Smart Start, the Early Learning Division of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, and Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, have joined forces with Kaplan Early Learning Company to make playtime safe through a new initiative called Play Smart. With a goal of helping Georgia child care facilities create high quality outdoor play spaces for young children, the Play Smart initiative was launched September 2004 in Atlanta at WE Play! - an educational and fun Workshop Entirely on Play!

About KaBoom!
Since 1995, KaBOOM! has been motivating communities nationwide to create healthy play opportunities for young people. Using its innovative community-build model, KaBOOM! has created nearly 700 new playgrounds and skateparks and renovated more than 1,300 playgrounds and two sports field complexes.

A model of fiscal efficiency, KaBOOM! was named one of Fast Company’s first-ever Social Capitalist Award winners in 2003 and one of America’s 100 Best Charities by Worth magazine in 2002. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago, Atlanta and Redwood City, CA. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

About Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning
Bright from the Start is a state agency created in July 2004 by the merger of the Office of School Readiness, the Child Care Licensing Section of the Office of Regulatory Services (Department of Human Resources), the Georgia Child Care Council, and the Even Start Program.

Bright From the Start administers Georgia’s Pre-K Program, licenses center-based and home-based child care, administers federal nutrition programs, houses the Head Start Collaboration Office, oversees the resource and referral agencies and federal quality dollars, distributes Even Start monies for early literacy, and works collaboratively with Smart Start Georgia to blend federal, state, and private dollars to enhance early care and education.

For more information about Bright from the Start, please visit www.decal.state.ga.us/.