Program areas at Episcopal Children's Services
The school readiness (sr) program provides child care subsidy for families that qualify and provides educational and technical support to child care providers serving these families. Ecs serves approx 3,327 children per month and approx 189 child care providers, answering over 14,199 child care resource and referral calls from the community. Children enrolled in the sr program receive free or reduced child care, developmental screenings, and assessments. Ecs education staff provided approx 4,085 technical assistance visits either in person or virtually and 26 trainings to 421 participants during the year to help providers learn and implement best practices. Ecs provides sr Services in baker, clay, nassau, bradford, putnam and st. johns counties through a contract with the early learning coalition of north Florida.
Head start/early head start provides comprehensive education, health, and nutrition Services to the community's most vulnerable infants, toddlers, preschoolers, pregnant women, and their families. Our young students and pregnant women receive intensive child development Services. Parents receive education and support for family well-being as well as tools to support their Children's success in school. Our program has a total funded enrollment of 2,953, serving 1,840 in head start and 1,113 in early head start in 12 counties in the northern and central Florida counties of alachua, baker, bradford, citrus, clay, dixie, duval, gilchrist, lake, levy, marion, and nassau.
Ecs administers the voluntary pre-kindergarten (vpk) program in baker, clay, nassau, bradford, putnam, and st. johns counties through a contract with the early learning coalition of north Florida. Vpk is a 540 hour school year or 300 hour summer program available free of charge to all Florida's 4 year old children. Vpk provides high quality educational Services to help ensure that children are ready for kindergarten and school success. Ecs served approximately 5,541 vpk children in approximately 213 programs across the six county service area.
Through our partnership with the elc of duval and kids hope alliance, we send teams of trained coaches, technical staff, and volunteers to non-ecs run child care facilities in duval county. Our staff works with directors and teachers to improve the quality of their environment, teaching methods, and curriculum. This partnership served about 3,280 children, 102 centers, and 178 classrooms. Ecs coaches work with each director and teacher to create action plans to promote growth and development for all involved.