Links to Success Adds First 1,000 Days Family Navigator Position

July 26, 2024 | Sarasota

Tonya Wallace has joined DeSoto County-based nonprofit organization Links to Success in the new role of First 1,000 Days Family Navigator.

Wallace will guide and connect DeSoto families to a range of healthcare, childcare, and social-service resources to support their newborns and young children during the critical years of early childhood development.  Her role is key to further expanding the services of the successful First 1,000 Days Suncoast initiative, which is housed within Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, to meet the particular needs of the DeSoto County community.

“Connecting Links to Success and First 1,000 Days in this way will have a tremendous impact on families in DeSoto County,” said Ashley Coone, executive director of Links to Success.  “With Tonya on board, we will identify and partner with new parents and young children to lay a strong foundation for their future success.”

Links to Success has been at the forefront of providing essential college and career preparation for middle- and high-school students in DeSoto County, addressing educational inequality and limited resources in one of Florida’s lowest-income areas.  Currently, the county has a 30 percent kindergarten-readiness rate, and 38 percent of third graders are reading at grade level.  “To best serve our families and our community, we must start earlier and ensure our children have access to quality early learning experiences,” said Coone.

To that end, Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation recently awarded Links to Success a $400,000 grant to expand its programs and build its capacity, including start-up funding to begin serving families during the critical early childhood years.  Links to Success is partnering with First 1,000 Days Suncoast, which coordinates free and affordable services for vulnerable families in partnership with more than 90 community partners.  The referral and resource model was designed to support new mothers and babies being discharged from Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where it continues to be based.  “This strategic collaboration with First 1,000 Days will enable Links to Success to take its proven results and bring support down to a child’s first teacher, their parent,” said Kelly Romanoff, senior vice president for strategy and evaluation at Baranick Foundation.

The new family navigator role involves guiding families through a maze of available services to ensure they receive the comprehensive support necessary during the pivotal time of early childhood development.  Wallace will provide direction and resources to families to help meet their specific needs, and she’ll build and maintain relationships with service providers to facilitate referrals and ensure access.  She’ll also lead workshops and educational sessions for parents and caregivers on topics related to early childhood development, parenting, and health.

The hiring of a DeSoto First 1,000 Days navigator aims to replicate the success already being achieved in neighboring counties.  The position will lean on and leverage the proven referral model and vast resource network built by the First 1,000 Days Suncoast initiative.  While First 1,000 Days had expanded outreach to DeSoto County prior to this new role, it became clear that the community’s particular needs and geography require more attention and staff dedicated to DeSoto families.

“The relationships that our initiative coordinator Janice Houchins has built with DeSoto County organizations over the last few years laid a strong foundation for this partnership,” said Chelsea Arnold, initiative manager of First 1,000 Days Suncoast.  “Paired with Links to Success’s incredible reputation and trust among families in the county and Tonya’s extensive experience with young children, this new collaboration will strengthen the work of our initiative.”

Wallace brings an impressive professional background and long history of service and collaboration in DeSoto County to her new role.  Most recently, she worked with DeSoto County children and their families as the children’s library manager for the DeSoto County Public Library.  Prior to that, she spent 22 years as an elementary school educator for the School District of DeSoto County.

DeSoto County mothers who are pregnant or families raising a young child may complete the assistance-request form available on the First 1,000 Days Suncoast website to get connected with Wallace for help.