COLUMBIA, S.C. –  South Carolina First Steps has received a $2.25 million grant from The Leon Levine Foundation to pilot a new approach to ensure more children start school ready to learn.

The three-year grant will support a new continuum-of-services model to ensure families living at or below 185% of the federal poverty level can access programs proven to improve early development and school readiness. These include prenatal care, pediatric health navigation, parenting education, preschool quality improvement, and other high-intensity, relationship-based services.

In South Carolina, an estimated 116,000 children under age five—41% of the state’s youngest children—are living in low-income households. These children are far less likely to enter school ready to learn, contributing to a persistent statewide readiness gap.

This investment directly supports South Carolina First Steps’ new strategic goal: by 2030, at least 75% of South Carolina’s children will demonstrate readiness for kindergarten. In fall 2024, 39% of kindergartners met that benchmark on the state’s kindergarten readiness assessment.

 “Addressing educational disparity requires an upstream approach, and early childhood services are a cornerstone of that effort. We know a child’s first five years lay the foundation for lifelong success. The earlier strong interventions begin, the greater the impact. Investing in early childhood not only saves taxpayer dollars over time—it’s also South Carolina’s smartest workforce strategy. We are encouraged by the bold approach SC First Steps is taking and are proud to support their audacious strategic goal,” said Russ Altenburg, senior program officer at The Leon Levine Foundation. 

The initiative aims to demonstrate a scalable model for improving school readiness by ensuring families receive the full continuum of support from pregnancy through age five. It represents a key step in First Steps’ efforts to align public and private resources in support of school readiness.

“There is a strong foundation of programs already serving young children and families, and this generous investment will allow us to build on that foundation by addressing persistent gaps in some of our most economically vulnerable communities,” said Ann Vandervliet, agency director of SC First Steps. “By building the relationship with parents from birth and maintaining it throughout the first five years of life, and through collaboration with other organizations supporting young children, we can ensure more children are intellectually, emotionally, and physically ready to enjoy learning.”

State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver praised the effort, noting its alignment with the SC Department of Education’s goal that 75% of students be on grade level by 2030.

“SC First Steps seeks to answer a critical question: What early relationship-based services will most effectively empower parents to help their children enter school ready to learn and thrive? The SC Department of Education welcomes the collaboration,” said Superintendent Weaver.     

“This is about South Carolina’s future,” said David Morley, chairman of the SC First Steps Board of Trustees. “A pilot of this type has the potential to be groundbreaking in both delivering services to children and families and showing what works. Thanks to the state’s Early Childhood Integrated Data System, we’ll be able to track outcomes from birth to kindergarten and better understand the impact of both individual and combined services. That’s essential for determining the right level of public investment to give every child, in every zip code, the opportunity to reach their highest potential.”

South Carolina First Steps is a state agency and nonprofit organization working collaboratively to ensure that all children start school ready to reach their highest potential. There is a First Steps Local Partnership in each of the state’s 46 counties. The First Steps 4K program provides free, full-day preschool education for eligible four-year-olds in more than 300 licensed child care centers and private schools across South Carolina. SC First Steps also serves as the convener for the state’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, resulting in high levels of collaboration between Head Start, the SC Departments of Education, Social Services, Public Health, Health and Human Services, Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Children’s Trust of SC, the business and medical communities, and other organizations serving young children and families.

The Leon Levine Foundation was established in 1980 by Leon Levine (Founder and Former Chairman of Family Dollar Stores, Inc.) to empower underserved Carolinians to be self-sufficient. Based in Charlotte, N.C., the Foundation supports programs and organizations in education, healthcare, human services, and Jewish values.

Topics: Health, Parenting, Early Care and Education, School Transition, Home Visiting