Welcome to Craven Smart Start, Inc.

Click on the flyer to read more about our Keynote speaker, Tanya Dennis!!

Childcare Resource and Referral – Craven Smart Start now has a Give a Book – Take A Book Outdoor library! The outdoor library is located in front of our office located at 2111-F Neuse Blvd (back of the building). We are excited to extend literacy to our community! Stop by any time!

For more information, click HERE!

Goodnight with Dolly is held every Thursday night at 7 PM. Dolly Parton reads one of her books live. Click the link provided to watch, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library – YouTube

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library!

Sign up HERE for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for free!

Please consider a donation to Craven Smart Start – Click HERE to donate. For just $25, Craven Smart Start and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library can provide one child, in Craven County, age appropriate books, every month, for one year!

Craven Smart Start Board Meeting

To receive information on how to attend the next meeting, please email cherie@cravensmartstart.org

Referrals to child care programs

REMINDER!  The Find Child Care NC Hotline is still available for families that are looking for child care. The number is 1-888-600-1685 and specialists are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Click on the links below for more information

Flyer – English

Flyer – Spanish

Appreciating the “Unsung Heroes of Craven County”

Click HERE to see pictures of our visits to our childcare providers. Thank you for your dedication to the children of Craven County!

Smart Start and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library are working together to get books into the hands of North Carolina’s youngest children. In 2017, North Carolina’s state lawmakers included $3.5 million in the first year and $7 million in the second year of the state budget for Smart Start to administer Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library across North Carolina.

The Smart Start network, made up of 75 local partnerships that serve our state’s communities, is signing up families across NC for Imagination Library which is a book gifting program for children from birth to age five. Together, we are working to ensure children develop a love of reading early on.



  • Craven Smart Start, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that administers Smart Start funds and programs in Craven County. Smart Start is designed to ensure that young children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. Donations are tax deductible. Financial information about this organization and copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-807-2214. The license is not an endorsement by the State.