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<p><font size="2" color="#0000ff"><strong>What We Do</strong></font></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><font size="1">The Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County is charged with improving the quality of childcare across the county and increasing the number of children in our early education programs so that parents can work to become self-sufficient. </font></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><font size="1">We meet this objective by providing services to more than 6000 families per month through Child Care Resource and Referral services; the School Readiness program; the Voluntary Prekindergarten program; and the Father and Child Connection program. Most of our programs are designed for children from birth through kindergarten age. </font></span></p>
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<font size="1">Services provided by the coalition to help families deal with situations include:</font> </p>
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<li>Finding child care so parents can work</li>
<li>Assistance in paying for quality child care</li>
<li>Connecting families with services appropriate for their situation</li>
<li>Helping ensure children are intellectually, emotionally, physically and socially ready to enter school</li>
<li>Learning to be a better parent</li>
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<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><font size="1">Our Coalition strives to involve parents as their child’s first teacher, support family health and involvement, serve as a preventive measure for children at risk of school failure and enhance educational readiness of eligible children throughout the community. First priority is always given to children in Protective Services or in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Income eligible children are the next priority, as funding permits, in programs requiring financial qualification. Our funding comes from the federal Child Care Development Block Grant, the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation; a local match of approximately $300,000 per year to be raised in our community; and most recently from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.<br />
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<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><font size="1">We continue to nurture a child care/school readiness delivery system that is developmentally appropriate and research-based. Programs are evaluated on an ongoing basis and redesigned to meet the children’s changing needs.<br />
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<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><font size="1">In addition, the Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County is part of a statewide network of 31 coalitions. This network addresses legislative and other issues that will impact our children’s ability to receive the highest quality early learning services. <br />
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