Smart Start of Transylvania County (SSTC) works to ensure that every young child in the county enters school healthy, safe, and ready to succeed. As the local nonprofit partner of the statewide North Carolina Partnership for Children, SSTC serves children from birth to age five and the adults who care for them — including parents, grandparents, foster and kinship caregivers, and early childhood educators. With approximately 1,100–1,200 children under age five in Transylvania County at any given time, the need for coordinated, high-quality early childhood support is significant.
What distinguishes SSTC is its dual role as both a direct service provider and a systems-level convener. The organization works across sectors — partnering with child care centers, pediatric providers, schools, and community agencies — to align resources, close service gaps, and build lasting early childhood infrastructure. Programs include child care quality improvement coaching, professional development for early educators, early literacy initiatives through Reach Out and Read and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and developmental screenings through its Get Set Babies initiative, which serves prenatal and postpartum mothers, infants, and toddlers with evidence-based parenting education and individualized family support.
Lake Toxaway Charities is proud to support Smart Start of Transylvania County’s Get Set Babies program and its commitment to giving every child in our community a strong foundation from the very beginning.
Learn More: www.smartstarttransylvania.org
