Our Work

Since 2013, Lafayette Ready Start has been striving for excellence for all children birth to age five.

The Current State of our Network

The Lafayette Parish Network consists of over 65 Type III Early Learning Centers, over 60 LPSS Pre-K classrooms at 22 elementary schools, 2 Non-public Schools of Early Childhood Development (NSECD), 6 Family Child Care Providers, and 3 Head Start and Early Head Start sites. As of October 2022, in total, 2646 children, birth to age five, are served through public funds in the community. Tier I Curriculum use has increased from 39% to 95% since 2017. The Network has made steady growth on the annual performance profiles, increasing from 4.76 to 5.37 out of 7. Performance Profile scores across the community also continue to rise annually. Since 2015, no sites in the Network have been rated unsatisfactory.

Lafayette Ready Start is building the future of Lafayette's children.

Lafayette Ready Start is a coalition of individuals committed to creating and implementing a bold local vision for early childhood. Lafayette Ready Start supports quality early childhood. This means that all children, wherever they receive care, are in a safe, caring and nurturing environment with qualified professionals that help children successful engage the world around them, not only for today but also for their future.

The work of early care and education is important.

The research is clear - ninety percent of brain development happens before the age of five. In addition, two out of three Louisiana families have both parents working. Louisiana must provide quality early childhood experiences to build on that potential and ensure families have the supports they need. The fastest way to do this is for local communities to develop local solutions that reflect their unique needs.

Louisiana is ranked 8th in the country for its early childhood education policies; a fact about which we should be proud. Even with this achievement, there continues to be significant access and quality challenges. Lafayette Ready Start will build on our success by bringing local community members together to create, implement, and support early childhood to address these challenges.

The future of Lafayette is critically dependent on this work.

Driven by local data and context, Lafayette Ready Start will do this in three key ways: develop intentional plans, secure and weave together resources, and implement creative solutions. Lafayette’s future is tied to the success of its children and today we have the opportunity to transform our future in one generation. Everyone has a shared responsibility to support the economy of today and shape the workforce of tomorrow. Working together, we can ensure our community thrives.

Find out more about our current work by reading our full Lafayette Ready Start Blueprint here.