This September, we got to hear from our tenant partner, Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County. #GlasserPassports is a monthly program in which one tenant partner talks to their neighbors about what they do, and connections are made. The setting is casual, with the help of Apple Spice Catering, who sponsored the event with some of their free boxed lunches.
Among many other things, ELC provides financial scholarships to income-eligible families. In fact, 95% of ELC's funding goes directly to those scholarships and child/family services.
But ELC is committed to going beyond scholarships, administering the VPK program, and ensuring quality for Sarasota childcare facilities. Their outreach in the community covers a variety of ways to improve learning and care for children. For example, they have a great program called the Literacy Buddy Project, which pairs preschool children with an adult volunteer to correspond with letters and books. They also have a preschool quality rating system called Look for the Stars, helping parents identify quality childcare programs.
Attendees at this #GlasserPassports presentation were particularly interested in how they might help their clients connect with preschool scholarships, how they might find childcare for their own families and friends, and how they might be able to volunteer through the Literacy Buddy Project.
For more information about ELC's offerings, and ways you can get involved, visit their website for more resources and opportunities to make a difference.
Real estate is one of the greatest costs in a business budget. Our partnership with The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center allows more money to go towards our mission. And what better place to house our office than on a campus with nineteen other outreach agencies.
Collaboration is key to the success of our work. The Campus of Caring is a unique space where we can easily join forces with other agencies to make the best use of our resources and maximize our community impact. The affordable rent allows us to allocate more funds to our mission of transforming the lives of students and their families.
As a small organization with a staff of two, employee safety was a big consideration when we were looking for office space. We did not want our employees to be in a place where they were alone. Being on the GSHSC campus has been great because there is a whole community of like-minded professionals.
