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June 2022


Dear Ready Ready Supporters,
 
North Carolina has the opportunity to help hundreds of thousands of working parents. The state Senate has passed a bill to expand Medicaid. The Senate bill would give Medicaid coverage to up to 600,000 more people. It would cover people who make 138% or less of the federal poverty level. That’s $38,295 for a family of four.

Georgetown University researchers have found that Medicaid expansion is associated with lower child uninsured rates. They found that when parents gain health insurance, they are more likely to access the resources, information, and support they need to be a healthy and effective parent and were more likely to take their child to the doctor. 

Children need healthy, financially secure parents to help them reach their full potential. As the bill goes to the N.C. House, I urge you to let your representative know you support Medicaid expansion. Expanding Medicaid is one of the best tools our state can use to protect family financial security, fight infant & maternal death, keep parents healthy, and give children a better shot in life. Visit our friends at NC Child to easily voice your support for Medicaid expansion with their form.

Thank you for being a champion for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families.
 
Sincerely,

Charrise Hart
Chief Executive Officer

 


Build public will for early childhood priorities
  • Ready Ready staff and Legislative Action Subcommittee members traveled to Raleigh with the High Point and Greensboro Chambers to meet with legislators in support of House Bill 1009, seeking funding for early childhood education projects at Ready Ready.
  • Ready Ready staff and Communications Subcommittee members presented information about our mission and work to two High Point civic groups: High Point Neighborhood Leaders and D-UP. Other committee members have been trained with the standard presentation and are looking for other speaking opportunities.
  • The High Point Enterprise and Greensboro News & Record published news stories about recent grants awarded to Ready Ready. You can read the High Point Enterprise story here and the Greensboro News & Record article here
  • The 2021 Impact Report has been distributed to board members, funders, and other influencers. The report was also posted to the Ready Ready website and shared on social media.
 
 
Develop navigation system to connect families with effective services
  • Navigators are being trained and credentialed in preparation for the Duke Implementation Study. Navigators with this credential can enroll prenatal clients in the study to share their experience with prenatal navigation.
  • Twenty families at two pediatric sites field-tested shortened guided conversations as part of the intake process. Feedback revealed that the shortened version helped make it easier and more efficient for families to interact with navigators.
  • In the first quarter of 2022, prenatal navigators made 1,358 referrals for services for clients in 12 OB/GYN practices. The top three referrals are for home visiting and case management, WIC/Food stamps, and car seats.


Expand and integrate proven programs to meet community need
  • Family Connects reports 739 families receiving either an at-home visit or a supportive call in the first quarter. The program served 62 percent of eligible births in Guilford County using visits and calls. The most common referrals were for Care Management for At-Risk Children and services such as food banks.
  • HealthySteps specialists had 1,793 visits, with 73 percent of families consenting to share their data with the program
  • Nurse-Family Partnership reports that 75 percent of nurse visits are now in-person, with the remaining 25 percent conducted via telehealth.


Build a culture of continuous quality improvement (CQI) 
  • Four Cohort I programs are currently participating in the Model for Improvement Learning Community.
  • Cohort II programs that have expressed interest in participating in CQI in 2022-23 are completing the self-assessment with our UNC-Chapel Hill partners.

     



Build technology to support data-informed decisions
  • A new Salesforce module for the Network team has been launched. When programs share their data, the network team will review it, and the information will be directly saved to Salesforce. This process improves what had been a manual data entry process.
  • The Governance Council and Executive Council have met to launch a governance process to address IDS data and IT program governanceThe Governance Council has had two meetings thus far. 

Conduct rigorous evaluation process and build sustainability for system-building work
  • MDRC and James Bell Associates (JBA) have worked with Ready Ready staff to complete draft logic models for IDS, CQI, and prenatal and postnatal navigation. The logic models will identify benchmarks for implementation and outcome/impact evaluations.

The Basics Guilford

Ready Ready staff completed a Basics Guilford training for 15 teen moms at the YWCA-Greensboro.

Ready Ready staff shared books and information about The Basics Guilford at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game on June 5, 2022. The Basics was one of the game’s sponsors, and the logo also made it to the stadium’s jumbotron.

This summer, the Basics Guilford will provide books for the Books in the Garden series hosted by Greensboro Parks and Recreation. Children ages 0-5 and their caregivers join Shelli Scott of Greensboro Parks and Recreation at Gateway Gardens for free story and craft time. At the end of each session, children receive a book to take home.

 

Family Voice

The Guilford Parent Leader Network (GPLN) will elect members of its steering committee this month. The new Steering Committee will begin serving in July. A second gardening workshop has been scheduled for late June as an opportunity for GPLN members to learn and network together.

Welcome new staff member

Dr. Coretta Walker joined Ready Ready in May 2022. She will serve as Project Manager: Ages 3-5. In this role, she will establish and maintain strong relationships with program partners and community stakeholders, oversee the implementation of Ages 3-5 strategies, and ensure project goals are met. Learn more about Coretta Walker on our website.

Spectrum News 1: Medicaid expansion passes N.C. Senate, heads to House
“The North Carolina Senate passed a bill to expand Medicaid, which could extend health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of people in the state. The bill now heads to the House. It's not clear if House Republicans will be as receptive to the bill as their Senate colleagues. The Republican-controlled General Assembly has resisted calls to expand Medicaid for more than a decade since Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare.” Read the full story.

NPR: The FDA is facing an investigation into its handling of the baby formula shortage
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that it would specifically review whether or not the FDA correctly conducted inspections of Abbott's Sturgis, Mich., manufacturing facility at the center of the recall and if it correctly oversaw Abbott's initiation of the infant formula recall.
” Read the full story by NPR.

CNN: Despite moves to increase supply, families are still feeling the pain of the baby formula shortage
“Parents and caregivers continue to feel the pain of store shelves that are cleaned out of baby formula, and many are turning to hospitals and community organizations for help.” Read the full story on the CNN website.

Public Health approach to gun violence prevention
This research from the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV) suggests a population-level approach that addresses both firearm access and the factors that contribute to and protect from gun violence. Learn more. 

Bloomberg: Child-care workers are quitting the industry for good in the U.S.
“Low pay, demanding work and a lack of benefits have driven child-care workers out of the industry for good during the pandemic — creating ripple effects on the rest of the U.S. economy.
Employment in daycare services remains more than 10% below pre-Covid levels, compared with just 1% for the labor market at large.” Read the full story here

 
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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.
Copyright © 2022 Ready for School, Ready for Life, All rights reserved.


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