A BETTER BEGINNING
In 2008, fewer than half of our community’s children were considered ready to enter kindergarten at age 5. An assessment of progress in 2019 of cohort group indicated that Ready for School along with community partners have increased children’s readiness for kindergarten to roughly 70%.
Ready for School was a key driver in this initiative.
READY FOR SCHOOL
has provided nearly
$1.5 million
in preschool scholarships since 2011.
READY FOR SCHOOL
has provided FUNDING & PROGRAMMING for
more than 1,000 children
to summer camp learning experiences.
79%
OF PARENTS
say COST is the
#1 REASON
for not enrolling
in early childhood programs
TRI-SHARE PROGRAM
strategic collaboration
We encourage
healthy growth & early literacy
for every child.
ARE YOU READY?
Podcast and Video Series
Childcare/Early Childhood Education in our community.
STORIES OF EQUITY & HOPE
On left: Donna Lowry MD
Ready for School Past President/CEO
On right: Regan Postma-Montaño
Professor at Hope College
Welcome to our Stories of Equity and Hope Childcare report-out video series!
We are excited to share with you today our work to understand and move toward creating action steps to address the challenging issue of childcare in the greater Holland area.
In response to this challenge of childcare in our community, we gathered professionals from Ready for School, Hope College, First Children’s Finance, and the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District (OAISD) to consider this issue in multiple ways and from various perspectives.
In this 4 part video series, our hope is that by looking through many windows into the issue, we will offer a more complete understanding of the challenges related to childcare and prepare our community for some tangible action steps forward.
Video 1: Jessica Affholter
First Children’s Finance – Childcare business model
Video 2: Jessica Affholter
First Children’s Finance – Our community overview
Video 3: Maureen Schmidt
Ottawa Area ISD – Survey results
Video 4: Hope College faculty/student team
Focus group findings
This project on childcare is a community-based partnership between the organization Ready for School and Hope College and is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation. In it, we also collaborate with key partners including Ottawa Area Intermediate School District (OAISD) and First Children’s Finance,
as well as many other non-profit organizations and health and social service agencies in the community.
Jessica Affholter, from First Children’s Finance, reports quantitative data in the first two videos in the series. She presents the Childcare Business Model in video 1 and Our Community overview in video 2.
In Video 3 Maureen Schmidt, from Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, shares survey results from Families and Early Childhood Education providers and about a new innovation to help families better locate childcare and early childcare services.
Video 4 shares findings from community focus group sessions led by our Hope College faculty and student team. These sessions included one with parent caregivers, another with preschool directors and childcare providers, and another with area non-profit and health and social service agency leaders.