As we turn the corner and begin a new year in 2021, Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) is focused on the future. Our organization has been focused on Guilford County families with children ages zero to three as part of our first phase. Now we have begun work on designing the second phase, which expands our focus to include Guilford County families with children ages three to five in the system. 

As we build a system of care for children prenatally to age five that improves outcomes in Guilford County, we want to bring you up to date on our initiatives. Together, we will make a difference for families in Guilford County.

Thank you for your support.

• A contract between Children’s Home Society (CHS) and The Duke Endowment for delivery of Navigation has been executed. This contract lays out guidelines for Navigation scaling and implementation.

• The first draft of a Navigation and Program Integration manual has been completed.

• A platform to enable documentation and data analysis of prenatal Navigation has been developed in Salesforce. We expect to move from testing to live use this month.

• The Navigation Steering Committee (NSC) has approved a structure to move Program Integration Workgroup recommendations forward. Within this structure, Ready Ready staff is working with UNC-Chapel Hill to develop a process, informed by implementation science, to effectively move these recommendations to an implementation phase.

• The Duke Endowment (TDE) has finalized contracts with HealthySteps, Family Connects, and Nurse-Family Partnership for expansion to full scale in 2021.

• The CQI final evaluation report is complete. We will share the results of the report with our CQI Working Group, CQI Implementation team, and CQI Cohort 1 members by the end of January 2021. The report analyzes the impact of coaching, documenting programs’ changes in practices, and helps us understand the role of performance measurement in the CQI work. The insights from this report will inform planning for our CQI scope of work in 2021.

• Pilot Navigators are going live with their Salesforce application.

• HealthySteps Specialists are also going live with their new Salesforce-powered data system. 

• Our Community Alignment team has migrated its data collection on Guilford County programs to Salesforce. This database is now live for Navigators.

• The Integrated Data Systems team has begun the integration of data between Salesforce instances (HealthySteps, Community Alignment, and Navigation.)

• A small team, facilitated by MDRC, continues revising the Get Ready Guilford Initiative (GRGI) Theory of Change based on what has been learned through GRGI over the past three years.

• The sponsorship with WFMY’s Who’s Turning Two segment continues to provide opportunities for us to share the Basics Guilford message. Shelli Scott, Youth Program Specialist with the City of Greensboro Parks & Recreation Department, shared how parents can use one of The Basics: Explore Through Movement and Play. You can watch the segment here.

• We are partnering with BackPack Beginnings, a local organization that provides food and comfort packs to children across Guilford County. Our new partnership aims to distribute 5,000 books to young children through weekly deliveries.

• The Early Childhood Workforce Advisory Group will create a strategy for recruiting parents of children in childcare and early childcare teachers. Production on the ECW advocacy video continues with a target for completion anticipated in February.

• The NC Early Education Coalition (NCEEC) has released its Early Education Priorities for 2021 which includes areas that align with the Advisory Group’s focus on the workforce. 

• Start with Equity: 14 Priorities to Dismantle Systemic Racism in Early Care and Education: Children’s Equity Project recently presented a webinar on a report released by CEP and the Bipartisan Policy Center, Start with Equity: From the Early Years to Early Grades.  Visit the website to find the recording and slides. 

• Our Phase 2/Ages 3-5 Design Team has formed three work groups to focus their strategy development work. Work groups include: Early Childhood & Education, Home & Community Resources and Cross System Collaboration. Work Groups will meet twice monthly through June 2021.

• Our Phase 2/Ages 3-5 Advisory Team will meet in February to begin their work to offer state, regional, and national expertise and experience in education, policy, and advocacy for young children to advise the Design Team and Ready Ready staff.

• Following Guilford County’s first Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) Phase 1 training, our facilitators are preparing for a second training in the Cottage Grove community. Funding from Summit Rotary will support this training. 

• The Guilford Parent Leaders Network (GPLN) continues to meet monthly on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7pm via Zoom. 

• With support and input from the Guilford Parent Leader Network (GPLN), a Family Engagement Coordinator will be hired in early 2021 to focus on growing the GPLN and engaging family voice further in the work of Ready, Ready.

   

• The Legislative Action Subcommittee will begin to launch the revised policy agenda and build relationships with key influencers.

• Think Babies Leadership NC (TBL) members plan to connect with legislators about priorities for 2021. The focus is on what babies and their families need to thrive: healthy beginnings, supported families, and access to quality early care and learning. NC Early Education Coalition will be presenting congressional and NCGA briefings this month. TBL members will continue recruiting members with the goal of creating more diversity on the leadership team.