The mission of York County First Steps Partnership Board is to assist children, birth to six, and their families by supporting collaborative efforts that ensure all children are prepared to succeed in school.
The years of early childhood are a critical window of development during which much of human potential is shaped.
➢ By FY 23, the percentage of children directly served by York County First Steps will increase from 31% to 36%. ➢ By FY 23, the percentage of children under age 6 who benefit from York County First Steps Quality Enhancement and Training efforts will increase from 13% to 18% ➢ By FY 23, the percentage of children who score at the highest level on the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment will increase from 45.6% to 50%.
Families are the single most important influence on the development of their young children. 1. Expand the NFP Program to serve more at-risk families in our region. 2. Expand the county PAT capacity to serve more Hispanic/Latino families. 3. Expand available childcare vouchers in support of our parenting interventions. 4. Expand Quality Enhancement and Training efforts to reach more at-risk children. 5. Elevate our community role as early intervention expert in our community.
Street, City SC 00000 | 000-000-0000 | website OR scfirststeps.org/county
929 Sylvia Circle, Rock Hill, SC 29730 | 803-981-5780 | www.YCFirstSteps.org
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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Distributing Food Boxes to families experiencing food insecurity became a community collaboration this year. Hosting 7 Winthrop Interns in the Spring helped make lighter loads all the way around.
Adaptability and flexibility, two words we thought we knew the meaning of but, after the last 18 months, we have a much deeper understanding of how adaptable and flexible we must become to serve our community in the midst of a pandemic. Every program and aspect of our interventions required adapting and flexing, from modifying our CTK Program to being parent led to incorporating virtual visits as a new tool in our options of outreach. We even became involved in distributing food boxes to families experiencing food insecurity and working with 30 community partners to place these boxes where they could make the biggest impact. In our adapting, we expanded and developed new relationships that allow us to bring more voices and services to the families we serve every day. We have learned new ways to engage our families and our plan is to take our experiences into the post pandemic future. We invite you to review our Annual Report and see the many ways our Staff, and Interns, of which there were many this year, adapted our methods to advance our mission and goals to helping our children succeed in life.
David W. Lisk, Sr. David W. Lisk, Sr. Executive Director York County First Steps
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Every York County child will be prepared to succeed in school.
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1300 WHEN SIERRA PORTER LEARNED SHE WAS PREGNANT with her son Kahari, she worried that she would not have the knowledge and support she needed to be a good mom. A friend encouraged her to sign up for Nurse-Family Partnership through York County First Steps. Over a year later, Kahari is a healthy, happy toddler and Sierra is working full time at a residential treatment facility. She is also back in school, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in correctional program support services.
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PAT GOES VIRTUAL Due to COVID-19, Parents as Teachers (PAT) National provided guidance for affiliates to deliver virtual services via interactive video conferencing and phone calls. South Carolina PAT affiliates rose to the occasion by engaging families in creative and meaningful ways while continuing to
PAT IN YORK COUNTY 2020-2021
66 830
families served
total home visits
meet the Essential Requirements of implementing a quality PAT program
All our Teenage Mothers receiving a Childcare
during the pandemic.
Voucher from YCFS, are enrolled in PAT to help them balance between finishing their high school degree and nurturing their young child.
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Due to the concerns from the Pandemic, we did not offer CTK in its standard format. With the assistance of a Winthrop Intern, we modified the CTK Curriculum to be parent led and provided video support for each segment of the program. We were able to serve 72 children though our modified CTK Program during last summer with each child receiving the full Tool Kit, and in home Crafts Box with craft and art prompts for each family.
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The opportunity to learn new approaches for classroom management have transformed my daily routine. The children enjoy the new room set up and the play centers and our days run much more smoothly. Phyllis, 3 Year Old Teacher
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Childcare: Can anyone really do it all? Working with Parents: Hardships or Partnerships Room Arrangement Social Emotional Development in Exceptional Children I Wish I had Known: From the heart of Directors Transitions and Behavior Management…Oh My!
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York County First Steps adapted our methodology for offering high quality professional development sessions to our childcare professionals. Using technology to provide virtual training sessions allowed us to expand the number of participants and tap into alternate session leaders not typically available. We plan to continue offering a mix of virtual and in person professional development sessions as our options for in person become safe. 11
For m any fam ilies in York County, the cost of quality childcare is out of reach. Our scholarship p rog ram m akes p aym ents to childcare p roviders to care for children for teenag e mothers that are working to comp lete their hig h school deg ree. Each of our teen mothers is enrolled in our Parents as T eachers Prog ram to assist them with b alancing
the demands of being a mother and continuing their schooling.
York County First Step s has develop ed a p artnership with the Rock Hill Housing Authority to p rovide Childcare Vouchers for select clients working toward family indep endence throug h the Rock Hill Housing Authority.
SCHOLARSHIPS BY THE NUMBERS 2020-2021
4
number of children served
4
number of providers served
8
number of developmental screenings provided
We have an 85% graduation or retention rate for our clients receiving targeted childcare vouchers connected to Parents as Teachers.
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FIRST STEPS 4K IN YORK COUNTY 2020-2021
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PREPARING FOR STATEWIDE EXPANSION With First Steps 4K, families are in the driver’s seat. They choose the program that best meets their needs. Families can enroll their child in any of the 244 private, nonprofit, or faith-based child care centers or schools participating in the program. The majority of First Steps 4K providers offer 8-hour day and year-round instruction, including summers, which is at no cost to parents.
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PUBLIC AWARENESS Help ing to inform the p ub lic of the critical need for early interventions can take many forms. It can b e a Presentation at a local Rotary Meeting , p articip a ti on in a United Way community needs assessment, a local radio interview, or even a one -on-one dialog with a community b usiness leader. W e strive to b e as inclusive and exp ansive in our sp reading
the message as possible. One of our primary points is to help everyone in the community understand that the eventual success or failure of our children, imp acts the entire community.
PUBLIC AWARENESS BY THE NUMBERS 2020-2021
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Community Events
77
Hours Provided in Public Awareness
422 Total Event Attendance
A key facet of our developing and sustaining partner relationships is helping educate the community on the importance of early interventions. As part of this dialog, we all need to understand what our role is to assist the children and their families to prepare for success in school and in achieving their life’s dreams. We are not all teachers or mentors, but we all have a role that can help children in our midst. First Steps was created to provide the needed messaging for every County in SC. Please join our mission.
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Addressing the needs of young children is a shared endeavor. In addition to p roviding services to families and sup p ort for childcare p roviders, York County First Step s mob ilizes p artners and community m em b ers to ensure all children in York County b eg in school ready to succeed. W e serve as a:
8344 Food Boxes Distributed
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Community Partners to help distribute the food boxes
This past year, Food Insecurity was much more widespread than in previous years. Through efforts with Children’s Trust and FoodShare, we were able to help distribute over 8300 Food Boxes to families in need of food. In our journey, we were able to expand existing collaborations and form new partnerships with 30 community organizations. As part of these efforts we were able to connect even more families to needed services and interventions. 15
T hroug h p artnership s and collab or a ti ons , as well as financial sup p ort from g rants and contrib uti ons , York County First Step s leverag es state dollars to enhance and exp and services to children and fam ilies. W e sincerely thank our p artners for their financial
support and confidence in our ability to serve our community. We look forward to continuing to g row our services to assist families in our community.
FUNDING SUPPORT Sta te Alloca tion: $459,400 Children’s Trust (MIECHV): $137,000 N a tiona l Service Office of NFP : $127,500 Arra s Founda tio n : $50,000 School Districts: $16,450 SC Endea vors: $2,000
Individua l Dona tions: $3,500
IN-KIND SUPPORT York School District #1: $30,000 Clover School District #2: $15,119 Rock Hill School District #3: $22,950
JOIN US For more informati on on how to join York County First Step s for p artnership op p ortunities , visit our web site at www.YCFirs tSt eps. co m or call us at 803 -9 8 1 -5 7 8 0 .
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Expenditures of State Funds by Program Type 7%
Since inception, York County First Steps has leveraged $6,603.640 from sources outside of state government. That’s $0.71 for every state dollar.
93%
State Funding
Federal Funding
Private Funding
In-Kind Contributions
Total
Parents as Teachers
$122,366
$48,016
$1,000
$40,069
$211,452
Child Care Quality Enhancement
$90,092
$0
$0
$0
$90,092
Child Care Training
$39,907
$0
$1,921
$0
$41,828
Nurse Family Partnership
$95.445
$0
$371,468
$0
$466,913
Scholarship Initiatives
$25,457
$0
$63
$0
$25,520
$
$
$
$
$
Partnerships & Community Education
$27,256
$3,209
$30,038
$0
$60,503
Administrative Support
$30,224
$0
$1,094
$0
$31,318
$459,400
$51,225
$423,842
$40,069
$974,536
Early Head Start
Total Expenses
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Ca rol Ma nn, Cha ir
Crysta l Culbrea th
Tenisha P owell, Secreta ry
Cindy Ta ubenkimel , Vice Cha ir
Nina Feemster
Sha ron G rooms
Ja ne Culp
Jessica Elliott
Ma ya Alexa nder
Ca rol P erkins
Dina G ra nt
Kenya Morris
Dr. Winslow Shock
Beth Cooper
Ma ry Cha mberla in
Tina Brown
Linnie Miller
Erin Ra y
Ca tlin Anderson
STAFF David Lisk, Executive Director
Tricia Sutphin, NFP HVN
Susan Hagood, Program Administrator
Karmen Barrett, NFP HVN
Susan Robinson, Early Learning Specialist
Elizabeth Forbes, NFP HVN
Julie Toppen, NFP Manager
Nancy Cannada, NFP HVN
Eushea kia Bla keney, N FP HVN
Rebeca Ara ya , P AT P E
CONTACT US P O Box 9 6 9 Rock Hill, SC 2 9 7 3 1 | 803 -9 8 1 -5780 | www.YCFirs tS teps. c om
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