• Apply Now for Pre-K!

    Apply Now for Pre-K!

    Children who will be 4 years old on or before August 31, 2025 may qualify to attend a free, high-quality Cabarrus County Pre-K program!

    Submit one universal application to see if your child qualifies to attend one of the free Cabarrus County Preschool programs in 2025-2026.

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  • View Our Annual Report!

    View Our Annual Report!

    Our 2023-2024 Annual Impact Report is now available for you to view!

    Click here to check out the full report and see how our programs impacted young children, families, and early childhood professionals in Cabarrus County.

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  • Anne Laukaitis Champion for Children Award

    Anne Laukaitis Champion for Children Award

    The Anne Laukaitis Champion for Children Award is in honor of Anne's distinguished Smart Start leadership and her long career dedicated to the service of young children and families in Cabarrus County. This award is given annually to an exceptional individual at the local level who is devoted to public service and whose leadership qualities have resulted in significant change for the betterment of young children, families, and communities.

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  • State Directed Grant Funds

    State Directed Grant Funds

    Cabarrus County Partnership for Children was awarded $2,000,000 as a directed grant from the ARPA Temporary Savings Fund in the 2023 Appropriations Act S.L. 2023-134. The Cabarrus County Partnership for Children Board of Directors decided to use these new funds to provide additional programs in Cabarrus County for our youngest children and families.

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OUR FUNDING PARTNERS

smart start                           NCPREK

Places to Play Map

In an effort to help with our community’s childhood obesity issue, Children WIN (a partnership between Atrium, CHA, municipalities, Chamber, schools and other partners working on strategies to address childhood obesity), Cabarrus Partnership for Children, Cabarrus County Government, the CVB, Healthy Cabarrus and Perry Productions worked together to produce the Cabarrus County Play and Grow Map. It lists parks, playgrounds farmer’s markets and other resources to promote healthy, active families!

Click here or on the image below to download the map as a PDF.

places to play map

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

As of February 1, 2025, NEW registrations for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) of North Carolina will be limited to specific counties that have locally funded accounts.

Cabarrus County will continue the program using local funds.

Click here to contribute to our funding to continue accepting new Dolly Parton's Imagination Library registrations in Cabarrus County.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library mails a free, age-appropriate book to children who reside in Cabarrus County and are between the ages of birth to 5.

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PROGRAM DETAILS

Cabarrus County's DPIL program is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting specially-selected, high-quality books to participating young children every month starting with "The Little Engine That Could." Thanks to funding from NC Smart Start, this program is free of charge for participating Cabarrus County children -- all you have to do is enroll them!

Once your child is enrolled in the program, you can expect their first book to arrive in the mail in about eight weeks. A high-quality, age-appropriate book will be mailed to your child every month after that until they are five years old.

 


How to opt-in to receive bilingual english/spanish book collection

New Enrollments

For new enrollments to the program, the online registration form will present the same language preferences that appear on the BOS profiles; Book Language and Communication Language.

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Existing Enrollments

For existing enrollments with a parent email address on the profile, parents/guardians can log in to the BOS Parent Portal to make the change.

  • Parents/Guardians go to www.imaginationlibrary.com/bos to login
  • Click on the name of your child
  • Select Book Language preference (see below)
  • Click Update to save

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Parent Resources

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**Please remember to contact us at (704) 933-8278 if your child is in the Cabarrus County program and has moved/changed addresses.

Frequently asked questions

  • Does my child qualify?
    • If your child resides in Cabarrus County and is under the age of 5 years old, then yes! They are qualified!
  • How do I register my child?
    • Click here to visit the registration page on Smart Start's website.
  • Are there any shipping & handling costs?
    • No - DPIL is completely free to families, with no shipping or hidden fees.
  • Can I transfer my child's DPIL account from Cabarrus County to a new county if I move? 
    • If the county your child is moving to administers DPIL, you can change your address by logging in to your Dolly Parton's Imagination Library account.
    • If your child is moving away from Cabarrus County, call (704) 933-8278 to request that we change your address for you. Once this change is made, we will be able to transfer your registration over to the organization in the county you have moved to as long as they also administer DPIL.

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Cabarrus

1307 S Cannon Blvd
Kannapolis, NC 28083
P: 704.933.8278
F: 704.934.0029

Partnership

PO Box 87
Kannapolis, NC 28082

For Children

Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 888-830-4989. This license is not an endorsement by the State. Contributions to Cabarrus Partnership for Children are tax deductible in conformance with IRS Standards.

© 2025 Cabarrus Partnership for Children. All Rights Reserved. Site by Perry Productions.