Education Matters | Children First: Strengthening Children and Families by Improving the Quality of Their Lives

By Simone Knego | March 2023

Children First was founded in 1961 as the Sarasota Day Nursery. Its mission was to prepare children from low-income families for kindergarten. Its work changed lives and built a strong foundation for families. The organization became Sarasota County’s exclusive provider of Head Start in 1994 and Early Head Start in 1998, and in 2000, the organization’s name changed to Children First. 

Kathleen Sullivan, VP of Programs for Children First, heard about the Head Start program for the first time while she was pushing her three-year-old daughter on a swing at the family student housing playground at UC Santa Barbara, where her husband was a graduate student. Sullivan and her husband lived in family student housing, had student loans, and their income was $5,000, well below the Federal Poverty Level at the time.

She told another mom at the playground she wished she could afford to put her child in preschool. That friend told Sullivan about Head Start. Sullivan immediately enrolled her oldest daughter in the local Head Start program. 

“From a personal standpoint, the Head Start program changed my life,” shared Sullivan. “The comprehensive services, including the mental health support and social work, were the pivotal pieces for us as a family that enabled Lance and me to be the best parents we could be.”

Early care, early education, and family strengthening are the three major pillars of the work at Children First. “We recognize that children thrive within the context of their family,” says Sullivan. “This philosophical approach to early care and education has led to the expansion of our comprehensive services. We address the needs and aspirations of families as a whole.” This maximizes each family’s capacity to support their child in reaching their fullest potential. 

Sullivan says Children First is a learning and growing institution that has adopted this philosophy knowing that “each of us can and should continue to learn and grow even as we conduct our work in our chosen field.” 

Children First participates in the Teach Early Childhood Scholarship Program, which is a partnership with the Children’s Forum. It allows their educational staff to continue their education from the most basic early care and education certification to a master’s degree in Educational Leadership. There are minimal costs for degrees that are earned, and most graduates from the Teach program will have no debt when they complete their degrees. As the agency participant in this scholarship program, Children First pays a portion of the employee’s fees and offers paid study time to ensure candidate success.

The Early Head Start program serves expectant families and infants and toddlers from birth to three years old. This program promotes healthy prenatal outcomes and enhances the development of infants and toddlers. 

“Our best-case scenario is when we can enroll an expectant family,” Sullivan said. “We ensure that they have access to the services they need for a healthy pregnancy and for a safe and stable home into which the child will be born. After the child is born, we conduct a two-week newborn visit. And at six weeks, we welcome the child into our center. So for us, education and innovation are really at the forefront of everything that we do and all of the services we offer.”

The Head Start program, which focuses on school readiness, serves children from three to five years old. This program helps children learn the cognitive, social, and emotional skills they need for success in kindergarten and beyond. The preschool curriculum emphasizes intentional play-based learning and promotes independent decision-making, cooperation, creativity, and problem-solving in young children. 

Early Head Start and Head Start services are for families who live at or below the Federal Poverty Level. Inclusion is a priority for Children First. Children who are homeless or in foster care are automatically eligible for our program, while those with diagnosed disabilities may be eligible regardless of economic status.

After graduation from Children First, students and families may be eligible for continued support through Children First’s RISE program. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade who are enrolled in the RISE program at Emma E. Booker Elementary School receive weekly, one-on-one literacy support with a volunteer mentor during the school day. Families also receive advocacy services to support continued family well-being. 

Family strengthening is one of the critical features of the program at Children First. Early intervention with young children absolutely paves the way for their trajectory in their later educational life and in their current happiness. 

Children First provides Family Advocates, many of whom are trained social workers who strengthen the capacity of parents to navigate resources in our community. Knowing that stable families create stable homes in which children thrive, the Family Advocates partner with parents to develop goals and then work on them over time. Parents determine their own goals and the objectives by which they will be measured. 

Maria Somera is an excellent example of one of Children First’s many success stories. When Maria’s first child, David, was diagnosed with a hearing delay, she and her husband, Jorge, were directed to Children First. Soon, with proper healthcare screenings and guidance from the agency’s comprehensive services staff, David received the support he needed to thrive.

David and his sister, Anna, were both able to receive a high-quality education and gain access to an array of support services to help them grow. This allowed Maria and Jorge to focus on their careers and continue their own education. Maria enrolled in classes with the agency’s Families First Institute, learning about career readiness, financial management, positive parenting, and more. Maria was also elected by her fellow parents as Chair of Children First’s Policy Council, helping to lead the agency in making family-based decisions. 

During the 2022-23 school year, Maria was named the Florida Head Start Association Parent of the Year for her impact in elevating excellence in Florida’s Head Start Community, representing nearly 43,000 children, 40,000 families, and 11,000 staff members across 134 programs. 

“Children First has made a great impact on my life and the lives of my family,” says Maria. “My time with the program has helped me to discover that behind great nonprofit institutions are wonderful, loving people who are deeply committed to the power of community.”

Children First partners with families to help them reach their fullest potential. That’s its aim; that’s its mission. When a family is thriving, the community as a whole is positively impacted because they are now contributing to the well-being of our local environment. Children First operates at 15 sites throughout Sarasota County and impacts the lives of nearly 2,000 children and families annually.

Children First is always in need of volunteers to support their mission and services. There are many opportunities to help, including cuddling babies and reading to the children in the various classrooms. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION please contact volunteer@childrenfirst.net or visit www.childrenfirst.net/volunteer.