The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust’s mission is to improve the health and quality of life for residents in Forsyth County and around North Carolina, including the youngest residents in the place we call home. In 2015, the Trust observed how thousands of children in Forsyth County, many from families with low incomes, would arrive in kindergarten each year at risk of falling behind their classmates. Research underscored that helping children reach age-appropriate developmental milestones before first grade is critical to long-term educational success.

After years of developing its strategy, the Trust launched the Great Expectations special initiative in 2015 as a bold, 10-year effort to transform early childhood outcomes in Forsyth County. Grounded in evidence-based research and proven national models, the Trust made a $30 to $40 million commitment to ensure that children enter school healthy, ready to learn, and positioned for success beyond kindergarten. In the early years, the initiative focused on root causes of disparities in early childhood, including systems designed to advance opportunities for some groups and deny opportunities to others. It invested in high-impact programmatic strategies, such as Forsyth Connects, a universal home-visiting program offering free in-home nurse visits to families with newborns.

While the initiative officially culminated in 2025, this evaluation presents an opportunity to reflect on the past 10-years and plan for the Trust’s work ahead. The Trust partnered with Frontline Solutions to conduct a 10-year evaluation of the Great Expectations special initiative to assess its impact and to understand grantees’ experiences with the Trust’s racial equity and systems change shift.

Download the report to explore the evaluation and its findings.