More About Ready Region Chesapeake Bay
We are proud to have been selected as the lead organization for Ready Region Chesapeake Bay, serving the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, and Williamsburg; and the counties of Essex, Gloucester, James City, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland, and York. As a Ready Region lead organization, we are part of a statewide network bringing strategic leadership and coordination of early childhood care and education (ECCE) services and resources to prepare all children and families for success.
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 are available on the VQB5 Participation Requirements webpage.
In October 2024, VDOE created an easy-to-use online portal with information about quality and safety for more than 3,000 publicly funded early childhood sites across the Commonwealth. This VQB5 portal has information about early childhood program performance on quality measures and other topics of interest to families, policymakers, and the public). This tool will also help families choose the best early childhood option for their birth-to-five children.
Ready Regions coordinate and support participation in VQB5 for early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs in the region.
To enroll in VQB5, email us.
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 send an email.
We will engage with leaders across the region to facilitate buy-in for shared accountability and benefit.
Ready Region Chesapeake Bay is committed to partnering with other organizations and stakeholders to implement this work. To view our current list of Partners, click here.
Read more about the regional collaboration on the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck in the latest edition of the Chesapeake Bay Regional Early Experiences Council (CREEC) newsletter. To learn more about our commitment to Shared Governance, click here.
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 Chesapeake Bay identifies high quality child care centers and family day homes to provide publicly funded services in private settings that meet the needs and preferences of families.
Quality early learning experiences are essential for preparing children to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. This impact is life-long – research has shown that children who participate in high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs are more likely to finish college, be gainfully employed, and be healthier later in life. The Mixed Delivery program provides publicly funded ECCE services in licensed (non-faith-based), private ECCE settings for eligible children. It funds full-day, year-round ECCE services for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, meeting growing demand for publicly funded ECCE at private sites that meet the varied needs and preferences of families.
Ready Regions is also working to coordinate enrollment across publicly funded ECCE programs in the region, such as childcare centers and family childcare homes (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.
- 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.
To learn more, email us.
We will support a Family Council, made up of families from across our region who reflect the diversity of our region, to ensure the early childhood system is designed to work for families.
Our Family Council provides input on early childhood design and decisions, and helps our Ready Region understand and better meet families’ needs.
To learn more about our Family Council, click here. If you have children under age 5 and you are ready to make an impact, we invite you to join us!