EQuIPD looks for every opportunity to seek grant funding and partner with community organizations to do even more for our early educators in Guilford County. Here, you'll find more information about some of the work we've done to make early educator's lives better since we began in 2014. 

GUIDING HEALTHY BEHAVIORS: ROOTED IN WELLNESS

Guiding Healthy Behaviors supports Guilford County Early Childhood programs to create a culture of health and wellness for young children.

EQuIPD FOR RESILIENCE COP: HIGH POINT 

This COP is focused on the concept of RESILIENCE and is driven by a previously established and successful book study intervention to support preschool teachers' emotional resiliency and wellbeing. 
As early educators, we are called upon to increase children’s resiliency and focus on caring for them, but how do we shift focus to ourselves, prioritize what makes us feel well, and think about our own needs for care--how do we increase our own resiliency? These events introduce strategies to try, dispositions to foster, and habits to practice building our own grit as educators to support ourselves and each other through the toughest parts of the year

WORKFORCE DESIGN TEAM & THINK BABIES 

In the fall of 2017,  the Guilford County Child Care Workforce Compensation Design Team was formed, charged with the task to create a powerful, implementable plan to stabilize Guilford County’s early childhood workforce so that all children have access to high, quality early childhood programs staffed by educated and skilled teachers who are equitably compensated.
Driven by input from over 200 stakeholders, the plan identified the following goals: ​
Check out the full strategic plan below: 

​The strategic plan led us to our collaboration with the North Carolina Early Education Coalition as a Community Partner for the Think Babies grant in 2017 - 2018. The coalition launched an initiative to support babies and their families...and EQuIPD, along with other organizations in Guilford county, participated in this effort to provide opportunities for the early childhood workforce to be more involved in advocacy efforts.
We planned a series of advocacy focused sessions that provided opportunities to: 

• Build relationships with other early childhood professionals who hope to create shared
goals in Guilford County, not only for young children, but for the early childhood
workforce, too

• Learn about who makes decisions related to funding and resources for early childhood
programs

• Identify areas that policy makers and the general public should understand to place more
value in your work

• Individually and collectively craft messages for the public and decisions makers
MODEL WORK STANDARDS PILOT PROJECT 2022 - 2023
In 2019, the model work standards for both center-based and family child care home settings were re-introduced, providing a framework for the policies and practices early childhood providers need to be physically, financially, and emotionally well. 
In Guilford County, EQuIPD partnered with Ready for School, Ready for Life, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy, to promote the Model Work Standards in our community through: 
  • large events and conferences, specifically for the early childhood workforce in Guilford County
  • longer sessions for administrators and teachers to dig into the standards and work through consensus, problem solving, prioritizing, and decision making processes
  • webinars about the Model Work Standards (see our online Professional Development page) 
  • sessions for Family Child Care Home providers to explore the standards and prioritize changes collectively
  • delivering printed copies of the standards to programs 
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In 2022 - 2023, EQuIPD partnered with Ready for School, Ready for Life, and NC A&T State University, to implement the Model Work Standards Pilot Project, funded by the North Carolina State Legislature. 
Learn more about the Pilot Project here: 

ASCEND PEER MENTORING PROGRAM

We have supported over fifty early educators to participate in a peer mentoring experience with EQuIPD. This program typically lasts for one year and includes: 
 
-One on one peer mentoring with an early childhood professional 
-Assistance with individualized goal setting, action planning & portfolio building
-Access to quality professional development & specialized training
-A small stipend as an incentive for participation

Stay tuned for our next opportunity to be a mentor or protege soon!