC is also collaborating with local organizations to create and implement community-based solutions to reduce the obesity rate of young children. Finally, DEPC has expanded its recruitment and training of community-based leaders who can support and strengthen these efforts.
It Started With a Few Concerned Citizens Just Like You
Incorporated in 1993, the Down East Partnership for Children was established when a group of citizens and leaders from Nash and Edgecombe counties came together to address the needs of children and families in our communities.
Identifying the need for a coordinated, collaborative system of services across county lines, these concerned citizens came together to develop a strategic plan to improve the quality of life for children and families.
DEPC received its initial funding from the NC Division of Child Development to implement Child Care Resource & Referral Services in the two counties to increase families’ access to child care services and to increase the quality of care provided by the early childhood professionals, by educating families in regards to their child care options in our communities and strengthening the skills and resources child care providers.
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In 1994, DEPC received its first funding from Smart Start,a state funded early childhood initiative designed to ensure that all young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Smart Start funding provided the DEPC to create visionary and innovative programs based on needs of the communities in Nash and Edgecombe counties.
