How Whole Child Works
Whole Child communities are designated as such by The Lawton Chiles Foundation based on a community-wide commitment to shared philosophies to serve young children and their families. Other communities include Manatee, Martin, Leon, Polk, Hardee, Highlands and Gadsden. Several more Florida counties are in the process of adopting the Whole Child philosophy.
A Whole Child Community uses web-based technology; a commitment from all segments of the community; and community leaders united as Action Teams to build and maintain a community where everyone works together to make sure children thrive.
Whole Child uses web-based technology called the "Whole Child Connection" to:
- Assist families in identifying the needs of their young children.
- Connect families with appropriate service providers,
- Encourage and enable service providers to build collaborative networks, and
- Enable communities to identify gaps in service and assess their progress in ensuring that all children thrive.
Whole Child communities believe that all segments of the community need to work together to make sure children thrive. Each segment has unique opportunities for contribution.
- Business
- Civic Groups
- Education
- Providers
- Government
- Faith-based organizations
- Families
Community leaders united as "Action Teams" to focus on programs, activities, and support services families need to nurture the "Six Dimensions of a Whole Child."
- Physical and Mental Health
- Quality Early Education and Development
- Social-Emotional Development
- Spiritual Foundation and Strength
- Safe and Nurturing Environment
- Economic Stability
Major Partners
The Lawton Chiles Foundation provides leadership and guidance to Whole Child Tri County to assist us in reaching our goals for young children, including:
- organizational meetings to foster discussion among the greater statewide community
- linkages with technology partners and to statewide organizations such as the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet, Children’s Services Councils, the Florida Association of Early Learning Coalitions and the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions.
- support for a full-service web community with individual websites, database and communication functionalities.
- seeking partners to help host a series of statewide meetings and summits to share best practices between and among Whole Child Communities and with other statewide efforts such as Worst to First.