SMART BEGINNINGS VIRGINIA HIGHLANDS

Smart Beginnings Virginia Highlands is a community-based, state-supported initiative that strives to ensure all children enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. By linking local services and resources that support children birth to age 5 and their families, and by coordinating local efforts with state agencies, this community collaborative strives to eliminate gaps in services and the possibility of children "falling through the cracks."

The Smart Beginnings Virginia Highlands Coalition consists of representatives from social service agencies, health departments, home visiting, Head Start, school systems, local government and businesses, parents and others from Washington and Russell Counties and the City of Bristol. The United Way of Russell and Washington Counties serves as the fiscal agent and grant administrator for the Coalition which is governed by a local Leadership Council of area leaders from each of these sectors.

Currently: Smart Beginnings Virginia Highlands has been engaged in leadership development and coalition building over the course of the last seven months since becoming a Virginia Early Childhood Foundation Planning Grantee July 2010. Most recently, SBVH and its community partners have been actively assessing the needs of and resources available to children and families in the communities of Washington and Russell Counties and the City of Bristol. With an emphasis on school readiness, the assessment has been a revealing portrait of the overall well-being of our communities and particularly of young children. In the coming months, SBVH coalition members will use assessment data to develop a strategic plan that will identify specific goals toward aligning services and resources that ultimately result in all children entering school healthy and ready to learn.

For more information about this exciting new program, please contact Lori Pennington via Email or by phone at (276) 628-2160.