Minus 9 to 5: Helping children thrive with regional collaboration

The regional effort, Minus 9 to 5, continues to convene early childhood stakeholders and organizations to create new ways of doing things that no individual organization could do on its own.

The vision is to prepare families from conception to kindergarten, and the focus is on health and education.

The Hampton Roads Community Foundation served as the incubator for this important initiative, which launched in 2016. The Minus 9 to 5 initiative transitioned to Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk in 2018.

In 2019, the nonprofit received $247,692 in grant funding from a donor through the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.

Recent Minus 9 to 5 highlights include:

• After several years of planning, the Hampton Roads Shared Services Alliance (HRSSA) was launched with help from Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s Systems Building Grant. The goal of this shared services pilot is to cut administrative time and costs by creating business efficiencies to help directors focus on curriculum leadership for their early learning centers.
• Minus 9 to 5, in partnership with other community agencies, is coordinating the Hampton Roads Developmental Screening Initiative. The focus of this work is to build capacity and processes for developmental screenings for young children to support parents and providers in identifying developmental delays in young children and connecting them to services they may need.
• Minus 9 to 5 coordinated the region’s first 2020 Kindergarten Registration day, which is set for April 28, 2020. The five Southside Hampton Roads public school divisions will work together as a region to share resources and public awareness tools to make sure all children are ready to enter kindergarten on the first day.

Learn more and get involved at www.minus9to5.org