Summary
A core value of the SC Early Childhood Advisory Council is listening to those impacted by programs and services and incorporating that feedback into continuous improvement efforts. To that end, the First Five SC project team has worked to embed listening efforts into every phase of development of the project. Throughout 2024, the team worked to listen to a variety of stakeholders to discover possibilities for improving First Five SC (First5SC.org) in the future. This report details the history of our listening efforts, the work conducted in 2024, and the themes of the feedback received this year. Furthermore, the report identifies opportunities to expand the reach of First Five SC. Lastly, the report addresses additional areas the team wants to learn more about from site users and stakeholders in the future.
Past Efforts
LISTENING SESSIONS AND TEST GROUPS 2021-2023
During the initial development of First Five SC, a series of pre-release convenings were held with a variety of stakeholder groups to demo the site and screener, and then again in 2022-2023 to demo the common application. We also held family test groups sessions to see families complete the screener and application and let us know their opinions on look, feel, and function. First Five SC vir tual open office hours were held each Monday in November 2021 so that anyone interested could attend to provide feedback and have an open forum to ask questions. The development team also had a feedback session with the SC Family Voice Council in November 2021 to present the features of First Five SC for feedback. Families were overwhelmingly interested and excited about having a centralized way to learn about early childhood programs and check their eligibility for public programs. Feedback from these sessions was incorporated into First Five SC.
A formal testing group with the eligibility screener was also held in November 2021 and available to stakeholders to review the site and provide feedback. The development team created a test form and survey to capture results and to ensure all parameters were tested and correct. Test scenarios were created to replicate a variety of user experiences that related to the required program eligibility criteria, to ensure the correct results were appearing based on the information entered. The site went live for extended beta testing and was unveiled at the Summit on Early Childhood on December 2, 2021. From December 2, 2021-February 16, 2022, additional site updates were made based on repeat testing, review, and programmatic feedback.
The common application launched on May 1, 2023. The common application enabled families to apply for multiple registered programs at one time. Testing of this feature with the public and partners was done from December 2022 through April 2023. It involved user testing for families to complete the application, program meetings to test that applications were being received correctly by partners, and then general testing with a feedback form and scenarios to ensure the applications operate correctly and provide expected actions based on the information user’s input.
(On the cover) Ty-Shawn Dow and his daughter participated in a First Five SC photo shoot which featured real families to tell the story of public programs. (Next page) Lis Guimaraes and her daughter participated in a First Five SC photo shoot which featured real families to tell the story of public programs.
DATE OF
SESSION
DEVELOPMENT PHASE
October 22, 2021 Page and screener build
October 27, 2021 Page and screener build
STAKEHOLDER GROUP
Preschool Development Grant Partners PreRelease Convening
First Steps Local Partnerships Stakeholders PreRelease Convening
October 29, 2021 Page and screener build System Navigators Pre-Release Convening
October 29, 2021 Page and screener build
October 29, 2021 Page and screener build
SC Early Childhood Programs Pre-Release Convening
South Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council’s Family Voice Council Pre-Release Convening
November 17, 2021 Page and screener build Parent test group for site function
October 25, 2022 Application build
October 26, 2022 Application build
October 27, 2022 Application build
November 18, 2022 Application build
SC Public Early Childhood Programs Pre-Release Convening
Parents & Community Members Pre-Release Convening
SC First Steps Local Partnerships Stakeholders Pre-Release Convening
South Carolina Early Childhood Advisory Council’s Family Voice Council Pre-Release Convening
February 17, 2023 Application build Parent test group for site function
FROM FEEDBACK TO CHANGE
Feedback from test users as well as live site users is reviewed for feasibility of any changes. We received feedback from most test users that the site was unclear where to begin the screener. Originally the search button was at the top of the main page, with a button for the screener at the bottom. Families suggested it be moved to the top of the page. The programmers changed the locations of buttons on the main page before release to make it easier to access the eligibility screener. Programmers also made it possible for parents to complete the screener for more than one child without re-entering all of their household information, based on feedback from an SC Early Childhood Advisory Council Family Voice Council member who had multiple children.
In addition to moving buttons for ease of site navigation, feedback also drove changes on the site such as appearance of iconography, rewording language used for pages and household criteria to be clearer and easier to understand, and to include certain blog topics. Search information and feedback from parents also is used to continually develop blog content that is added to the Learn Page. Early feedback from parents also helped us better hone the search feature and create buttons on the screener results page so that families can have the results emailed to them.
Feedback received during development drove the work of integrating and adding partners ongoing, listening and feedback collection to help ensure that First Five SC stays a valuable tool for the state’s early childhood system.
2024 Product Development
PURPOSE AND PROCESS
Our team goals for listening sessions in 2024 were to gauge if First Five SC was seen as a helpful resource, to learn more about how referrals were being made to families, and to learn if the outreach materials we created were having their intended impact with providers and families. This was done by engaging a variety of stakeholder groups such as parents, home visiting professionals, child care professionals, and system navigators who may have used First Five SC or might benefit from it in the future.
Participant recruitment was done through social media, newsletters, and connecting with professional groups to attend their existing meetings in order to reduce time burden on direct service professionals.
Each listening session was one hour in duration, began with an introduction to First Five SC and then proceeded with a series of open-ended questions. The sessions had standardized facilitation protocols with allowances for follow up questions to elicit additional information from participants.
Six listening sessions took place from June-November 2024. Across the sessions, approximately 80 actively participanted—of which 12 were parents. Feedback from the sessions has been aggregated and thematically grouped in order to facilitate its use in guiding the work of the First Five SC team in 2025.
LISTENING SESSION DATES AND POPULATIONS
June 26 and 27, 2024 First Steps Local Partnership leadership (in-person)
July 31, 2024 Child care technical assistance providers (virtual)
August 26, 2024 Home visiting program supervisors (virtual)
November 7, 202 Early childhood system navigators (virtual)
November 8, 2024 Parents of children ages birth through five (virtual)
QUESTIONS FOR PROVIDERS AND SYSTEM NAVIGATORS
1. What are ways that you engage with families and communities in your work?
2. What types of programs do you find are most beneficial to families within your community?
3. Are there any needs families have during B-5 that systems could be better at addressing?
4. How do you communicate with families looking for support and B-5 resources in their area
5. What feels most challenging or worries you the most regarding the ECE system and serving parents and young children? What does this mean for families and your organization?
6. How do you think First Five SC addresses those issues?
7. Is there anything we should consider we start, stop, or continue doing?
8. Do you make referrals for families now? How?
9. What is your preferred way to receive information relevant to your work with families? (preferred social media channels)
10. Are there any last things you’d like to share that we haven’t asked?
11. What recommendations do you have to make it easier for families to find information about programs and enroll in them?
QUESTIONS FOR PARENTS
1. How is, or how could First Five SC be useful to your family and families you know?
2. Are there any parts of First Five SC that you find to be confusing or may be confusing to other families that you know?
3. What is it like to try to find information about programs and services right now?
4. What feels most challenging or worries you the most now as a parent (or caregiver) of a young child/children?
5. How do you think First Five SC addresses those issues?
6. If you have received a referral from an agency in the past, what was the process like for you?
7. What are your overall impressions of First Five SC social media marketing? Please share any thoughts or feelings you have about them, including aspects like their relevance, creativity, frequency, and impact on your decision to visit First Five SC.
8. Is there anything you feel we should consider we start, stop, or continue doing on the site or with our promotion?
9. Are there any last things you’d like to share that we haven’t asked?
10. What recommendations do you have to make it easier for families to find information about programs and enroll in them?
Themes and Implications of Feedback
FAMILIES
Families like saving time
The common application auto-fills fields for families and saves them time in completing the application.
• A participant had a client with triplets who stated this feature was useful.
• System navigators also reported that families they used First Five SC with liked that it was easy to use on their mobile phones.
Families and many providers are often unaware of public programs
Participants felt that First Five SC helps families and providers by having many of SC’s public early childhood programs aggregated on one easy to navigate resource. Parents are often referred to so many places that it’s hard for parents to keep the resources straight.
• A suggestion was to give a clear record of where families have applied or contacted so parents can track this easily themselves during the process of seeking services for their family. It was shared this may also be useful because sometimes families get confused while using First Five SC quickly, with some of their clients thinking that they’d applied just by completing the screener
• A suggestion is that families could get an email after completing the screener that says “You’ve finished the screener, but have not submitted any applications,” as well as other messages to indicate where they are in the application process.
Specialized supports are needed to bridge barriers
Bilingual employees are essential for reaching non-English-speaking families, kinship care families and families of children with special needs.
• An issue for Spanish speaking site users is that not all programs have sufficient staff support and Spanish speakers—even if a family finds a resource on First Five SC, the program may not be able to provide them more information when they call. To encourage these specialized supports, additional training is needed for service providers on how to better explain resources and connect families to the best fit for services.
• A system navigator suggested it could be helpful for First Five SC to better specify which programs had additional supports for children with special needs and disabilities, particularly in the early care and education section, such as identifying which centers are supportive of therapists coming onsite for children.
FAMILY SERVING PROFESSIONALS
Identifying families’ needs is a skill set
Session attendees discussed how the ability to assess a family in need is a skill curated over time.
• You have to know how to identify the need without asking. The instance discussed was homelessness (ex. “Staying with my mom for a while” = experiencing homelessness).
(Opposite page) Tré Tailor’s granddaughter participated in a First Five SC photo shoot which featured real families to tell the story of public programs.
Every system navigator has “a list” built through grassroots efforts
There was discussion around how system navigators develop their community resources “list”. While it seems that this is developed over time and through 1:1 relationships by a tenured professional, there is an opportunity to streamline the creation of the “list” for professionals.
• For instance, when asked how this “list” is developed when you are new to the profession - the response was to consult someone more tenured. While effective, this word-of-mouth process takes time and exemplifies why First Five SC can be an early resource to professionals as they build their local community network.
First Five SC promotional materials are needed to share with peers & professionals
Materials were requested to share with First Steps Local Partnership board members on the benefits of First Five SC.
• A metrics dashboard was also discussed as forthcoming and received positive feedback from the session attendees. While this dashboard is intended for internal team evaluation purposes, it could mean that there is a benefit to considering how a data dashboard or more widespread metrics reporting to the public could be valuable.
Leads portal lacks awareness
The leads portal is a secure login feature where participating programs can appoint a staff person to receive the contact information of families that have completed the screener. The staff can then reach out to the families to provide information about their program. While professional trainings were requested to be in-person, virtual efforts would accomplish the same outcome. It is still unclear to many professionals in the early childhood sector how First Five SC is not duplicative of individual program efforts (ex. the application on a program’s individual website vs. benefit of sending families to apply on First Five SC for many programs – when should a navigator send to which sites and why?)
• Attendees requested training on how to use the leads portal for providers in First Five SC.
COMMUNITIES
Family advocates within schools are a gateway to families
The emerging partnership of First Five SC with schools throughout the state represents an opportunity to engage another professional - the family advocate.
• It was shared in the session that family advocates are embedded within the school to support families who have been identified as in need.
First Five SC targeted promotional materials are needed to expand impact
Partnering more deeply with local organizations such as libraries and health centers could increase visibility and access to information. First Five SC can focus on targeted outreach through SMS messaging, providing families and providers with updates on available resources.
• Providers expressed an interest in referral tracking and communication between agencies as collaborations to ensure families receive timely and informed support.
First Five SC could help strategic planning efforts for communities
Secondary benefits of First Five SC for communities were identified by session attendees as a source of data for needs assessments and ultimately strategic planning for communities. Access to a public metrics dashboard could be a supportive tool for their informal community needs assessments.
Future Plans
Based on feedback received during the listening sessions, the First Five SC development team is prioritizing automated texting features for families in the first quarter of 2025. These automated messages would alert to application completion and submission status. The team also will review possibilities to trigger additional information and recommendations to families based on criteria they select on the screener. Throughout 2025, the team will continue to evaluate how paid and organic outreach is being leveraged to best reach families. We will develop strong local outreach strategies and enhance First Five SC trainings for providers about the benefits of using First Five SC and clearly show which programs appear across the state.
The First Five SC team also identified additional questions we’d like to ask of site users to better understand their behavior, and the value of certain features over the others based on what their interests and needs are for connecting with programs. We are beginning to plan our 2025 listening sessions with the goal of linking them to First Five SC evaluation efforts.
Contributor & Facilitators
Laura Baker, Communications Coordinator, SC Early Childhood Advisory Council
Alissa Durham, First Five SC Coordinator, SC Early Childhood Advisory Council
Jessica Garrett, Director of Accounts, 37 Gears
Rachal Hatton-Moore, Two-Generation Systems Manager, SC Early Childhood Advisory Council
Alexis Short, Director of Strategy, 37 Gears
Reviewers & Editors
Jaiden Branch, Local Partnership Evaluation Coordinator, SC First Steps
Lexi Jones, Evaluation Coordinator, SC First Steps
Karen Oliver, Program Manager, SC Early Childhood Advisory Council
Chelsea Richard, PhD, Chief of Staff, SC First Steps and Early Childhood Advisory Council