Category: News

CONE HEALTH SYSTEM SUPPORTS COMMUNITY ALIGNMENT WORK | Community Alignment is a new term to many, but it is an integral part of the work of Ready for School, Ready for Life. It is the process of connecting with new partners, vetting local and state programs that could help children and families, and keeping referral information up-to-date for Routes to Ready partners like Children’s Home Society, GenerationEd and Guilford County.

The Community Alignment work serves as a catalyst for coordination for young children and families in Guilford County. If a family without stable housing connects to the Routes to Ready system through one of our partners, they’ll get access to updated, vetted resources that can help. If a new mother needs postpartum support, the Agency Finder or public-facing Community Portal will offer a range of helpful referrals. Ready for School, Ready for Life helps power the data sharing that makes it possible for families to get the resources and referrals they need.

By keeping the Agency Finder up-to-date and using it with other data, Ready Ready can see what is working well and what families still need in Guilford County. As a collective impact backbone non-profit, Ready Ready will also share helpful information with other groups so we can work together to solve big challenges families face.

Ready Ready received a recent grant award from Cone Health System to support and expand our community alignment work. We are honored to receive this important support and grateful to have a philanthropic partner that wants to invest in helping families with young children overcome health and developmental obstacles in order to make sure children are ready to start school strong. Community Alignment is a driving force behind the Routes to Ready system of care—and it transforms how families experience support in our community.

2021 was a year of firsts for families and children in Guilford County. The year prior, Nurse-Family Partnership and Child First had merged nationally to better meet the needs of families – spanning prenatal health, early childhood development and mental health for mom, child and the entire family. As a two-generation, home-based and evidence-based mental health model coming from an established organization, Child First was a natural fit for Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready).

“We felt that Child First could be a game changer for vulnerable children and families in our area,” commented Ready Ready Director of Analytics and Insights, Christina Dobson. “After getting key community feedback from entities like the Department of Social Services who see families cycle through trauma and crisis and from families themselves who expressed a desire for this type of in-home mental health support, we felt confident that we wanted to find partners to implement Child First locally,” continued Dobson.

Enter Family Solutions into this story of success. Family Solutions is a growing private counseling agency serving Guilford and surrounding counties. Using measurable, research-based approaches in their work with children and families is a guiding value for their practice, so the Child First program was a natural fit. “The pattern that we were seeing repeated with vulnerable children was that in the course of delivering child mental health services, especially in our mental health consultation in child care settings, we could only work with the child. It was difficult to get caregivers involved,” said Anita Faulkner, co-owner of Family Solutions. “We were missing the total picture of what the child was experiencing when we were only able to serve the child through our outpatient services. Child First was an opportunity to help families more holistically with an evidence-based approach.”

After receiving seed funding from the Duke Endowment, with implementation monitoring overseen by Ready Ready, Family Solutions is in the middle of its third year administering the Child First approach to fidelity. So far, they have served around 200 families with this powerful two-generation approach to child and family mental health. Referrals come from pediatric offices through the HealthySteps program (Children’s Home Society), DSS, and other local non-profits/agencies. Often families are experiencing hardships such as housing instability, maternal substance use or post-partum depression, food insecurity, exposure to violence or overdose, and incarcerations. In most cases, families are working and sometimes children are in kinship care with relatives.

Child First allows a paired team of a clinician and family resource partner to spend a year on average with vulnerable children (ages 0-5) and their caregivers, providing psychotherapy to parents and children together in their homes, and connecting them with the services they need to make healthy child development possible. The first five years of a child’s life are critical years for an intervention like Child First. Early experiences and relationships play a vital role in shaping brain development, laying the groundwork for emotional and physical health, learning, and long-term success. Yet, many parents face overwhelming challenges at the very time their children need stability and support the most. Growing up in stressful environments—marked by violence, neglect, or untreated mental health issues—can disrupt healthy brain development, with lasting impacts on a child’s health and ability to thrive.

One of the best parts of the Child First story in Guilford County and in the six other states where it is operating is that assessments show that it is incredibly effective. Locally, 80% of families showed improvement in at least one area of identified concern. National data cites information such as a 64% decrease in depression or mental health problems in mothers, a 64% decrease in language problems in children, and a 42% decrease in aggressive and defiant behaviors in children receiving the Child First intervention.

“We know that supports that help families form strong, nurturing relationships that protect children from the effects of trauma and stress are critical for school readiness,” commented Ready Ready CEO, Teshanda Middleton. “Getting Child First in Guilford County took the commitment of funders, agencies like DSS, and a truly excellent provider in Family Solutions. It’s these kind of success stories that Ready Ready is working to accelerate locally so that more children can be on track to read on time and that will ultimately dramatically improve outcomes for families, for schools, for communities, and our entire workforce,” continued Middleton.

June 30, 2025 – With funding support from the Bryan Foundation, Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) and Guilford County Schools (GCS) have launched a major initiative to help ensure more children enter school ready to thrive. The two organizations are partnering to implement the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a research-based tool that provides a population-level snapshot of how young children are developing in key areas such as social competence, emotional maturity, language, and physical health.

“This is a game-changer for our county,” said Teshanda Middleton, CEO of Ready Ready. “For the first time, we can measure the school readiness of all children—and that insight gives us the power to act. Thanks to our strong partnership with GCS, we will now have a baseline to drive smarter investments and targeted support where it’s needed most. The data from these questionnaires will guide our community to ensure many more children enter school ready to learn. School readiness isn’t just an education milestone—it’s a critical predictor of lifelong success and upward economic mobility.”

In April, Guilford County kindergarten teachers completed EDI questionnaires, offering observations across five developmental domains. The data will be analyzed by the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities at UCLA and reported back to the community this fall in both table and map form. These localized insights will help identify trends and opportunities at the neighborhood level, driving informed investments and interventions.

The EDI complements Ready Ready’s broader effort to build a connected, data-informed early childhood system in Guilford County. The findings will be used not just by schools, but by community leaders, service providers, and funders working across the prenatal-to-age-eight continuum.

The EDI process will be repeated every 2–3 years to track progress, inform planning, and strengthen collective impact strategies across the county.

“Knowing what our children need before they come to school is critical to our strategic plan goals to accelerate learning and prepare students for the world,” says Jusmar Maness, chief academic officer for Guilford County Schools. “Using this data will allow us to work with our community partners to provide targeted support and give children the building blocks of learning more efficiently.”

As results are released this fall, Ready Ready and GCS plan to engage community partners in conversations around what the data reveals and how it can be used to improve outcomes for children and families across Guilford County.

About Ready Ready

Ready for School, Ready for Life is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to create a connected, innovative system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families. This collective impact approach aligns key community efforts from prenatal through age five to ensure all children start kindergarten ready to learn. Learn more at www.GetReadyGuilford.org.

About Guilford County Schools

Guilford County Schools, the third largest school district in North Carolina and among the largest of more than 14,000 in the United States, serves nearly 67,000 PK-12 students at 120 schools. With approximately 9,800 employees, GCS works in partnership with parents, businesses, colleges and the community to deliver an education that connects student interests and skills with the careers and economy of our future here and around the world. We provide educational choices to meet individual student needs in a culturally diverse citizenship and new opportunities to help our students grow. For more information, visit the district’s website at www.gcsnc.com. 

Ready for School, Ready for Life Announces New CEO

April 7, 2025 – The Board of Directors of Ready for School, Ready for Life is excited to announce Teshanda Middleton as the organization’s next CEO. She will begin her post on April 7, 2025. Since 2019, Ready Ready has been focused on building a connected, innovative system of care for children beginning prior to birth to age 8. In her role as CEO, Middleton will guide this collective impact work to ensure that families are better connected to needed services, and that all children in Guilford County are healthy and are ready to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. 

“We are excited to welcome Teshanda Middleton to Ready Ready and to Guilford County,” said Terri Shelton, Ready Ready board chair and Executive Director of Spartan Strategies, Inc. “Her experience facilitating transformational community change will continue to propel the collective impact work Ready Ready is leading locally and will also help other communities transform how they support children and families for long-term success.”

Prior to joining Ready Ready, Middleton was the Chief Executive Officer of Communities In Schools of Memphis (CISM), a non-profit organization focused on empowering youth and families through community supports and cross-sector partnerships.

Middleton led CISM through significant expansion, enhancing the organization’s reach and impact. Her leadership focused on building strong partnerships, aligning strategies, and securing resources to drive mission success. She co-led efforts within the Communities in Schools TN Alliance to secure an $18M TANF grant supporting integrated student support services across the state, reflecting her ability to collaborate effectively for large-scale impact.

In previous leadership positions, Middleton has demonstrated a record of success delivering transformational growth and building strong organizational culture focused on equitable outcomes for underserved youth and families. She has played critical roles in multi-sector initiatives such as More For Memphis, where she led the Education and Youth Development anchor collaborative, bringing together nonprofit partners, community members, and stakeholders around a shared vision for collective impact.

“I have a deep personal commitment to advancing equitable opportunities for children and families,” commented Middleton. “As I come into the work of Ready Ready, my core beliefs are rooted in relationship-building, strategic alignment of community resources that support families and children, fostering inclusive environments, and advancing impactful policy initiatives,” continued Middleton. 

Teshanda Middleton holds a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction and is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Leadership and Public Policy. She has recently relocated to Guilford County to lead Ready Ready in this critical role. She succeeds Laura Weber who served as Interim CEO since 2024. The Board thanks Laura and previous CEO, Charrise Hart for providing outstanding leadership to Ready Ready.

About Ready Ready

Ready for School, Ready for Life is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization working to create a connected, innovative system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families that will substantially increase the number of children who are ready to start school in the county. This collective impact approach aligns the work of key community programs that support families before the birth of a child through age 5, when that child begins kindergarten. Principal partners in this work are Children’s Home Society, GenerationEd, Guilford County, Guilford County Schools and many others. The Duke Endowment, in partnership with Blue Meridian Partners has been the principal funder of the Ready Ready systems building work and has been joined by other local and national funders. 

The Stanford Center on Early Childhood put a spotlight on Ready for School, Ready for Life, calling us the “circulatory system” for Guilford County’s early childhood data. This feature describes how we work with partners to connect and coordinate the flow of early childhood information and how that benefits the children and families of Guilford County. This approach is unique to the collaborative system of care Ready Ready is helping to build because, in the words of our Chief Operating Officer Jacqueline McCracken, “similar organizations are either linking data across partners to improve continuity of service or linking administrative and programmatic data sets for more of an analytic intention. But they aren’t doing both at the same time.”

Public Ed Works featured Ready for School, Ready for Life in four great stories. These pieces highlight the amazing progress we, in collaboration with our partner organizations, are making toward building and maintaining a coordinated system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families.

The first story, “Very Big Ideas for Early Childhood,” provides an overview of how the Ready Ready initiative works.

The second, “Listening to Parents,” emphasizes the importance of listening to parents’ voices as we build and implement the Routes to Ready system of care.

The third, “Will Employers Support Families?,” examines the role employers play in creating a community conducive to early childhood development.

The fourth, “Lessons,” covers lessons we have learned doing this groundbreaking work that could help similar initiatives working in their own communities.

Public Ed Works, connects with over 2.5 million people each year through social media, digital marketing, their website, and weekly newsletters. They also collaborate with top North Carolina education-focused organizations like the Public School Forum of North Carolina, BEST NC, Public Schools First NC, and Education NC.

Please take a moment to read these stories and share them with anyone who might be interested in learning more about our work!

The grants empower local organizations to enhance services for families and children

(Greensboro, N.C., October 3, 2023) — Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) is pleased to announce a substantial investment of $250,000 in grants to five distinguished programs across Guilford County, awarding each $50,000. These grants, part of Ready Ready’s Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) initiative, underscore the community’s unwavering commitment to nurturing and supporting families with young children. These selected organizations and their programs will play a central role, under Ready Ready’s guidance, in strengthening and enhancing the Ready Ready continuum of early childhood support services.

The five selected organizations and their programs were chosen for the vital services they provide to Guilford County families. They are:

·       D-UP, Inc. — Well Centered ME

·       FaithAction International House — Immigrant Assistance Center

·       Reading Connections — Family Literacy Program

·       YMCA of Greensboro (Bryan YMCA, Hayes-Taylor YMCA, Spears YMCA, and Ragsdale YMCA) — Summer Day Camp

·       YMCA of High Point (Carl Chavis YMCA) — Child Care Center

Ready Ready CEO Charrise Hart emphasized how this investment transcends the boundaries of individual programs, stating, “As a backbone organization, we are proud to assist Guilford County organizations via our CQI program. Together, we foster collaboration among programs, uniting them in their mission to support families. By sharing insights, best practices, and innovative solutions, these organizations become more robust, resilient, and better equipped to navigate the ever-evolving challenges families face.”

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is a team-based process that involves continuously collecting, analyzing, and using data to enhance service quality. It uses the Model for Improvement to provide a structured framework for experiential learning and improvement within organizations.

CQI cohort programs provide services that help pregnant individuals or families with very young children thrive by addressing children’s developmental, emotional, or behavioral needs, concrete family needs, and emphasizing the most referred or demanded services based on available information. Programs accepted into the Ready Ready CQI cohort demonstrate a commitment to building on family strengths and working with parents and caregivers as experts.

The grants provide unrestricted funding, allowing organizations to enhance program staffing, acquire necessary supplies, bolster family resources, develop effective marketing materials, and leverage cutting-edge technology. These programs can serve families more effectively and efficiently by fortifying these essential components.

“Ready Ready is committed to rigorously measuring the impact of this initiative,” said Kelli Crawford, Ready Ready CQI Manager. “Through comprehensive data collection, including pre-and post-assessments, monthly assignments, and final reports, we ensure that this investment yields tangible, real-world improvements for families across Guilford County.”

To date, 28 programs have completed Ready Ready’s CQI training as part of two earlier cohorts. Ready Ready’s CQI Cohort III program will commence in October 2023 and conclude in April 2024.

Media Contact: Stephanie Skordas, stephanies@getreadyguilford.org