Farmers Feeding Families RFP
We seek to identify community programs and services that increase access to food and combat food insecurity in Shelby County. Our goal is to ensure that individuals are able to live healthy lives free from hunger and its associated health issues and move more freely toward self-sufficiency with this barrier removed.
The first five years of a child’s life are a time of enormous social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth. For children to grow into successful adults, they need a supportive and healthy early foundation. We know that nearly 1/2 of the children in our community are not prepared to enter kindergarten ready to learn, and we know that children who start out behind, tend to stay behind. In fact, nearly 2/3 of students who reach the fourth grade without proficient reading skills end up on welfare or in prison. We are the community-wide convener in transforming Early Care and Education, leading the Ready for K Alliance, a coalition of over 100 partners working to align strategies and improve early educational attainment.
The Healthy Development Action Network launched Ready for K’s first-ever family and caregiver leader council. Contracting with National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) this Action Network is learning best practices, developing policies and procedures, and recruiting families and caregivers to serve on the parent leader council. Once the council is established, it will work alongside the Action Network to identify issues and develop solutions in the healthy development space to support Jefferson Co. families.
The Access & Quality Action Network launched a neighborhood-focused quality improvement initiative for center-based child care providers in the Russell neighborhood. Russell: A Place of Promise, Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C), and Child Care Aware are the primary partners on this project. Phase one of this project is focused on co-creating a quality improvement initiative with Russell center-based providers. Phase two will be the launch of the quality improvement initiative created in phase one. Once launched in the Russell neighborhood the Action Network has a goal of expanding to additional neighborhoods.
The Family & Caregiver Engagement Action Network is contracting with National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) to create unified messaging, a sole source of resources, and a timeline on transition to kindergarten for community partners. The primary partners in this project in addition to NCFL are La Casita, Play Cousins Collective, JCPS, and Child Care Aware. The project includes quarterly professional development for Ready for K partners, a communications toolkit for partners to use on their social media and in communications to families, as well as a calendar with JCPS deadlines and community partner events. All resources for this project can be found on Ready for K’s website here.
See how we’re preparing all kids to win and kindergarten right from the start.