The Cabarrus County Partnership for Children was established in 1998, bringing the first Smart Start allocation to Cabarrus County with the purpose of improving child outcomes in early education, health, and family support. The non-profit was started by a group of very committed community members and Anne Laukaitis, the first Executive Director.
In 2002, the Partnership expanded bringing the More at Four Program to Cabarrus County, focusing on high quality classrooms to prepare the county’s children for Kindergarten. In 2010, this program changed their name to NC Pre-Kindergarten, and today we continue to serve 351 children annually in public schools, child care centers, and Head Start.
Throughout the past 25 years the Partnership has reviewed community needs and focused programming on the issues afflicting the youngest children in Cabarrus County.
In 2018, the Partnership expanded, yet again, to establish the cross-sector collaboration of The SUN Project. With the leadership of Dr. Russell Suda, in collaboration with the Cabarrus Health Alliance, we are supporting the health, safety, well-being and recovery of pregnant patients with a substance use disorder, their infants, and their families.
Over the years the Partnership has received many awards for our volunteers, for their tireless work for our youngest children and families.
In 2020, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the Partnership grew stronger and built amazing relationships with our child care community. We supported them through one of the hardest times in their lives, with the purpose of keeping our youngest children safe and well.
Our success has been no accident; it has taken hard work, perseverance, learning, and most of all, love and support from our volunteer board members, our amazing team of employees, and, You, our community, who have supported us over the last 25 years. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for allowing us to serve the children of Cabarrus County, and we look forward to continuing to serve for many years to come.
Happy Holidays,
Ann Benfield
Executive Director