Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by pg t I University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor, and I am your host.
Speaker 2 00:00:17 And hundreds of your employees have actually donated so many different hours volunteering with us. If it's outdoor landscaping or if it's helping us clean and sanitize our classrooms. We've really had a wonderful opportunity with PGT coming to our different sites.
Speaker 1 00:00:34 This week's guest is Alyssa Simons of Children First serving as their associate Director of donor Relations as an exclusive Head Start provider in Sarasota County. They serve at-risk children and families in 15 locations with 89% of their clients at or below the poverty line. PGT Innovations has a strong alignment in helping women and children, so it's easy to support this amazing organization. Children First is in the top 1% of Head Start programs nationwide as they serve the most vulnerable populations in our community. Good afternoon, we are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are in a series called Community Matters. And today our guest is Alyssa Simons, and Alyssa is with Children First. Welcome.
Speaker 2 00:01:20 Thank you so much for having me today. Sherry. I'm Alyssa. I'm with Children First. I've been at Children First for the last four years. I moved down here from Illinois and I'm the Associate Director of Donor Relations. I'm a part of the philanthropy team at Children First, and I absolutely love my job. I was telling Sherry before this podcast that I'm Mrs. Claus for our holiday program and we provide our children with a needs based item, a wishlist item, and then a toy every Christmas. So all of our hundreds of kids get a holiday gift. And you know, that's where I can see my direct impact of my job every year. And I'm also part of the Junior League of Sarasota and I really like to give back. Currently I'm in the adult leadership class with the Chamber, and last year I was nominated by SQ Magazine as one of 35, under 35, so I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 1 00:02:14 Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 00:02:15 Thank you. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1 00:02:16 Always good to meet a fellow Midwesterner.
Speaker 2 00:02:20 So few and far between.
Speaker 1 00:02:21 I know, right. But you mentioned that you grew up not very far from where I grew up, so yeah, same stomping grounds. Yes. Nice. <laugh>. That's awesome. So tell us a little bit about your organization. Like what does Children first do and who do they serve?
Speaker 2 00:02:39 So Children First is the exclusive Head Start and early head headstart provider in Sarasota County. So we serve children up in the new New Town area in Sarasota, as well as Northport and Venice. So we have 15 locations through Sarasota County. We serve the most at risk children and families in our community. So 89% of the families that we serve are at or below the federal poverty level, which means that a family of three will make around $23,000 a year. So that means that in addition to living in poverty, our families face a variety of other risk factors. So 71% of our families are single parents, 7% are homeless, 21% speak English as a second language. And 33% of our population doesn't even have a high school diploma or G E D and Children First, which is wonderful about our organization is that we are a four time Head Start program of Excellence designee. So we rank the top 1% and we are one of nine programs to receive this designation out of over 1800 programs nationwide.
Speaker 1 00:03:46 Wow.
Speaker 2 00:03:47 Yeah, it's really wonderful. We've been recognized from the Head Start community. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:03:51 <affirmative>. So is it like a resource center where families can come and get help or is it a daycare center or what's the actual structure?
Speaker 2 00:03:59 The structure is we provide the family connection to outside partners. Okay. And the children come to our sites to have that teaching daycare throughout the day. But we also do like nutritional services. We bring in dental partners that really provide for our children and families.
Speaker 1 00:04:18 Okay. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, it's such a beautiful space to really help because kids are so vulnerable. Like they need all the help they can get when they're that little.
Speaker 2 00:04:27 Especially now that the hurricanes came through, we are really trying to focus on those families in South County.
Speaker 1 00:04:33 Yeah, I know. It's just been amazing to watch the devastation and then equally amazing to watch all the helpers come alongside and like, what can we do? How can we help? So I know it's great. It really is. So Children First has had a long standing connection to pgt and do you know like where did that begin or how long it's been happening?
Speaker 2 00:04:54 So for the last 10 years we've been partnering with P G T and P GT has really impacted the lives of our children and families. Jeff Jackson, your ceo, actually served on our Children First board for six years and in 2019 he was the chair of our board. So having his support and his family support really has helped us provide that high quality education and opportunities for our children.
Speaker 1 00:05:19 That's awesome. I know it's a core principle around here to give back and to serve, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do this series. So how does our partnership allow your organization to make an impact in the community?
Speaker 2 00:05:33 So starting in 2010, we had P G T employees. I think over 30 of them, they've contributed to $200,000 in donations to us. Wow. And that's really helped with our family strengthening services. And hundreds of your employees have actually donated so many different hours volunteering with us. If it's outdoor landscaping or if it's helping us clean and sanitize our classrooms. We've really had a wonderful opportunity with PGT coming to our different sites, PG t's critical support of our major events, including our annual fairytale ball and rock and lap or Beach Party, continues to help our agencies philanthropic efforts reach new heights. In January of 2021, PGT helped us kick off our 60 for 60 special initiative with a volunteer day at our Northport campus in honor of children for 60th anniversary. And I actually was in attendance of this day and it was wonderful to see your team out there, Jeff, stop by with his daughter. And you know, we got that instant gratification of having you guys come and mulch our Northport site.
Speaker 1 00:06:37 That's amazing. One last thing. I love stories. Tell us one of your favorite stories of impact.
Speaker 2 00:06:44 My favorite story that I've heard recently is we had a Northport mother come to us. She actually entered our program in 2018 and she was a pregnant mom. We were able to not only enroll her in our program, but that her three younger children as well. And then during her years at Children First we secured her housing, transportation, and employment opportunities. So she was very involved with our Esau class, which is English to speakers of other languages and received multiple services related to her children's needs. And then recently we were contacted by her because she suffered a loss of all that they had and children first and her family advocate really supported this mother in securing a new apartment for her and her family. And then we actually, this current week, we were able to assist in furnishing her home so that her and her family can rebuild their lives.
Speaker 1 00:07:39 Aw.
Speaker 2 00:07:40 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:07:40 That's so wonderful.
Speaker 2 00:07:42 Especially with the Northport County parent coming to us and feeling comfortable enough to reach to us to secure those needs.
Speaker 1 00:07:51 That's so amazing. I love it when good people get helped by good people.
Speaker 2 00:07:56 I know. It's great. It
Speaker 1 00:07:57 Really is. Well, thank you so much, Alyssa. This was wonderful to meet you and connect and learn a little bit more about children first. So if people wanted to contribute or find out more about your organization, do you know the website off the top of
Speaker 2 00:08:12 Your, your head? Yes. www.childrenfirst.net.
Speaker 1 00:08:15 Okay. Children first.net? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Well, again, thank you for your time. Yes, thank you. Great to chat with you. It
Speaker 2 00:08:23 Was great. Thank you.
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