Dear Ready Ready Supporter,
The N.C. DHHS Division of Child Development and Early Education has released a public dashboard showing enrollment and program site information about early childhood education centers in North Carolina. You can look at our entire state or zoom in on a specific county.
Here’s what you can learn about Guilford County. From January 2, 2020, to March 1, 2022:
- The total number of child care sites declined seven percent from 383 to 358.
- Child enrollment in early childhood education centers went down 12 percent, from 16,326 to 14,355
- Total staff figures declined six percent from 2,403 in April 2020 to 2,108 in October 2021.
- Staff figures have begun to rebound slightly, up to 2,253 in March 2022. But, that number is about 125 staff members short of pre-pandemic figures in January 2020.
In Guilford County, 32 percent of the child population is under age six. That’s 36,346 children generally younger than school-age. So there are about 22,000 children who are not attending an early childhood education program in Guilford County, and 44 percent of children here live in poor or low-income homes, according to NC Child.
According to NCDHHS, our state has one of the highest rates of working mothers with young children. A lack of affordable, high-quality care has been identified as a barrier for families to participate in the local workforce. That makes child care a top priority in North Carolina.
 Ready Ready has received funding from the N.C. General Assembly to help solve the problem. Working with N.C. A&T State University and UNC-Greensboro, we are creating a pilot project to build a better business plan for early childhood education centers using the newly revised Model Work Standards. Our pilot is focused on advancing high-quality child care for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in a model that North Carolina counties can replicate while providing best practices in teacher education, retention, and professional development.
We’re excited to get this project underway this year. We want to thank you for your support and dedication as we build a system of care that brings Guilford County together to support our youngest children and their families.
Sincerely,
Charrise Hart
Chief Executive Officer
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Build public will for early childhood priorities
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- Legislative Action Subcommittee members continue their collaboration with the Greensboro and High Point Chambers regarding Ready Ready’s legislative requests for the upcoming N.C. General Assembly short session which begins May 18, 2022.
- Members of the Communications Subcommittee have received Speaker’s Bureau training and are seeking opportunities to present information about Ready Ready to local organizations. Two engagements are in the works for May 2022.
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Develop navigation system to connect families with effective services
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- Children’s Home Society (CHS) conducted site visits at seven OB practices in Quarter 1 to review data, share successes, and discuss opportunities for strengthening Navigation processes at the practices.
- CHS has hired a new Navigator to fill an open position at Central Carolina OB, bringing its Navigation staff to 14.
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Expand and integrate proven programs to meet community need
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- Family Connects-Guilford nurses report the return to in-home visits is appreciated by clients. In February, nurses reached 65 percent of the eligible population with virtual visits and support phone calls. Nurses also reached Guilford County residents who gave birth in Alamance and Forsyth Counties this way.
- Nurse-Family Partnership had 208 active clients in March. Caseloads are increasing. Currently, about 60 percent of visits are made in-person, and 40 percent via telehealth.
- Medical Home Advisory Team members are providing feedback about the information the Community Alignment Team should include in each practice’s profile in the Community Portal/Agency Finder.
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Build a culture of continuous quality improvement (CQI)
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- Twelve Cohort I and 15 Cohort II programs have been invited to participate in our new CQI framework initiative in Guilford County – Model for Improvement (MFI). Four Cohort I programs will participate in the MFI Learning Community beginning at the end of May 2022.
- Cohort II programs interested in participating in CQI have completed the self-assessment with UNC-Chapel Hill. The five Cohort II programs begin the CQI-Infrastructure Assessment in May 2022, followed by MFI in September.
- Additional programs focused on services for housing, immigration, and children with disabilities are being identified and will be invited to join Cohort II this month.
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Build technology to support data-informed decisions
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- Coastal Cloud reports a successful release of the Core Navigation customer relations management and resources module. This project included feedback from end-users requesting more time to orient team members to the new functionality.
- The first Executive Council meeting was held in mid-April. As a result, invitations to the Governance Council were sent for a May 2022 kickoff. This is part of the governance process to address IDS data and IT program needs.
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Conduct rigorous evaluation process and build sustainability for system-building work
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- MDRC is translating recommendations from the Outcomes/Impact Task Force into a measurement plan.
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Ages 3-5
Proposals from potential implementation partners have been received and are under review by the RFP Review Team. Partners will be selected after an interview process. So far, curricula for two of the three pilot strategies have been identified, with literacy as a core component of the Ages 3-5 work.
The Basics Guilford
Ready Ready staff members shared books and information about The Basics Guilford at two community events in May. We participated in the Family Support Network of Central Carolina’s U.N.I.T.E. event – which stands for Understanding Needs of Inclusion Takes Everyone. The event was held on May 1 at LeBauer Park in downtown Greensboro. Ready Ready’s Interim Vice President of Public Will Building Heather Adams and Community Alignment Manager Stormi Covington offered families books and information about The Basics Guilford.
Organizations that serve families of individuals with disabilities or special health care needs offered fun activities and resources during this three-hour event. Family Support Network has also put together a downloadable resource guide to help families connect with the information or support they need.
Staff members Stephanie Skordas, Megan LeFaivre, and Heather Adams offered books and information about The Basics at Wheels on the Greenway on May 7, 2022. At our table at Woven Works Park at the corner of Lindsay and Murrow, we had the opportunity to meet and greet families enjoying the 4-mile loop before the storms rolled in.
Family Voice
Parent leaders held a Town Hall meeting on April 24, 2022, to ask families how our community could offer more support. The Town Hall was facilitated by Guilford Parent Leader Network members who have graduated from Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) Phase II training. They began the process with a survey that ran from December 2021 through March 2022, asking members of the community about their needs as parents.
“The Town Hall meeting was amazing,” said Katina Allen, one of the facilitators. “We heard people voice their opinions, got some great points across, and received great feedback.” You can read more about the top three topics presented on our website.
The Guilford Parent Leader Network (GPLN) has increased attendance by 20 percent from 2021.
GPLN Steering Committee Member and COFI Facilitator Amber Robinson and Family Engagement Manager Yuri Alston presented information about Ready Ready’s family engagement work with Mecklenburg County Smart Start. The presentation reviewed Ready Ready’s championing family voice from the beginning, such as the 150 families consulted, the Photovoice project, the 100 Day Challenge teams, and more. As a result, Ready Ready has family voice on our board, equity, system-building, and governance committees. We have family engagement roles on staff with a family engagement manager and two parent liaisons. Our GPLN has a steering committee and we ask board members and staff to attend at least one GPLN meeting a year.
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Two recent grants will help further our mission
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Ready for School, Ready for Life is excited to announce that we have received two grants to further our mission to build a connected, innovative system of care for Guilford County's youngest children and their families.
- We have received a $50,000 grant from the Pritzker Children’s Initiative to support the organization’s three-year Equity Action Plan. The implementation of this plan will ensure consistent, equitable practices across the organization. Read more.
- The Lincoln Financial Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to promote Guilford County children's early literacy and kindergarten readiness. Read more.
We appreciate all our funders and donors. Thank you for your support.
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New role: Interim Vice President of Public Will Building
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Heather Adams is serving as the Interim Vice President of Public Will Building. Adams joined the Ready Ready team in 2020 as Director of Engagement and Literacy Initiatives. Learn more about Heather Adams on our website.
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New role: Family Engagement Manager
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With Yuri Alston’s graduation with her Master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work, she joins Ready Ready full-time as family engagement manager. Learn more about Yuri on our website.
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New York Times: Republicans and Democrats agree child care needs help. Here’s how they differ.
“In a new bill, Republican senators adopted many of the Democrats’ goals, but they remain far apart on elements like how to pay for it.” Read the full article.
NPR: The pandemic erased a decade of public preschool gains
“State-based preschool programs suffered big drops in enrollment and state funding in the teeth of the pandemic, according to an annual review by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. If there is good news in the report, it's that, during the 2020-2021 school year, federal relief money filled the hole left by states' spending cuts.” Learn more at NPR.
State of Babies Yearbook 2022: New data shows NC still has work to do to support babies The State of Babies Yearbook: 2022 shows families with babies in North Carolina continue to struggle in the absence of a strong national policy agenda. Read more about how North Carolina’s ranking has changed and see how North Carolina is progressing on the GROW continuum in the full NC Profile. Access the Advocacy Toolkit here for resources on sharing findings and resources with policymakers
Addressing the Early Childhood Workforce Crisis through Stabilization Grants
A new issue brief, and associated case studies, released by Child Care Services Association provide a snapshot of the effects on child care programs in the early months of the Stabilization Grants and the positive impacts of the grants, which will run out in April 2023.
Infant Brain Study Helps Make Case for a Universal US Paid Leave Policy
A study summary released by NYU News in April suggests that infants whose mothers received paid family leave showed greater brain activity in their first three months. This adds to the mountain of evidence that supports the implementation of a universal paid leave policy, sadly, the United States remains the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee this support for its families.
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