Through a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, CCFH convened partners in early care and education, pediatrics, family support, mental health, and homeless services in a unified strategy called Responsive Early Access for Durham’s Young Children (READY). Launched in 2019, the five-year grant-funded project sunset at the end of 2024.
The primary goal of the READY Project was to foster the healthy development and wellness of all young children in Durham County, preparing them to thrive in school and beyond. Funded partners included the Center for Child & Family Health, Child Care Services Association (now Early Years), Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke Children’s Primary Care, Exchange Family Center, Families Moving Forward and Triangle Area Parenting Support. Many more organizations as well as parent leaders partnered with CCFH through READY’s Young Child Wellness Council to increase communication and collaboration across Durham’s early childhood system of care.
Preliminary five-year data shows that READY partners collectively:
- Served 13,755 children in Durham during the grant period
- Screened 8454 children and 2115 caregivers
- Made 1031 referrals for children and 279 for parents
- Provided evidence-based interventions to 6927 children!
Where outcome data was available for children receiving these interventions, the results have been overwhelmingly positive.
In addition, through intensive training processes funded by READY Project, 6 clinicians were trained and 5 were rostered in Parent Child Interaction Therapy, and 12 parent coaches were certified in Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) Infant and/or Early Childhood models.
Hundreds of providers, early educators and community members received free training on topics related to infant and early childhood mental health, provider wellbeing, and best practices in screening and referring children for social-emotional concerns.
The READY Project’s comprehensive Final Progress Report can be downloaded here.
Similar work continues on a state-wide level through CCFH’s ARCh Project. Ongoing collaboration in Durham’s early childhood system of care continues through other initiatives, including the Community Advisory Board (CAB) for CCFH prevention programs Family Connects Durham (FCD) and Healthy Families Durham (as well as our community partner the Diaper Bank of NC). Contact Derek Uejo, FCD’s Community Alignment Specialist for more information about the CAB.
