Mixed-Delivery Grantees

Fourth Round of Mixed Delivery Grantees 

On June 3, 2019, Governor Northam announced the fourth round of Mixed-Delivery Preschool Grants. Full implementation grants were awarded to four local communities and planning grants to two communities. 

  • Gloucester County Public Schools (Gloucester County)
  • Hampton Roads Community Action Program (Hampton)
  • Henrico Education Foundation (Henrico County)
  • Town of New Market (Shenandoah and Page Counties)
  • United Way of Central Virginia (Lynchburg)
  • United Way of Southwest Virginia (Buchanan County and Norton)*

*In 2020, the footprint of Mixed Delivery Grantee, United Way of Southwest Virginia, changed from Buchanan County and Norton to Buchanan County and Wise County.

Third Round of Mixed Delivery Grantees

On December 10, 2018, Governor Northam announced the third round of Mixed-Delivery Preschool Grants to 6 local communities. 

  • ACT for Alexandria Early Care and Education Workgroup (Alexandria)
  • Early Learning Project, College of Education, James Madison University (Harrisonburg/Rockingham County)
  • Rappahannock County Public Schools (Rappahannock County) 
  • United Way – Greater Charlottesville (Charlottesville/Albemarle County)
  • United Way of Roanoke Valley (Cities of Roanoke and Salem; Counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, Franklin)
  • New River Valley Regional Commission (Counties of Montgomery, Pulaski, Giles, Floyd)

Second Round of Mixed Delivery Grantees

On June 16, 2017, Governor McAuliffe announced the second round of Mixed-Delivery Preschool Grant Program grantees.

  • Fairfax County Office for Children (Fairfax County)
  • Fauquier County Public Schools (Fauquier County)
  • Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond (Chesterfield County)
  • Smart Beginnings Southwest Virginia (Carroll, Russell and Tazewell Counties and City of Bristol)
  • Total Action for Progress (Craig County)

First Round of Mixed Delivery Grantees

On August 4, 2016, VECF in consultation with the Virginia Department of Education, awarded the first round of Mixed-Delivery Preschool Grants to five local communities.

  • James Madison University
  • Smart Beginnings Rappahannock Area
  • United Way of Roanoke Valley
  • United Way – Thomas Jefferson Area
  • Wythe County Public Schools

Learn more about previous Grantees:

Full Implementation Grants

Henrico Education Foundation (Henrico County), $250,000
This initiative will provide preschool services for up to 16 four-year-olds each year over two years, in up to four private community-based child care centers. These centers are located in underserved, high needs neighborhoods, including those with high populations of English-language learners.

Innovations:  Integrated financing model using multiple funding sources to provide high-quality preschool services; intense coaching model based on CLASS observations; providing teacher incentives aligned with those provided in Virginia’s federal Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five pilot localities; addressing needs of families for high quality preschool during the full working day and over the summer; addressing child care needs of families with children birth to three through leveraged funding sources. 

Town of New Market (Shenandoah and Page Counties), $250,000
In a town that until recently had no licensed child care center and a county without a center that accepts child care subsidy, this initiative will provide high quality preschool for 12-14 four-year-olds each year in a newly established private/community-based center. The initiative enjoys broad support from many stakeholders in the region and is supported by the town’s desire to provide child care as an economic development strategy for local businesses.

Innovations:  Addressing child care needs of families with children 2½ through three-years-old through leveraged, integrated funding; planning to offer shift-work care and integrate VPI funding in the private setting in second year; providing incentives for teachers who pursue or complete college degrees, including through Virginia Workforce Development Apprenticeships; integrating family supports in collaboration with a local home visiting program; adding private child care to the county’s single point of entry application process. 

United Way of Central Virginia (Lynchburg), $183,325
In collaboration with the local community action agency and a home visiting program, this initiative will provide Head Start preschool and family support and engagement services for up to 30 preschoolers over the project period in a private child care setting.

Innovations:  Providing a seamless birth to five continuum of care through leveraged supports and community collaborations, including through home visiting, child care, and quality improvement networks; building a single point of entry application process for families applying for preschool services; providing professional development for classroom staff through coaching based on CLASS observations. 

United Way of Southwest Virginia (Buchanan County and Norton), $250,000*
In response to a regional 2018 report, “Early Childhood Risk & Protective Factor Mapping” and with Appalachian Regional Commission funding, the grantee recently helped establish family child care businesses in underserved high-need communities. This Mixed-Delivery Preschool Grant program initiative will provide year-round child care during the day and during non-traditional hours for 24 four-year-olds in up to four family child care homes.

Innovations:  Leveraging Virginia Quality and Infant Toddler Specialist Network resources to improve quality in participating centers for children birth to five-years-old; providing professional development to child care providers, including in trauma-informed care; advancing data-sharing agreements with public schools in order to inform preschool providers and supports of the school readiness of enrolled children.

*In 2020, the footprint of Mixed Delivery Grantee, United Way of Southwest Virginia, changed from Buchanan County and Norton to Buchanan County and Wise County.

Planning Grants

VECF has awarded the following communities six-month planning grants of funding and technical assistance to support their preparation for a possible Mixed-Delivery Preschool Grant Program award.

Gloucester County Public Schools (Gloucester County), $25,000

Hampton Roads Community Action Program (Hampton), $25,000

 

ACT for Alexandria Early Care and Education Workgroup (Alexandria)
The project will establish two new mixed-delivery classrooms, each with 18 children, in two currently under-served, high-need neighborhoods.

Innovations: pooled public and private funds; streamlined joint VPI/Head Start/child care subsidy enrollment processes to better serve at-risk families; creation of a Family Engagement Committee within the Early Care and Education Workgroup, to promote increased parent/family engagement and create a pathway for genuine parent input in policy and program decisions.

Early Learning Project, College of Education, James Madison University (Harrisonburg/Rockingham County)
This grantee will continue mixed-delivery expansion by addressing additional barriers faced by private centers, with a concentration on building capacity to serve children who exhibit challenging behaviors. A total of 28 mixed-delivery slots will be created by blending VPI funds and child care subsidy dollars.

Innovations: specialized training/coaching/mentoring to enhance private center capacity to handle challenging behaviors often exhibited by children from distressed or traumatic backgrounds; partnership with Smart Beginnings Greater Harrisonburg to strengthen community collaboration and address fragmentation in planning and delivering early care and education; subsidized transportation for children who have no means to get to participating private centers.

Rappahannock County Public Schools (Rappahannock County)
In response to the sudden closure of local Head Start services last year, the school division and a private center partnered to establish a temporary pre-k alternative for children denied a Head Start experience. This project will solidify that partnership and seek public and private funds to create a permanent solution, including 8 slots for 4 yr. olds (public funds) and a 15-child classroom for 3 yr. olds (private funds).

Innovations: pooled public and private funds and joint campaign to seek new funds; single-point-of-entry system to include all private centers; collaboration with Virginia Quality to develop a joint professional development system and a uniform data collection system to support continuous quality improvement; professional development enhancements including expanded mentoring/coaching opportunities.    

United Way – Thomas Jefferson Area (Charlottesville/Albemarle County)
Grantee will continue to expand community mixed-delivery capacity by establishing 30 new slots for 4 yr. olds in two private centers. The initiative especially addresses the issue of underutilization of public pre-k (VPI and Head Start) by targeting mixed-delivery innovations to the specific barriers identified by families who have previously declined participation in public programs.

Innovations: pooled funding including leveraging child care subsidy funds to meet the need for full-day coverage; close liaison with VDSS to identify and engage parents of rising 4 yr. olds who are currently receiving a child care subsidy; intensive support services from the VQ entity (Ready Kids) including an accelerated quality enhancement regimen for participating centers and the use of a Family Coordinator position to engage families and overcome barriers to pre-k enrollment; use of incentives to promote quality improvement progress at both private centers.

United Way of Roanoke Valley (Cities of Roanoke and Salem; Counties of Roanoke, Botetourt, Franklin)
This grantee will expand and strengthen its mixed-delivery initiative by adding 25 slots in private centers across its region, with a concentration on addressing additional barriers that hinder family access to pre-k and private center participation in mixed-delivery.

Innovations: a multi-tiered “Ready Families/Ready Educators/Ready Communities” approach including more intensive professional development services for participating private centers; incentives for quality improvement activities; more robust two-generation supports for families; increased institutional/bureaucratic flexibility including possible waivers of regulations or practices that hinder family or private center participation.  

New River Valley Regional Commission (Counties of Montgomery, Pulaski, Giles, Floyd)
The project will provide intensive professional development/quality improvement interventions to four private child care centers serving communities with high numbers of VPI-eligible children; and assist these centers in establishing relationships with various providers of early childhood family support services so that centers can connect families with critically-needed supports to improve the impact of early care and education.

Innovations: provision of intensive professional development/quality improvement, with assistance from two highly-rated local centers acting as “Peer Learning Centers”; full integration of private centers and local DSS offices in a single-point-of-entry family engagement/enrollment system; linking private centers to public and private community providers of family support/education services; partnership with local school divisions to promote vocational education opportunities that prepare students to enter the early care and education field.

 

Fairfax County Office for Children
(Fairfax County)
Responding to the unmet needs of working families to have full work-day and summer care for their young children, Fairfax County Office for Children will partner with high-quality family child care programs in areas of Fairfax County with concentrated poverty to provide preschool services for VPI and child care subsidy-eligible children.  Key community partners include Child Care Assistance and Referral, Fairfax Futures, Head Start, and the Institute for Early Learning.

Innovations: mentoring and workshops to support high-quality preschool services in cohorts of family child care programs; blending of funding to provide full work-day care

Fauquier County Public Schools
(Fauquier County)
With diverse and strong community partners including local foundations, businesses, non-profit child care providers, and local government agencies, Fauquier County Public Schools will provide additional high-quality preschool slots in a private setting, targeting high-needs areas of the county where VPI is currently unavailable to eligible children and will develop professional development modules that will eventually be available to all interested providers in the county.

Innovations: sliding-fee scale; accessible professional development modules aligned with VA Foundation Blocks for Early Learning; intensive public engagement and education efforts to promote early education and literacy

Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond
(Chesterfield County)
Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond will build on partnerships with quality improvement networks and private child care programs to provide targeted professional development, including intensive coaching to teachers. Programs that achieve a level three or higher in Virginia Quality will provide preschool services, especially in areas of the county where there is no VPI available. Eventually, as an incentive and to cover costs associated with increased quality, participating programs who reach higher levels of quality will receive increased rates of compensation.

Innovations: CLASS-trained coaching model; data-informed quality improvements; increased compensation for improved quality 

Smart Beginnings Southwest Virginia
(Carroll, Russell and Tazewell Counties and City of Bristol)
With significant waiting lists for VPI and Head Start services, four rural jurisdictions will work together to improve the quality of eight private child care and preschool providers in the region by coordinating with Virginia Quality to provide high-quality professional development.  Key partners in the project include school divisions in all four participating jurisdictions in addition to Wythe County Public Schools, Rooftop of Virginia and Clinch Valley community action agencies, local Workforce Investment Boards, Lion’s Club, local health districts and departments of social services.

Innovations: access to comprehensive services for children through community partnerships; tailoring professional development in this rural region using best practices for adult learners

Total Action for Progress
(Craig County)
In a community not served by VPI, a collaboration of community partners, including Craig County Public Schools, Smart Beginnings Greater Roanoke, Child Health Investment Partnership (CHIP), Virginia Western Community College and the local department of social services will work together to provide two new preschool classrooms at the only licensed child care center in rural Craig County. This will give parents a continuum of quality care and education from birth through kindergarten entry.

Innovations: blended funding model; individualized professional development for early education teachers; salary-based incentives for attainment of credentials or degrees; intensive family support; data-sharing model using early childhood and elementary school data to inform quality improvements.