DANVILLE, Va. – An organization that helps prepare preschoolers for success in the classroom has received a huge boost.

Smart Beginnings Danville Pittsylvania (SBDP) will receive a $3.9 million grant from the Danville Regional Foundation (DRF) to continue its support of the early childhood system in Danville and Pittsylvania County.

With DRF’s renewed investment in school readiness, SBDP will create a school readiness data system to track 100 data points.

SBDP has leveraged DRF’s infrastructure investment to raise another $3.5 million to increase training and technical assistance for early childhood programs working with infants and toddlers, children ages 3-5, and children K-5 in need of childcare during the pandemic.

The mission of SBDP is to strengthen the system of individuals and organizations educating and caring for children ages birth to five.

Since 2010, SBDP and its partners have improved performance on PALS K, Virginia’s reading readiness assessment, by 50 percent.

There are approximately 5,000 children ages birth to five living in Danville and Pittsylvania County. Almost 3,000 of those children live in households at the 200% poverty level, with 60 percent in Danville and 53 percent in Pittsylvania County.