CHARLESTON COUNTY FIRST STEPS

Join our efforts to ensure that all Charleston county children

are healthy and ready for kindergarten!

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the programs CCFS offers or

click to tell us who you are, so we can help! 

WHO WE ARE

One of Many - Working Together

Charleston County First Steps is driven by a single goal: to ensure that ALL Charleston County children are healthy and ready for kindergarten. Since our inception in 1999, we have helped thousands of children prepare for school through programs that provide early intervention, strengthen families, improve children’s health and well-being, and increase the quality of early care and education. Each South Carolina county is home to a First Steps Partnership responsible for meeting local needs and identifying collaborative opportunities to help our state’s youngest learners. Charleston County First Steps is proud to be a part of the state’s comprehensive early childhood education initiative.

PROGRAMS

Keep scrolling to learn about programs that make a difference for families with young children.

We also partner with many other community agencies! 

Enter your ZIP code below to find local information about health care, food assistance, social services, & more.

in English & Spanish

PARENTS AS TEACHERS

The Parents as Teachers (PAT) program helps parents become the best teachers their children will ever have. The Parents As Teachers model and the Early Head Start Home-based Option model (a collaboration with the Charleston County School District), are both evidence-based early childhood home visitation frameworks that focus on families with children prenatal through 3 years old. Home visits are conducted weekly by certified Parent Educators and are designed to meet the needs of low income families.

in English & Spanish

EARLY HEAD START-CHILD CARE PARTNERSHIP

The Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership

(EHS-CCP) program is a federally funded grant that works to provide Early Head Start services to private child development centers. The goal is to help Charleston County families with children ages 0-3 years have access to high quality childcare.

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LOOKING FOR CHILD CARE?

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in English & Spanish 

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WANT TO BE AN INFANT/TODDLER TEACHER?

CHILD CARE QUALITY ENHANCEMENT

For infant, toddlers and preschoolers, the quality of care they receive is critical to their healthy development and eventual readiness for school.  Charleston County First Steps offers the resources that are commonly available to publicly funded early childhood programs, such as educational materials, on-site professional development, and other support.

CLOSING THE 30 MILLION WORD GAP

CCFS implements two literacy outreach initiatives, Raising A Reader and B.E.A.R with Us  (Begin Early and Read with Us), specifically aimed at closing the Million Word Gap. Research shows that the quantity and quality of conversations directed at children, not simply spoken in their presence, is fundamental to language learning and later success in school. With both programs CCFS aims to engage families in a routine of book sharing to foster healthy brain development, a love of reading, and foundational language and literacy skills.

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

Frederick Douglass