Our office will be closed to the public with staff working remotely on Friday, October 2, 2026, from 12 noon to 5 pm. We will reopen for regular business hours on Monday, October 5, 2026.
Find essential Wake County resources pertaining to early education, parenting support, child development, basic needs, and more using our simple online tool.
Learn about our free, Pre-K program for eligible 4-year-olds.
Learn about our free, early learning program for eligible 3-year-olds.
Discover Wake ThreeSchool (WTS) sites near you.
Visit Wake Connections, our referral service that connects families to free, home-based and parent-group support programs.
What is high-quality child care, why is it important, and how to find it in Wake County?
Early literacy is what children (birth - age 5) learn about reading and writing before they read and write on their own.
Learn about our outreach and engagement work in Wake County and where to find us.
Learn about our programs for providers that improve quality, teach healthy habits, and create outdoor learning environments.
Learn how to join our team of sites that host Pre-K and/or Wake ThreeSchool classrooms.
Find necessary forms, resources, and program requirements to manage NC Pre-K classrooms.
Find necessary forms, resources, and program requirements to manage Wake ThreeSchool classrooms.
Find in-person and online development opportunities for EC professionals and community partners.
See a list of our current fiscal year funded programs.
Learn about our funding allocations process.
Find forms and resources for our current funded programs.
See the current direct service providers that comprise our Wake Connections intake system.
Learn how we partner with community members to help raise awareness around early education.
Learn how professionals can refer families for home-based and group support programs.
Your gift makes a difference in the lives of young children in Wake County.
Join us as we celebrate our "Pearls of Promise" anniversary event and seed a permanent bedrock of support for Wake County’s youngest learners.
From building outdoor learning environments to assisting with supply drives for child care centers, we have many ways to get involved.
Use your voice and help be the megaphone for early education.
See recent content about our work and impact in the community.
Get resources about childhood develop and developmental milestones.
Health & wellness resources for children and early childhood professionals.
Find resources that help with children's transition into kindergarten.
Browse the Wake County Smart Start early childhood newsletters & reports.
Get resources on mental wellness, childhood stress & trauma, emotional intelligence, and more.
See how our work is helping improve young children’s lives in Wake County.
Meet our Staff.
Meet the members of our board.
Find job postings, apply for positions, and learn more about our culture.
View all of our available RFPs.
Get in touch with Wake County Smart Start.
For media professionals: find recent news, agency background, press releases, logos, and more resources.
Find our audited financials, 990s and annual reports.
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Please visit the link to access your county's Smart Start Agency:
Local Children's Developmental Services Agencies (CDSAs) are available to help families, caregivers, and professionals serve children with special needs through our Infant-Toddler Program.
Project Enlightenment is an early childhood education and prevention program of the Wake County Public School System, serving teachers and parents of young children, ages birth through kindergarten.
Passage Home serves adults, families, children, and veterans living in Wake County who live near or below the Federal Poverty Level and are looking to break their cycle of poverty. Services include:
"StepUp Ministry's Employment Academy offers a two-day Employment Academy Bootcamp six times yearly or you can attend our ENER-G classes every Tuesday evening.
Eligibility: Participants must have a valid ID and Social Security Card, have no pending charges, be 30 days clean and sober, and be 45 days removed from domestic violence and NOT listed on the Sex Offender Registry."
Work First is an employment program that helps families that are in a temporary financial crisis. The Work First program provides a wide range of supportive services to aid families in reaching self-sufficiency.
"At Dorcas Ministries, we help our neighbors thrive by providing financial and food assistance, training and coaching, client advocacy, a platform for people to make a difference, and a best-in-class thrift shop for our community.
Eligibility requirements: Applicant must be a permanent resident of Cary or Morrisville, OR have a child in the home who attends a Cary or Morrisville public K-12 school, OR is homeless with a most recent permanent address in Cary or Morrisville."
The NCWorks Career Center is a central place to access tools and resources to help with your job search. Their employment team can assist in searching for a job, improving your skills or developing a career plan.
Wake Connections is a coordinated intake and referral system that connects families with high quality home-based and parent group programs. The Wake Connections system links you to services for pregnant women, first-time moms, infants, toddlers and young children who have not yet started Kindergarten.
WAKE Up and Read is a community coalition of 30+ agencies in Wake County committed to ensuring that all children across Wake County read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. As the local affiliate of the National Campaign for Grade Level Reading, we focus on three key areas: school readiness (birth-5), learning opportunities (K-5), and engaged families.
Wake Smiles is focused on serving the thousands of uninsured adults in Wake County who have little to no access to quality dental care. They provide access to comprehensive care, with the goal of preventing and curing debilitating dental disease.
Advance Community Health offers the following health services:
Oak City Cares is a hub for connecting individuals and families, who are at risk of, or are experiencing homelessness, to coordinated services that create a path to stable housing and renewed hope.
Urban Ministries of Wake County provides food, healthcare, shelter, medication refills and referrals to other vital services in the community.
The Catholic Parish Outreach Food Pantry serves those in need in our community by feeding the hungry and providing clothing.
This pdf provides a list of current food pantries in Wake County.
The Green Chair Project provides essential resources to individuals overcoming homelessness, crisis, or disaster, whose fresh start in stable housing is stalled by a lack of resources to make their house a home.
Wake County Human Services has utility bill assistance program that help with heating, cooling and water.
Diaper Bank of North Carolina provides essential products to help families thrive at all stages of life.
Diaper Train's mission is to provide diapers, equipping families with a necessary tool to increase their mental and physical health and wellbeing. A diaper CAN change a life. Diaper Train is committed to a future where every family in Wake County has access to this basic need.
The Salvation Army of Wake County issues clothing vouchers to 35 different families each week. Families/individuals are able to shop for each person in their household at The Salvation Army Family Store. Only Wake County residents are eligible.
Legal Aid of North Carolina provides support to North Carolinians who are unable to afford an attorney.
AIS is a service ministry that seeks to fill a growing, unmet need for a trusted source of information and low cost, high-quality immigration legal services for low-income immigrants and refugees. They serve Raleigh, Cary, and Apex as well as Wake County.
Child care referral specialists provide information about the types of child care, features of quality child care, and child care programs that can meet the needs of your family and child.
The Wake County Child Care Subsidy Program provides financial assistance for parents and their child care needs. You may be eligible to receive child care assistance if one or more of the following situations apply to your family: - You are working - You are in school or in a job training program -Your child is receiving child protective services - Your child needs care to support child welfare services or if your family is experiencing a crisis; or - Your child has developmental needs
At WCPSS, families are offered many choices to suit an individual child’s needs. You can attend your base school or apply to attend a Magnet or Year-round school.
"Wake ThreeSchool is a free early learning program for eligible Wake County three-year-olds. Eligible families have a gross household income that is at or below 75% of State Median Income for the family size and/or meets one or more of the following criteria: - Individualized Education Plan (IEP) - Limited English Proficiency - Chronic Health Condition - Developmental or Educational Need - Child of eligible military family ***Please note that eligibility does not guarantee placement in the Wake ThreeSchool program."
"The Wake County Child Care Subsidy Program provides financial assistance for parents and their child care needs. You may be eligible to receive child care assistance if one or more of the following situations apply to your family: - You are working - You are in school or in a job training program -Your child is receiving child protective services - Your child needs care to support child welfare services or if your family is experiencing a crisis; or - Your child has developmental needs"
Wake Pre-K is a group of three preschool programs, NC Pre-K, Title I, and Head Start, that are free for eligible children in Wake County turning 4 by August 31 of the current program year. NC Pre-K and Telamon have income eligibility requirements, while Title I is for children that show an academic and/or developmental need.
