The goal of the Ready by Five Early Childhood Millage is to fund programs that improve kindergarten readiness and overall well-being for children under age 5.
Kent County voters approved the renewal by more than 20,000 votes for six years at 0.25 mills, or about $37 per year for a $300,000 home.
Jennifer Headly-Norman is the President of First Steps Kent and says despite the disruption of the pandemic, the first six years showed success.
“Improving health outcomes for mothers, improving birth weight for babies. We had more parents feeling confident about their skills and we also were seeing early evidence that the investments we were making in kindergarten readiness were going to be realized in the next few rounds of data collection.”
She and others hope data collected in the next six years will lead to growth and more funding. Taniah Ingram is co-chair of the Ready by Five Steering Committee, and a parent using the services.
“I think its important people know these programs are more than play groups. They’re more than just handing out books at doctor’s visits. These programs are giving parents the confidence and reassurance their children are developmentally on-track.”
The millage is estimated to raise about $8.8 million dollar in the first year to fund programming through 18 agencies with 32 programs.
Those include prenatal support, developmental screenings, home visits, play and learn groups, behavioral therapy, reading resources and more.
In 2023, the non-profit served more than 13,000 children and expecting parents.
