ROANOKE, Va. – From hundreds down to one.
Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke counties, as well as the cities of Salem and Roanoke early childhood education programs will now require just one application instead of each program having its own. TAP programs are also included in this new program.
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“We are launching something today called Smart 2 Start,” Roanoke United Way Early Learning Strategies Director Vivien McMahan said.
The Smart 2 Start streamlined application process is the first of its kind in Virginia.
“This will ultimately help us reduce our waiting lists," McMahan said. "We aren’t doing children any good if they’re remaining on waiting lists, so we want to get rid of those and put them in a provider slot, whether public or private or a combination of the two.”
Virginia’s Secretary of Education, Atif, Qarni, joined the Roanoke Valley United Way and local early childhood education programs to make the announcement Friday morning.
“Unfortunately, for many years we’ve seen the data. Specifically, for our littlest learners who are coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, they have a lot of barriers. We want to do a better job of making sure when children enter kindergarten they’re kindergarten ready," Qarni said.
TAP CEO Annette Lewis said the new application process could also indirectly help kids by giving their parents more time to work with organizations like TAP to focus on their needs.
“We work with parents of Head Start children to establish goals, to complete or expand their education, gain a skill, or achieve gainful employment," Lewis said. "We know that a child’s chances of being successful are greater when their parents are successful.”
A community coming together to make sure its littlest members become big successes.