For Children Aged Birth to Five, Every Day Counts.
The State of Children in Our Region
An estimated 73,800 children ages 0 to 4 live in Ready Region Central. 71% of these children have all available parents working, and one-third of area children have a family income less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.
Our Purpose
Our vision: All children in our region will thrive and race, place, and income will no longer determine success in school.
Our mission: We will collaborate to build our region’s early childhood system and are a trusted steward of early childhood resources for families, providers and the ecosystem supporting them.
Our Strategy
Thrive Birth to Five’s strategy focuses on the biggest issues facing children aged 0-5 and their families.
Family and Community Engagement: Create a true value exchange with parents, caregivers, and the community to ensure that all have the resources, opportunities, and relationships to enhance every child’s development.
Child Wellbeing: Ensure that all children are physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally healthy. Children’s development and learning is supported so they grow, learn, and build skills to reach their full potential.
High Quality Early Childhood Care and Education Programs: Build a best-in-class early childhood care and education system that has quality as the foundation and drives results for children.
Affordable + Accessible Early Childhood Care and Education: Work to ensure families have access to quality early childhood resources, programs, and services that meet their needs and are delivered through a coordinated, collaborative, streamlined, and easy to navigate process. Workforce Capacity: Commit to a regional system that addresses the challenges of enabling workforce participation, retaining and attracting talent, and elevating the early childhood care and education workforce.
Our Partners
Thrive Birth to Five partners with individuals and organizations dedicated to building a strong foundation for children and families; identifying barriers to positive outcomes for children and families; prioritizing the most vulnerable children; valuing educators; investing in quality and data; diversifying funding; harnessing research to improve practice; and promoting school readiness, foundational learning, and lifelong well-being.
Our Reach
Thrive Birth to Five reaches the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George, Surry, and Sussex counties, as well as the cities of Colonial Heights, Emporia, Hopewell, Petersburg, and Richmond.
Timeline
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1996-2005
1996
Formation of Youth Matters, a business engagement and community strategy initiative housed at the Greater Richmond Chamber. Funded by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation
1998
Formation of Success by 6th at United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg.
2001
ChamberRVA and United Way align their early childhood efforts to form the Early Childhood Development Coalition.
2005
Governor Mark Warner creates Virginia Early Learning Council -
2006-2015
2006
Governor Tim Kaine forms Start Strong Council2006
Greater Richmond Chamber and United Way merge their early childhood efforts to form the Success by 6th Partnership and a regional Early Childhood Learning Council.2007
Virginia’s plan for Smart Beginnings created2007
Building on nearly a decade of regional collaboration, business engagement, and program movement, Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond is launched with a $500,000 grant from the newly formed Virginia Early Childhood Foundation.2008
Virginia creates Office of Early Childhood Development2010
The first Regional Plan for Children’s School Readiness is launched.2011
The first Regional Kindergarten Registration Campaign is launched, bringing together 10 school divisions across the region.2015
Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond transitions from the United Way to ChamberRVA as its new fiscal agent. First Board of Directors established. -
2016-2024
2017
The Regional Plan for Children’s School Readiness 2017-2020 is launched.2018
Locality Planning Groups activated; Mixed Delivery launch in Chesterfield; East End Initiative, Richmond Area Service Alliance launched; The Basics from Harvard extended to region.2019
COVID-19 Pandemic unfolds2019
Federal Preschool Development and VECF Systems Building Grants implemented2021
Apply for Ready Region Hub2022
Launch the Ready Region Hub
Locality Data
Each locality in Thrive Birth to Five’s service area has unique challenges and opportunities. To find out more about the data in each locality, please click on the name below or the location on the map.
Get In Touch
Connect with Thrive Birth to Five to learn more.
