Kent County Renews Its Commitment to Early Childhood

A resounding “YES” means young children in Kent County will continue to get the start they need to be ready for success when they walk through the kindergarten door. Last August, voters in Kent County approved a six-year renewal of the Ready by Five Early Childhood Millage, by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent.

Ready by Five, originally passed in 2018, will extend through December 2031, and is expected to generate $8.8 million this year alone to pay for evidence-based early childhood programs and services. First Steps Kent administers the millage, allocating funds to community-based organizations through a resident-led competitive grant process. Funded programs have a proven track record that includes improved 3rd grade reading and math scores, reduction in preterm and low weight births, and early identification of delays or disabilities.

Programs funded by the millage reached approximately 13,000 children and 2,000 expectant parents last year, with counts reflecting each meaningful connection between families and service providers. This means families who worked with multiple organizations—receiving layered support tailored to their needs—are counted for each valuable interaction. Thousands of additional families received information about early childhood and community resources.

Programs are universally available to Kent County families with children age five and younger, but resources are intentionally focused on increasing engagement in historically under-resourced communities where early investment has the greatest opportunity for impact.

Independent evaluator Basis Policy Research created an “early childhood opportunity spectrum” for Kent County based on community-level measures associated with kindergarten readiness. Metrics used in the opportunity index are related to socioeconomics, health and well-being, crime and violence, and access to resources. Nearly two-thirds of children ages five and younger live in a zip code labeled either “most opportunity” or “significant opportunity,” meaning these are the communities in which there is the greatest need for investment and the greatest opportunity to improve school readiness with high quality early childhood programming. With few exceptions, these zip codes have the highest share of young children and expectant parents participating in millage-funded programming. Map is shown above.