8.4 Public-Private Partnerships

Lead Agencies must demonstrate how they encourage partnerships among other public agencies, Tribal organizations, private entities, faith-based organizations, businesses, or organizations that promote business involvement, and/or community-based organizations to leverage existing service delivery (i.e., cooperative agreement among providers to pool resources to pay for shared fixed costs and operation) to leverage existing child care and early education service delivery systems and to increase the supply and quality of child care services for children younger than age 13. 8.4.1 Lead Agency public-private partnerships Identify and describe any public-private partnerships encouraged by the Lead Agency to leverage public and private resources to further the goals of CCDF: The Code of Virginia (§ 22.1-289.05) directs the Board of Education to establish a set of regional entities that are responsible for coordinating early childhood care and education services, guiding quality improvement of such services and coordinated access to such services for families, and implementing the uniform measurement and improvement system. In 2021, the VDOE worked closely with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation to competitively select and launch nine regional entities, now called Ready Regions. The VDOE annually funds the Ready Regions to ensure the regional implementation of VQB5 and support coordination for every birth-to-five provider in the Commonwealth. Each Ready Region has a lead organization charged to partner with parents, school divisions, social and human services agencies, quality improvement networks, early childhood care and education programs, businesses, and other stakeholder organizations to coordinate and integrate critical services and resources for families with young children. Ready Regions are responsible for the coordination, accountability, and family engagement for early childhood programs, including coordination of VQB5 activities. Additional information available at https://vecf.org/ready- regions/