The Future
So… how do we get there?
We have an ambitious goal: bringing together organizations, families, and diverse perspectives throughout the community to ensure all children in Pinellas County are ready for kindergarten. So how do we do it? How do we get to this future?
It's a group effort.
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Thrive By Five engages hundreds of stakeholders, all working together to ensure that Pinellas County has an equitable, accessible, responsive, and accountable early childhood system. We can only transform early childhood in Pinellas County through intense collaboration and alignment of resources.
The right resources at the right time.
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We identify opportunities and build bridges to multiply resources and work toward creating a comprehensive early care movement. That means pulling together partners from the private sector, local organizations, chambers of commerce, municipalities, and childcare and health care providers, encompassing hundreds of stakeholders countywide, to pinpoint opportunities for our resource-rich community to work together to better meet the needs of our youngest neighbors.
We connect via Quarterly Community Stakeholder meetings, Steering Committee meetings, Business Community Cafes, an inaugural Early Childhood Convening this fall, and project team meetings as determined by the teams.
Amplifying voices in the community.
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We value diverse voices in our community and seek to amplify the voices and efforts of those who are close to our parents and children. Our priority is supporting the children and the families most impacted by historic disempowerment and lack of access to resources.
Lifting up the needs, values, and assets of babies and families of color and those living in poverty is where Thrive By Five looks first. Ensuring those with the greatest need help build and repair a system that is accessible and responsive to the needs of their babies is our preeminent charge.
Empowering children and their parents for a brighter future.
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If done right, investments in early childhood serve two purposes simultaneously: Ensuring healthy development and strong futures for young children, and allowing parents to continue in their careers and in the workforce.