The Mixed Delivery program is a publicly-funded initiative that provides high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) services to young children across Virginia. Mixed Delivery is administered by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) via the nine Ready Regions established in statute, and it is delivered in private, licensed ECCE sites across the state.

Mixed Delivery is a key component of Virginia’s early childhood public-private landscape, with over 2,500 birth-to-five slots serving low-income working families across all regions of the Commonwealth. This statewide footprint has evolved over time, with Mixed Delivery beginning in 2016 as an innovative pilot to support and supplement quality improvement initiatives within programs and reduce barriers to eligible families’ access to quality child care. Through the nine operational years of Mixed Delivery, the program has not only grown significantly but also serves as the innovation hub for early childhood care and education in Virginia, piloting various approaches to supporting program evaluation and quality and increasing options for low-income working families seeking care in private child care and family day home settings. Mixed Delivery serves as an important program for Virginia, with over 65% of families selecting to enroll their infant, toddler or preschooler in a private setting such as those that may participate in Mixed Delivery.

Mixed Delivery consistently fills every available slot with eligible children, ensures children receive quality learning and care experiences in private child care and family day home settings, and provides the maximum amount of service possible with allocated funding. Routine internal and external evaluations of the program are part of the Mixed Delivery model. These evaluations have highlighted the unique innovations within the program, as well as demonstrated the program’s success in supporting positive learning experiences for children and meeting the increased quality expectations for Mixed Delivery.

In addition to these evaluations, the most recent results from Virginia’s quality rating and improvement system, VQB5, demonstrate that 100% of Mixed Delivery sites are meeting or exceeding the expectations for quality established by the Virginia Board of Education.