The Florida Center for Early Childhood, a local nonprofit serving children and their families in Sarasota, Charlotte, Manatee and DeSoto/Hardee counties, received a $50,000 grant from the McCune Family Foundation to help provide therapies and supports for children with a high intensity of needs.

The Florida Center for Early Childhood has campuses in Sarasota and North Port, to address the needs of the whole child and their family, though early intervention and prevention services, and early education. The services offered include mental and behavioral health therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, the Healthy Families child abuse prevention program, and early childhood education at the Starfish Academy.  Agency services are provided to young children and their families at risk for academic, social, and economic failure.  In 2016, The Florida Center for Early Childhood saw an increase in the number of children needing multiple therapies and support, but had limited resources to pay for them.

“The McCune Family Foundation’s investment in our mission is critically important in helping our young children achieve developmentally appropriate milestones,” said The Florida Center’s president and CEO, Kathryn Shea.

These intensive supports decrease risk factors related to child abuse and neglect, educational delay, and behavioral and mental health disorders that add to increased costs to society.  Funding from the McCune Family Foundation will allow vulnerable children to receive the expert services and support needed to overcome developmental and behavioral challenges that were once obstacles to their success.