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Dear Friends of Ready Ready,
After years of development, testing, and governance policy, Ready for School, Ready for Life has officially launched the Integrated Data System (IDS). This “database of databases” strengthens the network of resources that support early childhood development.
 The IDS enables care coordination, service monitoring, and outcomes tracking for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families who give consent. The IDS enables families with young children to be assessed for needs and to connect with programs and services that support their children’s healthy development. Program staff will reduce duplication of effort through better connection and communication. Decision-makers will have access to data about how community resources are used and where better outcomes may be achieved. Families will own their data and be able to decide when to share and with which program.
We are excited about the IDS because it allows programs that had been operating in silos to help young children work together. Families will not have to repeat, sometimes traumatic, information at intake after intake. Instead, program staff will be able to get a better understanding of resources the family may have accessed, refer families to other services, and, best of all, use the time not spent on intake/paperwork to build stronger relationships with families.
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Learn more about Ready Ready's Integrated Data System in this short video.
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At the same time, we will support families with children ages 0-3 in 2023; we are building out the next set of strategies for children ages 3-5 and planning for the third stage, ages 5-8. We’re excited at the opportunities to make a difference here and then help other N.C. counties do the same.
Thank you for your support on this journey.
Sincerely,
Charrise Hart
CEO
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Sharing system-building work in the Carolinas
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Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) hosted more than a dozen members of the Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) for a Guilford County site visit January 30-31, 2023. Attendees represented SAM, Mary Black Foundation, The Bethlehem Center, Hello Family Spartanburg, the University of South Carolina Upstate, United Way of the Piedmont, Spartanburg County First Steps, The Franklin School Bridgespan Group, and The Duke Endowment.
SAM is a nonprofit organization helping to lead an inclusive recovery in the South Carolina upstate and to improve cradle-to-career outcomes for children in seven K-12 school districts. Like Ready Ready, SAM believes that every child must be ready for school when they enter kindergarten and find success in school by third grade.
“We were so pleased to host the team from SAM and share lessons Ready Ready has learned during our journey to build a system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families,” said Ready Ready CEO Charrise Hart. “It’s exciting having a ‘neighbor’ organization engaged in similar system-building efforts. We look forward to continued opportunities to learn from each other in this unique work.”
The two-day site visit included a full day of learning and idea exchange, followed by a visit to the YWCA of Greensboro’s facility. The YWCA visit highlighted the Teen Parent Mentor Program and the Emergency Family Shelter programs, both of which are current members of the Ready Ready Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Cohort II.
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Both Ready Ready and SAM are part of the Blue Meridian Partners Place Matters portfolio in partnership with The Duke Endowment. You can learn more about this community-focused partnership here.
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Guilford Parent Leader Network
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Guilford Parent Leader Network (GPLN) members celebrated the holidays with a potluck dinner and gift exchange. Parents in the group exchanged gifts with a “Dirty Santa” game – which allows participants to scheme and “steal” each other’s gifts. You never know what you’re going to end up with.
The children at the party in December also exchanged gifts, participated in arts and crafts, and even joined in a special “Holistic Hustle” led by Amber Robinson. She challenged the children to create a business and design a logo. “There were some really creative ideas floating around, and the children had a great time,” said Ready Ready Parent Liaison Sanaa Sharrieff.
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How has the GPLN helped parent leaders?
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GPLN Steering Committee member Eugene Penn explains the impact he's felt by joining.
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Watch this short video.
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The Guilford Parent Leader Network is open to Guilford County parents with children ages 0-8. Would you like to join? The next meeting will be held on February 20, 2023, via Zoom. For more information, please contact Yuri Alston, Family Engagement Manager, at (336) 579-2977 ext. 2008 or yuria@getreadyguilford.org.
The GPLN has also launched Fathers Ready to Grow, with dads signed up to network and offer support to each other. If you’d like more information on joining, please contact yuria@getreadyguilford.org.
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Basic Guilford Focus: Maximize Love, Manage Stress through gratitude
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The Basics are five fun, science-based parenting and caregiving concepts that anyone can do. Since February is a month when we celebrate love, we wanted to focus on the Basic - Maximize Love, Manage Stress. Caregiving for young children can be very stressful, especially when life throws curve balls your way like financial difficulty or sickness. Slowing your mind down to practice daily gratitude is a powerful way to lift your spirits and put you in the best frame of mind to provide care for your baby or toddler. We know that when parents can better deal with the stress in their lives, they are better able to maximize love in the home, which has lots of benefits for the brain development of young children.
Here are a few ideas for how to practice gratitude.
- Keep a gratitude journal - write down two things for which you are grateful each day.
- Make a practice of telling someone that you love and appreciate them.
- Consume media that will remind you of the good in the world.
- Commit to one day a week where you work hard not to complain.
- Be intentional about being kind each day.
- Whenever you learn something new, be thankful.
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Help us spread the word about Basics Insights free texts
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Do you know caregivers who could benefit from Basics Insights texts that deliver brain-building activity ideas for young children? Sign up to receive at least two messages per week until a child turns 5. On Mondays and Wednesdays, science-based facts and activities are sent that are paced for the age of the child and designed to help them learn.
Forward this email with an easy opt-in below and help us make the Basics the common language of caregiving for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers!
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Would you like to be trained in The Basics Guilford?
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We've trained more than 1,000 adults in the community about The Basics Guilford. You could be next!
As we share information about the Basics across Guilford County, we need your help. We’re offering virtual training on the Basics for teams of three or more at organizations that interact with young children. Each session lasts 30-45 minutes. To schedule a training session or learn more about Ready Ready and the Basics Guilford, please contact Literacy Coordinator Megan LeFaivre at meganl@getreadyguilford.org.
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Staff Profile: Sanaa Sharrieff
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“It felt like a support system at a time when I had no local support system,” said Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) Parent Liaison Sanaa Sharrieff about the Guilford Parent Leader Network – her first connection to the organization. “When I moved to High Point, I didn’t know anyone. Learning about volunteer efforts, parent support efforts, and agencies in the community helped me realize the concept of parent voice. And it also developed into a career pathway.”
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Partner Spotlight: Thriving at Three
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Thriving at Three, a program of the Center for New North Carolinians, assures that Latino/Hispanic immigrant children in Greensboro have a positive and strong foundation from birth to age three.
“We want to assure that these families have the help and support they need to help their children develop healthy and positively,” said Thriving at Three Coordinator Grecia Navarro. “We offer home visits, case management, parent education, and group meetings, and we can also refer families to other programs and organizations as needed.”
Thriving at Three works with about 40 families each year, assessing their children’s developmental status with the Ages & Stages Questionnaire. Some parents receive the Crianza con Cariño Curriculum to increase their knowledge of child development and parent-child interaction.
“We recognize that if we provide developmental, emotional, and social support early in a child’s life, it will create a long impact to help the child do well in school and in life,” Navarro said.
Thriving at Three is part of Ready for School, Ready for Life’s Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Cohort II. Navarro and another team member began the work with Ready Ready in fall 2022.
Learn more about Thriving at Three and CQI on our website.
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Our mission
Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) is a collaborative effort to build a connected, innovative system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families.
Equity Statement
Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) promotes equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion, which are woven through our mission, values, and principles. We stand against racism in all of its forms. Ready Ready will work with our community to address the structural inequities that drive disparate child and family outcomes and work towards an environment where equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion are core values. When we are working to address these structural inequities, Ready Ready will be bold in our actions.
When Guilford County Black and Indigenous children and families of color (BIPOC) feel welcomed, heard, respected, safe, supported, and valued, all of our community and our society benefit.
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