Legislation and determination have successfully driven the Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County, Inc. since its humble beginnings as the School Readiness (SR) Coalition in 1999.
Community leaders spearheaded a grassroots effort to meet the needs of St. Lucie County’s young children while working with the requirements of School Readiness Statute 411 signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush. SR Statute 411 created the SR Coalition and held it responsible for serving children birth - 5 in order to prepare them for kindergarten. All prekindergarten programs in the St. Lucie County (SLC) School system and the subsidized childcare programs moved under the direction of the SR Coalition.
Key community leaders in St. Lucie County (SLC) combined efforts and helped prepare SLC with an independent yet effective system for delivering SR programs. The program these community leaders developed served as the foundation for a curriculum addressing pre-academic skills, physical & mental health and parenting skills. At the same time, they worked towards enhancing the quality of preschool programs, creating a seamless system of childcare and providing school readiness services on a full day, full year basis.
In 2005 the School Readiness Coalition transitioned into the Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County (ELC). All services, once contracted to several agencies under the SR Coalition, were brought in-house. It was also in 2005 that Governor Bush signed into law a bill calling for the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (VPK) to be available to every eligible 4 year old child at no cost to parents.
To this day, the ELC continues to successfully provide families with all services. We continue to honor the original visionaries of the School Readiness Coalition by continuing to provide quality early learning and school readiness experiences for children birth - 5 through our School Readiness and Voluntary Prekindergarten Programs.
