While households across Guilford County examine their budgets for what could be the most expensive Thanksgiving meal in history, North Carolina policymakers are also keeping a close eye on a budget -- in this case, the N.C. budget.

Last week, a North Carolina judge ordered the state to transfer $1.7 billion from reserves in the general fund to support an improvement plan. This ruling came as a result of the Leandro case, which dates back to 1994. That’s when families and school boards in five low-wealth counties argued North Carolina did not provide equal opportunities for quality education. In 1997, the N.C. Supreme Court ruled the state constitution guarantees every child access to a “sound, basic education.” Since then, a remedial plan has been presented and accepted by Democrats and Republicans, but deadlines to spend the necessary funds came and went.

Those deadlines set by Judge David Lee came as the N.C. General Assembly debated its biennial budget. The state budget was supposed to be completed when the new fiscal year began in July. 
As of this afternoon, both the Senate and the House have passed the budget. Next the budget will go to Governor Roy Cooper, who has pledged to sign it.

The $25.9 billion budget would be the first state budget passed in three years. At Ready Ready, we are optimistic that efforts from our Legislative Action Subcommittee and the Chambers of Commerce may have educated lawmakers on the critical importance of early childhood development and support for our mission. 

Our mission will continue to move forward because of the dedication and affirmation you provide to Ready Ready. Thank you for being our champions, contributors, and cheerleaders. 

Sincerely,

• This week, the House and Senate will send the state budget to Governor Roy Cooper, who has pledged to sign it into law. We are optimistic that funding for two Ready Ready projects remains in the budget.
• A virtual series on parenting for Mt. Zion Baptist Church has been proposed as part of the Communications Subcommittee work. Ready Ready staff are consulting with Pastor Kiya Shears on this opportunity to take part in their spring workshop series, which will begin in February 2022.

• Children’s Home Society (CHS) continues to cultivate relationships and leverage existing connections among health care professionals to recruit the two remaining OB practices in Guilford County for prenatal Navigation. 
• CHS has recruited three pediatric-serving sites to participate in field-testing of postnatal Navigation.
• The Community Alignment team has completed its first draft of the alignment of service types across expansion programs. This effort will ensure uniformity for data reporting purposes in the Salesforce system.

• Family Connects has filled all 16 funded nurse home visitor positions. All administrative positions are also fully staffed, including supervisors, a translator, and administrative support. This staffing level is sufficient to meet the need at scale in Guilford County. 
• Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) reports an increase in referrals from prenatal Navigators. Additionally,  the quality of those referrals is high -- most have converted to enrollment.

• We are collaborating with our partners at UNC-Chapel Hill to host a webinar for Cohort I programs in December. This webinar will focus on the "Model for Improvement," a powerful tool that organizations can use to accelerate improvement. 
• The team at UNC-Chapel Hill is working with Ready Ready staff to identify programs that will be invited to form a second Cohort to build a culture of continuous quality improvement in our community.

• The new Navigation system went live on October 25, 2021. Enhancement requests are being added to the list for implementation as providers work with the new system, per Coastal Cloud.
• The Agency Finder is now connected to the new Navigation and HealthySteps Salesforce orgs at Children’s Home Society.
• IBM has updated the Data Governance Charter, Data Sharing Agreement, and Data Governance Council Templates as part of its ongoing work.

• MDRC and Ready Ready teams initiated a process to document implementation plans for each component of Ready Ready’s work. These efforts will prepare Ready Ready and its partners for the evaluation.

Family Voice: Community clean-up

We have a story to share that you might have missed in our monthly Ready Ready newsletter. Inspired by professional development gained through Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) Phase 1 and Phase 2 training, Guilford Parent Leadership Network member Eugene Penn led a community clean-up event. Penn’s event was held in Park Terrace in early October and featured a clean-up and food, prizes, and fun activities for families. 

“I feel the impact of COFI training provided Eugene the skills and drive to coordinate this event and partner with other agencies to provide educational and child care services,” said GPLN member April Butler. “I enjoyed watching the children be led by a community male and see the joy he brought to the young children, especially the boys, to be active in their community.”

“I just want to give a big kudos and thank you to everybody who came out to the event,” Penn said. The event offered information about rental assistance, food pantries, utilities, and child care. “I can’t wait for the next one.”

“Eugene saw a need in his community and took action,” GPLN member Amber Robinson said. “The kids in attendance enjoyed helping to set up, cleaning up trash around the community with vests and grabbers, competing in jump rope, and receiving information books to take home. COFI alumni were there to staff the sign-in table, greet community members with a smile, explain what was going on, get info about concerns in the community and lead a big group session of Simon Says. It was a great time had by all.”
 

Family Voice: COFI Phase 1 graduation

We’re pleased to share that 13 parent leaders graduated from COFI Phase 1 training in late October. These parents have children in Early Head Start or Head Start through Guilford Child Development. Now that they have graduated, they will form a Parent Action Team to strengthen their relationships and support each other in creating community change. 

The Guilford Parent Leader Network (GPLN) is an integral part of the decision-making structure for Ready for School, Ready for Life. Families who participate are valued consultants, partners, and change agents who work on important priorities for their own families and other families in Guilford County.

Ages 3-5

Representatives from the Ages 3-5 Design Team and key partners have met as part of a Navigation Planning Team to review and refine proposed strategies related to Navigation for this age group.

The Basics Guilford

Ready Ready has partnered with the Housing Authority of the City of High Point (HPHA) to provide early childhood development resources to its residents. The Interactive Learning Center at J.C. Morgan Community Center opened on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, with a ribbon-cutting.  

The Interactive Learning Center offers information on The Basics Guilford, five fun, free, science-based concepts that parents and caregivers can use to help their child’s healthy development.

We transformed two rooms for families with young children themed around The Basics Guilford. One of the rooms is for families with children ages 0-3, with soft play mats, age-appropriate toys, and beanbag chairs. The second is designed for families with children ages 3-5 and offers comfortable children’s furniture, books, and fun manipulatives.

Both rooms have meeting space for educational programs. Local organizations will provide programming on child development, literacy, parenting, and more. Families will be able to sign up for these learning opportunities through the HPHA’s Resident Services Department.

New staff member

Yuri Alston is our new Family Engagement Coordinator who joined us in mid-September. Yuri has worked in the human services industry field for over a decade. Learn more about her on our website.
 

Please help us grow!

Please share our hiring announcements and job descriptions with your networks. Links to all open positions are located on our careers page.

Equity and Inclusion

Equity Statement

The creation of this statement was the work of our Equity Strategies Committee of the Board of Directors. They sought the input of many stakeholders, including our parent leaders, staff, equity consultants, and the Board.  We have posted this statement as approved by our Board of Directors on our website. Please read our statement below, and join us in this essential system-building work.

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.

The University of Texas at Austin has released its Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, which shows the top evidence-driven policies and strategies most effective for prenatal to three impacts. None of these policies exist yet in North Carolina. The ThinkBabiesNC Alliance will be working to build momentum for all of these policies.

The North Carolina Early Childhood Compensation Collaborative Model Salary Scale for Early Education Teachers is a resource to be used by employers, employees, and policymakers to move toward fair and just compensation. Learn more about the scale by viewing the presentation slides and listening to the webinar hosted by NC DCDEE, CCSA, SmartStart, and the NC Institute for Child Development Professionals.

Los Angeles Times: Democrats' bill plans the biggest expansion of public education in a century. 
"Costing $390 billion, the proposal would provide universal preschool access for 3- and 4-year-old children — the largest expansion of free education since public high school was added about 100 years ago. It would also subsidize the cost of child care for the vast majority of parents with a child under 6."

Washington Post - Perspective: The business case for public investment in early-childhood programs
"In the United States, evidence of return on investment is often needed to make happen something obvious. That includes public investment in high-quality child care and early-childhood education — programs that help young children develop into functioning, responsible adults."