
Ready Region North Central
We are proud to have been selected as the lead organization for Ready Region North Central. As a Ready Region lead organization, we are part of Virginia’s statewide Ready Regions network, bringing strategic leadership and coordination of early childhood care and education (ECCE) services and resources to prepare all children and families for success. Explore the statewide Ready Regions network at vecf.org/ready-regions/.

Ready Regions focus on:
Strengthening quality
We will ensure all components are in place to coordinate quality measurement and guide improvement in publicly funded classrooms as part of VQB5.
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Building relationships
We will engage with leaders across the region to facilitate buy-in for shared accountability and benefit.
Read more
Increasing access
We will administer Mixed Delivery programming in the region, lead our VBREE delegation and regional activities to build child care supply, and coordinate enrollment to help parents learn about and access ECCE services that meet their needs and preferences, while helping ECCE providers connect with and serve more families.
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Engaging families
We will support a Family Council, made up of families from across our region to ensure the early childhood system is designed to work for families.
Read more
FOCUS ONE
Strengthening quality
We will ensure all components are in place to coordinate quality measurement and guide improvement in publicly funded classrooms as part of VQB5.
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.
All publicly-funded birth-to-five early childhood programs are required to participate in VQB5 on an annual basis. Programs that do not receive public funding have the option to participate. Details available on the VQB5 Participation Requirements webpage.
Ready Regions coordinate and support participation in VQB5 for early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs in the region.
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.
All publicly-funded birth-to-five early childhood programs are required to participate in VQB5 on an annual basis. Programs that do not receive public funding have the option to participate. Details available on the VQB5 Participation Requirements webpage.
Ready Regions coordinate and support participation in VQB5 for early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs in the region.
What VQB5 asks of your program


VQB5 is Virginia's unified quality measurement and improvement system for all publicly-funded birth-to-five classrooms.
View VQB5 Quality Profiles
The Virginia Department of Education administers VQB5 as established by the Virginia Board of Education. To learn more, visit the VDOE Quality Measurement and Improvement (VQB5) website or email vqb5@doe.virginia.gov.


FOCUS TWO
Building relationships
We will engage with leaders across the region to facilitate buy-in for shared accountability and benefit.
Ready Region North Central is committed to partnering with other organizations and stakeholders to implement this work.
Ready Region North Central is committed to partnering with other organizations and stakeholders to implement this work.
Our shared governance partners include:




Community task forces bring local, state, and private partners together to address issues affecting children from birth to five. Our shared governance partners include the organizations shown above.
Ready Region North Central serves as the lead agency for the Virginia Business Roundtable for Early Education (VBREE) Regional Initiative to harness the power of cross-industry regional leaders to identify and implement solutions to child care challenges. The VBREE Regional Initiative creates a unified structure for progress across regions toward priority goals to build sufficient supply of child care and strengthen the early educator pipeline so that all families can access affordable, high-quality care. To learn more about the VBREE Regional Initiative, visit GetReadyVA at https://getreadyva.org/.
Apply to join VBREE
FOCUS THREE
Increasing access
We will administer Mixed Delivery programming in the region, and coordinate enrollment to help parents learn about and access ECCE services that meet their needs and preferences, while helping ECCE providers connect with and serve more families.
Ready Region North Central identifies high quality childcare centers and home-based child care to participate in Mixed Delivery.
VECF's Mixed Delivery program provides public funding for ECCE services for eligible children from birth to age five. It helps address the growing demand for full-day, year-round ECCE services that meet families' needs and preferences. Mixed Delivery also tests strategies to solve the tough issues that site leaders and families face, including increasing teacher salaries to improve recruitment and retention. To learn more about Mixed Delivery, visit VECF at https://vecf.org/.
Ready Region North Central identifies high quality childcare centers and home-based child care to participate in Mixed Delivery.
VECF's Mixed Delivery program provides public funding for ECCE services for eligible children from birth to age five. It helps address the growing demand for full-day, year-round ECCE services that meet families' needs and preferences. Mixed Delivery also tests strategies to solve the tough issues that site leaders and families face, including increasing teacher salaries to improve recruitment and retention. To learn more about Mixed Delivery, visit VECF at https://vecf.org/.
Mixed Delivery Coordinator:

Coordinated enrollment
Ready Region North Central is working to coordinate enrollment across publicly funded ECCE programs in the region, such as childcare centers and home-based child care, including those participating in VECF's Mixed Delivery program, Head Start, Virginia Preschool Initiative, and others, to:
Help parents easily learn where there are available spots for their children, what they qualify for, and information such as cost, hours, and location. Visit our VA Ready to Find Child Care Marketplace.
Help ECCE providers keep enrollment numbers steady, communicate when they have slots available, and grow in ability to secure the resources for delivery of quality services.
Coordinated enrollment contact:
Jennifer Douglas
jennifer@foundationfirstva.org
jennifer@foundationfirstva.org
For current information about child care supply and demand, and child and family outcomes in our region and in Virginia, visit the Ready Region ECCE Supply / Demand Dashboard.
Check what your family qualifies for


FOCUS FOUR
Engaging families
We support a Family Council made up of diverse families from across our region, ensuring the early childhood system reflects families’ experiences and is designed to work for everyone.
Our Family Council provides input on early childhood design and decisions, and helps our Ready Region understand and better meet families' needs.
Our Family Council provides input on early childhood design and decisions, and helps our Ready Region understand and better meet families' needs.
Learn more about or join the Family Council:
Jennifer Douglas
jennifer@foundationfirstva.org
jennifer@foundationfirstva.org

Lead Agency · Ready Region North Central
A coordinated early childhood system across eleven localities in North Central Virginia.
Ready Region North Central brings together local agencies, early childhood providers, and families to build a seamless, family-centered system. Our goal is to make it easier for every child and caregiver in our region to access the supports they need to thrive.
Learn more about Ready Region



