Acknowledgements

“Building a Community Where Everyone Works Together to Make Sure Children Thrive.”

Whole Child Leon addresses critical community issues affecting young children and is a catalyst to create partnerships that solve problems. Whole Child Leon works to bring together public, private and nonprofit partners – child advocates, business leaders, government officials, educators, parents and caregivers – to form a solid foundation needed to create systemic change. Central to the Whole Child philosophy is our work to facilitate better integration of our community’s system of care to address issues related to infant mortality and low birth-weight, access to healthcare, family stability, school readiness, and the overall health and well-being of children. Driven by our mission of Building a Community Where Everyone Works Together to Make Sure Children Thrive, we are focused on the following: • Community Participation and Ownership in Early

Childhood Success • All Children Are Healthy at age one • All Children Are Making Appropriate Progress • All Children Enter Kindergarten Ready to Succeed • Families are empowered to raise children that are resilient by promoting social-emotional developmental, behavioral, and physical well-being

CONVENING COMMUNITY

Whole Child Leon is the managing entity and convener of the Annual Summit on Children. The Summit is a community driven event created to increase public/private business awareness, engagement and investments in early childhood services that will drive better outcomes for our children and families, and ultimately the future of Leon County. Because of the extraordinary feedback and community support received, the Summit expanded in 2016 to a week-long series of events focused on educating community leaders, childhood providers and parents in collaborative ways to promote the well-being of our children. Over the course of six years, nearly 5000 community professionals, including social workers, law enforcement, attorneys, judges, mental health professionals, the pediatric medical community, school personnel, childcare providers, child advocacy center personnel, and the faith-based community, participated in Summit related events, learning from national and regional experts in the childhood success field. Our 2020 Summit alone attracted approximately 315 participants. Our vision is to grow the Summit on Children into the preeminent conference in the Big Bend region, and we are well on our way to achieving this goal. We are excited to host our next summit in September of 2021. This meeting provides an opportunity for professionals from agencies and organizations providing services to children and families to make contacts and exchange ideas, promoting community partnership in this process. Whole Child Leon has created a forum where issues concerning child and family well-being are presented, followed by facilitated discussion around service delivery issues affecting children and families. This allows us to identify the issue(s) in our community’s early childhood system of care and those identified are brought to the WCL Board and our provider partners where strategies/solutions are discussed, and action items are identified and assigned. This monthly lunch meeting of 60+ agency representatives includes speakers, networking activities and shares partner agency program information.

REPORT METHODOLOGY

This comprehensive report required thorough secondary analysis of data collected by multiple Leon County agencies and organizations, both public and private. Additionally, in preparing this report, Whole Child Leon conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with human service agency providers, community advocacy organizations, and residents from a cross-section of neighborhoods. Those who participated in these sessions did so voluntarily and were selected through a non-probability, convenience method. Whole Child Leon’s Professional Network, early childhood committee members and community partners, including the Leon County Title 1 Advisory Council, the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Community Conversation Group, Leon County Exceptional Student Education Taskforce, foster parents, and Greater Bond, Greater Frenchtown, and South City neighborhood residents, provided input on the issues, barriers, and potential solutions to improving the well-being of our community’s children. It is clear from the data collected that a comprehensive, inclusive approach engaging the talent and energy of all service providers, community organizations, parents and citizens is essential if our community is going to successfully improve the lives and future of our children. This report presents the challenge. Let’s get started!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to acknowledge former executive committee and board member Paul Mitchell, The Southern Group, for his unwavering commitment, his leadership, and his vision to bring Whole Child Leon to the next level of organizational advancement.

Whole Child Leon would like to give a special acknowledgement to the Report’s contributors, including: • WCL Strategic Initiatives Committee • WCL Professional Network Members • Bart Bibler, iHOPEinc • Talethia Edwards, Hand Up Project • C. Meade Grigg, FL Department of Health (retired) • Julia Holly, JH Creative • Amy Koontz Knippel, photographer • Sherry Jackson, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice • Leslie Rabon, Leon County Sheriff’s Office • Kevin Warren, The LIFE Center • Alex Workman,The Workmans

WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR KEY FUNDERS

The City of Tallahassee, Leon County, Lawton Chiles Foundation, Tallahassee Pediatric Foundation, and FSU College of Medicine allow us to continue our work of community ownership and participation in child well-being and life success.

@WholeChildLeon @WCLeon @wcleon

©2021 Whole Child Leon

35

wholechildleon.org | (850) 692-3134 | 1126-A Lee Ave, Tallahassee, Fl, 32303