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19 <br /> • Kindergarten Readiness <br /> • Extended Learning/Out of School Time <br /> • Maintain current pipeline components and enhance services in zones <br /> • Strategic Plan implementation <br /> - School Innovation Seed Funds <br /> • Backbone support <br /> The core pieces of these budget projections include: <br /> - expansion of the navigator program, <br /> - maintenance of the k readiness program, <br /> - ensuring that all cohorts of kids who we work with have access to literacy-focused <br /> enrichment afterschool and during the summer <br /> - Support for our pipeline services and for implementation of our strategic plan <br /> - And backbone support, which for the purposes of this projection is managed through the <br /> health department <br /> - In order to make budget projections, we had to determine the number of children we could <br /> potentially reach through FSA in the coming 5 years. We taught our first cohort of K Ready <br /> students last year, and in 5 years those children will be about 11 y/o. And although we <br /> started with rising kindergarteners, we will be building the pipeline down to include early <br /> childhood over the coming years, so we needed to know the total number of children living in <br /> poverty from 0-11 y/o in the zones. <br /> - The most accurate population level data on child poverty within the zones is the number of <br /> children qualifying for free and reduced price lunch. Assuming a stable rate for each age <br /> group, which corresponds with census data, we derived an estimate of the total number of <br /> children meeting this criteria ages 0-11 y/o and an estimate of the number of families that <br /> includes. <br /> NAVIGATORS <br /> The navigator program is one of FSA's core programs and I'd say it's the lynchpin of <br /> our work. They have a common lived experience of struggling to make ends meet, they are <br /> seen as leaders in their community and build trusting relationships families, they not only <br /> connect families with services, but they inform service providers of how they can best meet <br /> family needs. And they help keep families' voices at the center of our work. <br /> Right now we have five part-time navigators who, by the end of this year, are expected <br /> to reach 90 families. That puts our current reach in the zones at 12% of families living in <br /> poverty. <br /> In terms of budget implications, we are proposing a range, based on the reach of the navigator <br /> program. <br /> The growth of this program will depend on: <br /> - Demand from the community <br /> - Effectiveness of this intervention, as demonstrated by evaluations. And UNC is currently <br /> doing a formative evaluation. <br /> - Resources available to expand <br /> KINDERGARTEN READINESS <br /> Our plan is to maintain the K Readiness program as it currently exists. Our recent <br /> evaluation data, which will be going out in a press release this week, demonstrates statistically <br /> significant improvement for those children who participated this summer. <br />