“The best evidence suggests that learning begets learning, that early investments in learning are effective. As a society, we cannot afford to postpone investing in children until they become adults, nor can we wait until they reach school age—a time when it may be too late to intervene.”
James J. Heckman, Ph.D. and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences | Professor of Economics and Director, Center for the Economics of Human Development, University of Chicago
What We Do
Our Programs
Quality Counts
For more information click here.
Early Head Start
For more information click here.
Nurse-Family Partnership
For more information click here.
The Franklin School
For more information click here.
Vida Y Salud
Spartanburg First Steps is partnering with Upstate Family Resource Center through an SC First Steps READY grant to expand the existing Vida Y Salud program. Vida Y Salud helps build a stronger South Carolina by supporting Latino communities with education, advocacy, and leadership development. For more information click here.
Countdown to Kindergarten
Countdown to Kindergarten is designed to increase family awareness of kindergarten expectations, create positive home-school relationships, and ensure a smooth transition to school. Spartanburg First Steps has partnered with this program since 2019. For more information click here.
What Drives Us
Our Mission
Spartanburg County First Steps mission is to help all young children in our county arrive at school ready to learn and prepared for success. To accomplish that we:
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Support evidenced-based programs that are designed to strengthen families and support children’s growth and development during the first 5 years of life.
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Build trusting relationships with early learning centers using a model of continuous improvement that helps to build and sustain high-quality learning environments.
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Collaborate with community partners to maximize our efforts and to increase our impact positively on school readiness.
Get Involved
Spartanburg County First Steps works with local businesses, nonprofits, churches, and schools to help all children enter school ready to thrive. This means we support events throughout the year in support of school readiness and the importance of a quality early childhood. If you would like to join us at one or more of these events, let us know by clicking here.
Upcoming Events
Board of Directors' Meeting
May 20, 2026
4:00 – 5:00
Our Impact
48
Child Care
Providers Served
6450
Number of children and adults served by Spartanburg County First Steps in 2023 – 2024
For more information about our impact on Spartanburg County check out our
Annual Report.
2604
Number of children 0-5
enrolled in provider classrooms
Donate Today
The prosperity of Spartanburg County depends on our ability to support quality early education for future generations. Help a child enter school ready to learn and grow!
A donation today is a step toward a healthier, smarter, and stronger community tomorrow.
The
Latest
The First Thousand Days are the Most Important
The First Thousand Days are the Most Important
September 23, 2016
The first thousand days of a baby’s life are likely to determine the rest of her life — whether she grows up to be healthy or not, both physically and emotionally. Early childhood education begins early, even before birth. That’s what the latest scientific studies of brain development tell us. The brain develops at an incredible speed — 700 new neural connections are formed every minute in the time between birth and six months. A toddler’s brain is far more active than an adult’s brain.
That’s both good news and bad news. The good news is that we can make a difference in how we raise young children and that difference lasts a lifetime. The bad news is that if babies are abused or neglected in those first thousand days, the brain can never completely compensate for early deprivation. In fact, even genes may be affected.
In our daily lives, we tend to separate intellectual and emotional growth. Two different things, right?
Wrong.
Both vocabulary and emotional intelligence are part of brain development, which occurs at a surprisingly early stage. What do we mean by emotional intelligence? Self control, empathy, hopefulness and even resiliency. It is precisely these emotions that drive learning for a lifetime, an expert explained at a gathering of early childhood educators.
We know the horror stories of child abuse, the physical harm inflicted on infants. Less well-known are the stories of emotional neglect, where parents do not communicate with or play with their babies. The prescription for healthy development is simple and easy to learn. Most babies know how to win us over. We cannot help but smile at them and watch them smile back. But some mothers are either too depressed or harassed or simply don’t know how to respond to a baby.
Communication between an adult and a baby is critical. Does mom or dad talk to their baby, do they coo and smile, and do they know how to get down on the floor and play? Babies are smart. They can tell the difference between a responsive face and a blank face, wiped clean of emotion. Their feelings of security or fear develop way before they can use words. The number of words a child has when she enters kindergarten varies greatly, depending on early stimulation.
The good news is that early intervention works. Good prenatal care for every pregnant woman, home visits for every newborn, quality childcare and ongoing education for all families in those first thousand days can break the cycle of poverty and enable every child to live a life filled with promise.
Follow Madeleine M. Kunin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MadeleineKunin
Article Credit Huffington Post
Why We Should Care about Child Care as an Election Issue
Why We Should Care about Child Care as an Election Issue
August 16, 2016
If you’re a parent with young kids, what may be on your mind on Election Day isn’t “who is better on economic policy?” but “how am I going to juggle child care so that I can find the time to vote?” But you need to hold that thought even after you’ve resolved the day’s child care challenges and headed into the voting booth. Because in reality the two questions are really the same. Child care fuels both our country’s economic engine and its future engineers—and its teachers, builders, thinkers– but parents and providers are the ones who shoulder the backbreaking burden of financing it. In a new blog post, ZERO TO THREE’s Patty Cole explores why candidates for offices at all levels of government need to recognize that child care counts, and that it can’t be financed solely by parents and the sacrifices of providers. Read more.
Want to make your voice heard during the presidential campaign season? Don’t forget to visit www.rally4babies.org and send questions directly to the candidates about issues that are top of mind for young families.
Article Credit: www.zerotothree.org
More than Kisses for Babies on the Campaign Trail
More than Kisses for Babies on the Campaign Trail
August 16, 2016
More than Kisses for Babies on the Campaign TrailBabies may finally be getting their reward for years of being passed off for hugs and kisses to strangers campaigning for office. Both major candidates for President are now talking about child care policy. Yesterday, in the midst of a major speech on the economy, Donald Trump announced a plan that would allow families to “fully deduct the average cost of child care spending from their taxes.” Meanwhile, Secretary Hillary Clinton is talking about capping the percentage of income families have to pay for child care at 10% through tax credits and child care subsidies, as well as raising pay for child care workers. While we await details on both plans, as advocates, we know how rare it is that presidential candidates are actually jockeying for position on policies for young children. It’s a sure sign that families’ needs are finally bubbling to the surface! Meanwhile, all is quiet on Capitol Hill, but in a few weeks Congress will be back in town for a pre-election push on an agenda that has several open questions important for children. One item is the mental health reform bill stalled just short of the Senate floor. The House has already passed and sent over its version. Both the House and Senate bills contain a provision to invest in promoting infant-early childhood mental health. The Family First Preventive Services Act, which would channel much-needed funds to efforts to prevent foster care placements, also awaits Senate action. Infants and toddlers are the largest group entering care, so resources to help them stay with their families would be welcome. Finally, appropriations bills must be completed or, as is most likely, a continuing resolution must be passed, before the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30. Although early care and learning programs received small increases in Committee action, child care especially faces a significant shortfall because of the implementation costs of the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Final decisions will probably have to wait for a post-election session–but that means there is still time for advocacy for more funding for children! article credit: The Baby Monitor https://www.zerotothree.org/ |