Firstspark

Quality child care: to prepare all children for kindergarten and in response to state law, Virginia has developed the unified Virginia quality birth to five system (vqb5) to measure and help improve the quality of all publicly-funded birth-to-five classrooms and support families to choose quality programming across program types. Our organization administers twice annual observations and assessments using a national tool called class required by the va department of education. Observations are followed by individualized feedback. Educators and leaders have access to support, training, and resources to help improve teacher-child interactions. Consumers (parents) can then access information about program performance on vdoe published quality profiles online.

Early childhood workforce instruction: training instruction and supports are provided for child care programs of alltypes to build a strong base of knowledge in all domains of early childhood development so children are ready to enter kindergarten with the tools they need to succeed. Training is aligned with criteria on the class assessment and Virginia's early learning and development standards.

Access to quality child care: by administering the mixed delivery program in the region, the organization helps parents learn about and access ecce services that meet their needs and preferences, while helping ecce providers connect with and serve more families. By coordinating enrollment across publicly funded programs in the region, such as child care centers and family day homes, head start, Virginia preschool initiative, and others, parents easily learn where there are available spots for their children, what they qualify for, and information such as cost, hours, and location. Doing this also helps providers keep enrollment numbers steady, communicate slot availability and to grow in securing the resources for delivery of quality services.

Resourcing expectant mothers: when babies are born healthy they have a strong start for optimal child growthand development. Working with ob-gyns, clinics and other social services, a prenatal resource specialist talks one-on-one with pregnant women about their needs and concerns. A vdhs verified, comprehensive screening is conducted and women are connected to home visitation and many other prenatal and parent education services.

Convening for collective impact: by bringing together business, philanthropy, policymakers, schools, child care provides, and parents as the lead agency for ready region chesapeake bay, awareness is raised about the importance of 0-5 issues. Community-led groups explore community needs and work collaboratively to prioritize areas for better systems coordination and long-term impact on child well-being. This is done using regional data to create a common agenda by these cross-sector groups.