Children First Awarded $50,000 Grant from McCune Family Foundation

The McCune Family Foundation has awarded Children First a $50,000 grant to provide scholarships for Sarasota County’s most economically vulnerable children. This grant will provide access to comprehensive care and education, as well as allow more families an opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency and financial success.

“The McCune Family Foundation understands the importance of providing families high-quality early childhood education. With almost 90% of brain development occurring in the first five years of life, we have learned how crucial it is to ensure that children who live in poverty have a safe and nurturing place in which to learn. The Perry Preschool Project shows us that we can break the cycle of poverty for these families by increasing academic success, preparing them for Kindergarten and beyond,” says CEO Philip Tavill.

Children First provides year-round early childhood education for more than 700 children annually, and with this funding, the agency will continue to ensure families receive comprehensive services that will help move them out of poverty.

“By providing full-day early childhood care and education, we are empowering our parents to advance their own education or to seek and sustain employment. Scholarships have been and will continue to be our highest priority, because the longer a child waits to receive these critical services, the farther he or she will fall behind peers, and the longer the family will wait for self-sufficiency,” says Tavill. “Research has shown us that we cannot wait, and we are deeply grateful for the McCune Family Foundation’s continued support of our mission to strengthen children and families.”