Smart Start San Jose is the City of San José’s Early Care and Education Initiative that develops and supports efforts that empower families and the larger community to promote the development of their children to become successful, lifelong learners. These initiatives include ongoing professional development, training for family child care homes, program standards and continuous quality improvement activities, and community events such as the annual San José Children’s Faire. Smart Start also serves as an informational resource for families seeking quality child care in San José.
Smart Start Program Quality Standards
The Smart Start San José Program Quality Standards Guidelines offer a comprehensive set of basic, intermediate and advanced quality strategies for early care and education sites that wish to raise the quality of care and education they provide to young children and their families. From meaningful parent involvement to school readiness, these guidelines cover nine focus areas that together reflect core components of a quality child care program. All Smart Start San José affiliated early care and education sites are required to meet “basic quality strategies” under the Smart Start Program Quality Standards Guidelines and encouraged to implement intermediate and advanced quality strategies.
Smart Start recommends that families review the Smart Start Program Quality Standards Guidelines to help make informed choices about quality child care programs for their young children.
Smart Start Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Smart Start?
Smart Start promotes initiatives that expand the availability of child care and build the capacity of San José early care and education sites to improve the quality of care they offer. While Smart Start provides informational resources to help families locate quality early learning programs, it does not fund direct child care services or provide child care subsidies to families.
2. What does it mean that Smart Start is a public-private partnership?
Smart Start partners with public and private agencies like schools and family child care homes to improve the availability and quality of affordable early care and education programs throughout San José.
3. How can I enroll my child in a Smart Start Center?
Smart Start Affiliated sites are located throughout the City of San José. View a map of Smart Start sites. Smart Start encourages all families to interview and check references of any child care sites they are considering. In addition, information about substantiated or inconclusive complaints received by any licensed child care site is public and available by calling Community Care Licensing at (408) 324-2148.
4. Is Smart Start a child care subsidy program?
Smart Start San José is not a child care subsidy program. Smart Start supports early care and education system development initiatives that expand access to improve quality child care but does not provide direct support to families. Families are encouraged to contact the Santa Clara County 4C Council at (408) 487-0749 for information regarding child care financial assistance, or visit the Council’s website at www.4C.org.
5. How can I get help paying for child care?
The Santa Clara County 4C Council operates the Centralized Eligibility List which helps families access free or low cost child care and preschool programs in Santa Clara County. This is a free service to connect eligible families to child care locations that receive funding to help low-to-moderate income families. Families are encouraged to contact the Santa Clara County 4C Council at (408) 487-0749 for information about subsidized child care, or visit the Council’s website at www.4C.org.
6. What is the difference between Smart Start and Head Start?
Head Start is a federally-funded early childhood development program that provides free educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to eligible children and their families. For more information on Head Start sites in San José, please visit the Santa Clara County Office of Education website at www.sccoe.org, or contact the Santa Clara County Office of Education toll-free at (800) 820-8182.
Smart Start supports professional development, training, quality improvement, community outreach, and informational resources that expand access to quality early care and education programs in San José. Smart Start does not fund child care services or provide direct subsidies to families.
7. How can I get involved?
One of the top priorities of the City of San José Early Care and Education Strategic Work Plan is to increase public awareness and advocacy on the importance of quality early childhood experiences. At Smart Start, we want families to be well informed about the long-term positive impacts of quality early care and education on their children. We invite families to participate in early education training and community outreach events such as the annual San José Children’s Faire. San José residents with a strong interest in public policy issues relating to young children and their families may wish to consider attending meetings of the Early Care and Education Commission. To learn more about these and other opportunities for involvement in early care and education, please contact Smart Start at (408) 808-2617, or email us at smartstartsanjose@sjlibrary.org.
