Category: News release

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

(Greensboro, N.C., July 17, 2023) – In Guilford County, 45 out of 5,927 babies born in 2020 did not survive their first year. Shockingly, Black infants accounted for 60 percent of these deaths, revealing significant racial disparities. Guilford County’s infant mortality rate is nearly 10 percent higher than the state average and 34 percent higher than the national average.

To address these concerning statistics, Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) has awarded Every Baby Guilford nearly $38,000 to establish a countywide doula program. The grant will enable Every Baby Guilford to provide trained doula care to expectant parents, aiming to reduce the high infant mortality rates in Guilford County.

Charrise Hart, CEO of Ready Ready, expressed enthusiasm for the countywide initiative, stating, “Ready Ready collaborates with and supports community partners to create a comprehensive system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families. We are proud to support Every Baby Guilford’s goal of reducing infant mortality disparities by 50 percent within the next three years. Funding the countywide doula program, which focuses on promoting healthy minority pregnancies and births, plays a critical role in achieving this objective.”

Every Baby Guilford will hire a doula coordinator and contract with five doulas who have received evidence-based training and certification. Together, they will provide prenatal, birthing, and postpartum support to 60 expectant families. Additionally, the doulas will collaborate with the YWCAs in Greensboro and High Point to offer support to pregnant individuals of color participating in home-visiting programs.

“We are grateful for Ready Ready’s financial support,” said Every Baby Guilford Executive Director Jean Workman. “This funding will enhance our countywide doula program, ensuring sustainable support for mothers and birthing individuals, regardless of their ability to pay. Additionally, the funds will facilitate the establishment of a learning collaborative, offering doulas valuable education and business support through mentorship.”

“Every child deserves a great start in life, but not every child starts from the same place,” added Hart. “By supporting children from the prenatal stage to age 8 through partnerships like Every Baby Guilford, we aim to provide Guilford County families with the necessary resources, information, and support to thrive, prepare for kindergarten, and achieve success in school by the third grade.”

Media Contact: Stephanie Skordas, stephanies@getreadyguilford.org

Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) staff members have graduated from Guilford County leadership programs.

Network Engagement Specialist Felicia Evans and Director of Communications Stephanie Skordas graduated from the Other Voices program on May 1, 2023.

Other Voices Diversity Leadership is the signature diversity, equity, and inclusion program of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. The community-building curriculum brings together individuals from all life experiences to engage in frank and open dialogue to build insight and understanding of the roots of prejudice. The Class of 2023 attended monthly program meetings from September 2022 through April 2023 and is the 30th cohort to graduate from this program.

Family Engagement Manager Yuri Alston graduated from Leadership Greensboro on May 10, 2023.

Leadership Greensboro aims to create a community of leaders committed to inclusivity and collaboration. It is a unique three-part development program that looks to education, volunteer leadership, and alumni engagement to guide participants’ leadership skills over the nine-month curriculum. Each year, a diverse cohort of 45 leaders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors explore essential issues in the community.

(Greensboro, N.C., May 12, 2023) – Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) has received a $100,000 grant from The Leon Levine Foundation (TLLF). The grant will provide general support for Ready Ready’s mission to build a connected, innovative system of care for Guilford County’s youngest children and their families.

“Ready, Ready is a collaborative, innovative organization that we are thrilled to be in partnership with as they work to drive population-level change for Guilford County families,” said Gillian Small, program officer at The Leon Levine Foundation.

“We are grateful for The Leon Levine Foundation’s renewed grant,” said Ready Ready CEO Charrise Hart. “TLLF’s support has been important to our organization’s growth and implementation of the first phase of our work for children ages 0-3 and their healthy development. Now we are in the second phase, developing strategies for children ages 3-8 to bolster their transition to kindergarten and find success in school by third grade.”

Third-grade success is the number one indicator of high school graduation and future education or workplace goals.

Research shows that 80 percent of a child’s brain grows during their first three years of life, with a million neural connections forming every second. Creating a strong brain foundation in the first 2,000 days of a child’s life — from birth to kindergarten — is critical to emotional, physical, and cognitive well-being.

“Every child deserves a great start in life, but not every child starts from the same place,” Hart said. “Ready Ready wants every child born in Guilford County in 2023 and beyond to have the resources their families need to thrive. This grant from The Leon Levine Foundation will greatly aid our mission.”

About Ready for School, Ready for Life
Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) 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. Learn more at www.GetReadyGuilford.org.

About The Leon Levine Foundation
Established in 1980 by Leon Levine (Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Family Dollar Stores, Inc.), The Leon Levine Foundation supports programs and organizations that improve the human condition through investments in education, healthcare, human services and Jewish values. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the Foundation invests in nonprofits across North Carolina and South Carolina with strong leadership, a track record of success, and a plan for financial sustainability. Through its investments, the Foundation intends to create pathways to self-sufficiency, champion strategies for permanent change, and facilitate opportunities for growth.

(Greensboro, N.C., January 27, 2023) – Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready) has received a $50,000 grant from Pritzker Children’s Initiative. The grant will create a plan to share Ready Ready’s core approaches, strategies, and lessons learned with other North Carolina communities and states developing a comprehensive prenatal-to-three system.

“While Ready Ready is building a system of care for young children and their families in Guilford County, we have always planned to share our unique work and impact across North Carolina. It’s a population-level change movement that started in Guilford County but won’t end here,” Ready Ready CEO Charrise Hart said. “We are so grateful that Pritzker Children’s Initiative will enable more communities to create a comprehensive and high-quality prenatal-to-three system.”

Research shows that 80 percent of a child’s brain grows during their first three years of life, with a million neural connections forming every second. Creating a strong brain foundation in the first 2,000 days of a child’s life — from birth to kindergarten — is critical to emotional, physical, and cognitive well-being.

“Every child deserves a great start in life, but not every child starts from the same place,” Hart said. “Ready Ready wants every child born in Guilford County 2023 and beyond to have the resources their families need to thrive.”

By partnering with families through the critical early stages of childhood, Ready Ready and its community partners seek to understand and address the systemic challenges that impact families in our community, supporting young children’s early cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development.

These resources supplement the care provided by medical practitioners, address gaps in healthy childhood environments, and add support beyond the love and attention of primary caregivers.

Media contact: Director of Communications Stephanie Skordas — stephanies@getreadyguilford.org