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Dear Friends of Ready Ready,
September is one of those months that can symbolize both endings and beginnings. While we say farewell to summer leisure, we welcome fall and the start of the academic year. It’s a time of transition.
 Ready for School, Ready for Life is in one of those transition times as well. We’ve been part of the community since 2016, became a nonprofit in 2018, and I joined the team in 2019. We have worked through the pandemic, and the first stage of our work focused on families with children prenatal to age 3. Now it's time for the next stage as we add strategies for children ages 3-5 to prepare them for kindergarten and then ages 5-8 to make sure they’re reading at grade level and have the math skills they need in third grade. That’s the number one predictor of success in school, high school graduation, and moving into a career.
Moving into this new phase brings with it a sense of joy about the impact we’ve had on Guilford County families and a feeling of determination as we create population-level change for our community. We know this work won’t be easy or quick. We are in it for the long term.
For too long, we’ve placed the burden on families to take the parenting journey alone. It’s critical that our community offer support, resources, and information to help us all make this journey together. Strong communities start with strong families. Investing in young children’s health and care pays off for all of us. Babies grow up healthier, parents have more opportunities to work, our community is more connected, and our economy gets stronger.
Thank you for taking the journey with us. Your support and companionship make the adventure worth every minute.
Sincerely,
Charrise Hart
CEO
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Ready Ready awards CQI grants to 13 organizations
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Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) has awarded $652,000 in grants to programs from 13 organizations serving families in Guilford County to participate in its second cohort of the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process. Ready Ready has partnered with The Duke Endowment and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work on these grants to make participating in the CQI Cohort II financially possible.
In the first cohort, Ready Ready had 13 programs complete CQI training. CQI Cohort II launches in September 2022 and will wrap up in March 2023. The CQI Cohort II programs are:
- Backpack Beginnings
- The Barnabas Network
- The Center for New North Carolinians
- Children and Families First (formerly Guilford Child Development)
- Greensboro Housing Authority
- GuilfordWorks
- The Kellin Foundation
- Out of the Garden Project
- Positive Direction for Youth and Families
- Room at the Inn
- Triad Goodwill
- Women’s Resource Center of Greensboro
- YWCA Greensboro
Each program will dedicate 3-4 team members who will participate in monthly learning sessions with other programs and CQI facilitators from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Between sessions, team members will complete assignments and receive coaching from their facilitators. Learn more about CQI Cohort II on our website.
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New executive assistant position
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Ready Ready is searching for an Executive Assistant to join our growing team. The Executive Assistant serves as the primary coordinator and liaison for external relations for the Vice President of Strategic Impact and the Vice President of Public Will-Building. Please share this job listing with your networks!
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Ready Ready Parent Liaisons Connie Colter and Sanaa Sharrieff and Family Engagement Manager Yuri Alston attended a Parent Leadership Network convening in Grant Rapids, Michigan, in early August. The Early Childhood Learning and Innovation Network for Communities (EC-LINC) is a network of partners with a shared goal to support families and improve results for young children in communities across the country. Ready Ready’s Guilford Parent Leader Network is part of this group.
“The sessions talked about the history of the Parent Leader Network and how families should never be put into a position where decisions about the community would happen unless there was some kind of family involvement. I believe that this is essential to Guilford County,” Colter said.
She added that she was able to use tools developed during a Collaborative Design Workshop with Guilford County commissioners and other organizations to collaborate with families during her convening experience. Her big takeaway from the event?
“I’m excited to see the changes in Guilford county, but we need more families to come meet us at the table so that we can make a difference not just for our families but for all families who don’t have a voice,” Colter said. “I personally believe that being in the position of a Parent Liaison is not just sharing my stories to others but also advocating for equity for Guilford families.”
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Would you like to join the Guilford Parent Leader Network? We gather on the third Monday of the month from 7-8:30 p.m. The next meeting is Monday, September 19, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we hold these meetings via Zoom. When meetings resume in person, we provide child care to alleviate barriers to participation.
For more information, please contact Yuri Alston, Family Engagement Manager, at (336) 579-2977 ext. 2008 or yuria@getreadyguilford.org.
The Fathers Ready to Grow group held its first meeting on August 22, with 16 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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"Trusted Spaces, Healthy Babies"
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Ready Ready staff members began delivering books and bookshelves to 13 Guilford County barber shops and hair salons participating in the “Trusted Spaces, Healthy Babies” program. Ready Ready has completed training the barbers and stylists in The Basics Guilford so they can offer tips to parents to help them maximize their young children’s brain development. We are partnering with The American Heart Association, Every Baby Guilford, and the March of Dimes to provide health and parenting resources. Participating salons and barbershops will offer access to blood pressure monitors, scales, book nooks, and more while leading the conversation about prenatal and postnatal health.
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Early literacy represents Guilford County
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Ready Ready staff members are busy sharing information about The Basics Guilford, Active Reading, and more. Literacy Coordinator Megan LeFaivre and Parent Liaison Sanaa Sharrieff joined Pam Bacot from Reach Out and Read to represent Guilford County at the N.C. Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Annual Meeting in Raleigh on August 23, 2022.
The event was hosted by the N.C. Early Childhood Foundation, and featured an interactive workshop led by Dr. Devonya Govan-Hunt and her team at Black Child Development Institute-Charlotte. Networking and discussion sessions offered participants ways to strengthen community collaboration. Ready Ready is one of 13 community collaboratives participating in the N.C. Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. The campaign works to ensure that more children from low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. It is a collaborative effort by foundations, non-profit organizations, business leaders, and government agencies supporting children’s school readiness, summer learning, and regular school attendance.
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Sharing The Basics Guilford in the community
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The Basics Guilford and Ready Ready participated in the Early Literacy Fair with the Guilford County Partnership for Children at an event in Greensboro’s LeBauer Park on Saturday, August 7. We spoke with more than 300 families about The Basics and the Guilford Parent Leader Network and gave out more than 100 children’s books at the event. Families were also invited to take home school supplies, learn more about community resources, and receive passes to the Greensboro Children’s Museum.
The Cone Health Family MedCenter has joined Carolina Pediatrics in piloting the use of Basics video books into the flow of their practice. These video books offer parents and their children tips on how to use The Basics together.
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The Basics Guilford: Count, Group, and Compare
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Becoming good at math begins long before a child enters school. Even infants are wired to learn simple math ideas, including small numbers, patterns, and making comparisons. You don’t need to be a math teacher to start preparing your child to be a problem solver! There are fun and simple activities that you can do now to build math and thinking skills.
Tips for infants:
- Use Math Words: When you talk to your infant, use words related to math ideas like quantities and comparisons. For example, words like “more, less, big, small, tall, short, round, square.” You can use math words whenever you are with your child.
- Compare Sizes: Talk to your baby about things that are different sizes. For example, put their hat next to yours and say, “Who wears the little hat? Aaron! Who wears the big hat? Mommy!”
- Stack Towers: Help your baby stack blocks or other objects like plastic cups. Describe what they are doing using size and position words. They will love knocking the tower over!
Tips for toddlers:
- Find the Match: In the kitchen, give your child a container and two lids. See if they can figure out which lid fits and then put it on. Use size and shape words like “longer” and “wider.” If they get the hang of it, try more containers and lids.
- Make Math Part of Your Life: Math plays a part in life even when we don’t realize it. For example, to prepare dinner, you measure ingredients, set the oven timer, and count plates. Find ways to let your child help.
- Helping Hand: Ask your child to bring you a specific number of objects. “Can you bring me two books to read?” Increase the numbers as they learn.
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You can learn some great information about this Basic in 30 seconds by watching this video!
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The Basics are five fun, science-based parenting and caregiving concepts that anyone can do. Learn more about them at www.guilfordbasics.org.
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Would you like to be trained in The Basics Guilford?
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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: Heather Adams
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“I’ve always had a passion for working with children. From very early in my work with children, I understood that a strong foundation sets them up for success,” VP of Public Will-Building Heather Adams said. “After my daughter was born, I shifted my drive away from the classroom and into early childhood development.”
After nearly 15 years as Executive Director of the Rockingham County Partnership for Children, Adams joined Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) as Director of Engagement and Literacy Initiatives. Her projects included areas such as family engagement with the Guilford Parent Leader Network, strategic planning for The Basics Guilford, and leading a community-wide design team for the Ages 3-5 stage of our work. She celebrated her second anniversary at Ready Ready just last month.
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Partner Spotlight: Reading Connections
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One in five people in Guilford County struggles with basic literacy skills. Reading Connections transforms our community by improving literacy and promoting educational equity for people of all ages.
“We’ve been in operation for more than 30 years and started as a way to provide extra literacy support for adults, but now it’s grown into much, much more,” said Alison Welch, Reading Connections family literacy manager. “We started the Family Literacy program in 2006 and we work with parents, caregivers, and their children. We want to help parents know how they can support their children in becoming ready for kindergarten.”
Welch made the point that literacy is cyclical – which is why Reading Connections takes a multigenerational approach and partners with organizations like Ready for School, Ready for Life.
Reading Connections plans to enroll 150 families in its Guilford County program this year. In the 2020-21 academic year, 68 percent of the parents in the program reported reading more to their children, which is key to breaking the cycle of illiteracy.
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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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