scfirststeps' photostream

South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness is a state initiative to help children ages birth through 5 years old prepare for school.

First Steps approaches children's school readiness through five strategies:
- Family Strenghtening
- Healthy Start
- Quality Child Care
- Early Education
- School Transition

Each of South Carolina's 46 counties is served by a local First Steps County Partnership, which identifies the community's greatest school readiness needs. This local-level approach to addressing school readiness needs means each county may:

- Support or expand existing services, such as funding a local school district's early childhood program;
- Contract for added services, such as children's health screenings; or
- Directly offer services, such as parent education classes.

First Steps was founded by the South Carolina General Assembly and Gov. Jim Hodges in 1999. To learn more about us, go to www.scfirststeps.org.