Noting that health benefits for children should be one of the principal goals of comprehensive early childhood initiatives, this Smart Start brochure provides information on "medical homes" and their importance to the overall health of children; the brochure also describes community strategies to help promote a medical home for all children. The medical home, the practice of enhancing access to a regular source of health care, with coordinated referrals to specialized care when needed, is one of three major practices considered necessary to enhance children's health. Among the benefits of a medical home are minimized delay of needed medical or dental care, and decreased visits to the emergency room. The medical home approach to care is described as accessible, family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally competent. Because the medical home has been formally adopted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the concept is receiving greater awareness in the medical community. Progress in improving children's access to a medical home in North Carolina is being made. Local Smart Start initiatives, as are other community-based early childhood initiatives, are well-positioned to promote the medical home concept. Community efforts in promoting a medical home may use numerous strategies, among them gathering data to measure young children's access to a medical home in their community, contacting active health care providers to determine the progress of young children's access to a medical home, assisting with outreach efforts for publicly funded child health insurance programs, and assisting families in building their capacity to promote the medical home. (KB)