PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A new partnership with an education foundation is helping to close the gap for children in Pinellas County.
Helios Education Foundation just announced a three-year investment in this initiative, and those involved say this is going to be a game-changer for children in our area.
They invested more than a million dollars over a three-year period through a partnership with the early learning coalition in Pinellas County, launching the Pinellas Literacy Initiative.
They’re focusing more on community preschools to make sure they’re reaching those students before kindergarten.
“It really helps to restructure, strengthen our early literacy curriculum for young children as they prepare for kindergarten. We’re working with teachers, parents and of course, ultimately the children to provide extra instruction for those kids who may be struggling,” said Lindsay Carson, Pinellas County Early Learning Coalition CEO.
This new initiative targets area preschools and VPK, but it was already implemented in Pinellas County schools in 2021. Since then, the kindergarten readiness rates show at least seven percent more kindergarteners met state requirements.
“The Pinellas Early literacy initiative was primarily working with the Pinellas County Schools and pre-K through second grade in those sites, but if you really want to have a broader impact, we really want to engage more of the community based pre-Ks and setting those students up for success,” said Stacy Baier, Helios Education Foundation Community Engagement SVP.