THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 20, 1996 TAG: 9607200235
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 28 lines
All branches of Pasquotank County's version of Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s Smart Start program opened under one roof after a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the muggy heat Friday.
The Pasquotank County Family Resource Center and the Child Care Resource and Referral Service now operate next door to Pasquotank County Partnership for Children at the Edgewood Center on Southern Avenue.
``We now have one-stop shopping for family services,'' said Rhonda Martin, executive director of the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce.
David F. Walker, who oversees the Smart Start program statewide as executive director of North Carolina Partnership for Children, spoke briefly. City councilman A.C. Robinson Jr. and county commissioner W.C. Witherspoon also attended.
``This is a desirable model for the rest of the state,'' said Walker after the ceremony. In its fourth year, local Smart Start programs exist in 35 counties with 12 more beginning this year, he said. Only two others have combined all services in one building.
Smart Start was created to ensure all children in the state from birth to five years old get adequate health care and child care. The program costs the state $57 million a year. by CNB