Children & Families

North Carolina's Smart Start program, an effort to improve the lives of children younger than 6 by increasing their access to proper health and child care, will be featured in the first White House conference on early-childhood development and learning. President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are the hosts for the event, scheduled for April 17.

More than half of North Carolina's 100 counties participate in the Smart Start program, which brings together community leaders, such as doctors, child-care providers, ministers, parents, teachers, and businesspeople to identify goals for the children in their areas and then dispense a combination of public and private funds.

So far, more than 154,000 children have received higher-quality care, and more than 26,000 early-childhood teachers...