Greenville County First Steps
Ensuring all children enter school on track and ready to succeed
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Positive Parenting Program
Home visits every other week for modeling of positive parenting practices and weekly, group meetings focused on early literacy (fun and educational).
Childcare Quality Improgrement
Increase access to high quality childcare services, through training, professional development, and resources/supports
Where we work
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students showing improvement in test scores
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children, Infants and toddlers
Related Program
Positive Parenting Program
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Greenville Schools reports KRA (Kindergarten Readiness Assessment) data for all rising 5K students. Priority zip codes 29669, 29690, and 29611 show an average of 30% of tested "on track: in 2019
Number of children served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Greenville First Steps works to improve education outcomes for children by supporting early literacy and parenting programs, and supporting quality improvement efforts within the childcare community. Greenville First Steps will focus energies on 29611, 29690, and 29669 zip codes for 2021-2025 school years- with an emphasis on measurably improving social and emotional development and literacy outcomes for children.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Improve access to high quality, evidenced based literacy programs- including Reach Out and Read, Raising a Reader, Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and a partnership with Christ Church Greenville to build and expand the Book Distribution Warehouse
2. Improve social and emotional development of children, through support of evidenced based parenting programs including Nurse Family Partnership, Positive Parenting Program, and Countdown to Kindergarten
3. Work to ensure families have access to high quality, sustainable childcare settings.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Greenville First Steps works as a funder of early childhood evidenced based strategies within Greenville County. In FY21 Greenville First steps invested $5.2 million in early childhood strategies including parenting programs, early literacy efforts, and child care quality improvement efforts.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
2021 Goals:
Goal 1: Identify 3 priority zip codes: 29611, 29669, 29690 (complete)
Goal 2: Identify benchmark school readiness measures (complete)
Goal 3: Identify 10 community partners to increase access to early literacy activities (in progress)
Goal 4: develop and distribute monthly postcards to parents in three priority zip codes (in progress)
Goal 5: Launch annual community assessment to measure impact of programs and interventions (launch Sept 2021)
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Greenville County First Steps
Board of directorsas of 03/28/2023
Dr. Jeremy Watts
Anderson university
Term: 2021 - 2022
Jeremy watts
Anderson University
Eric Hassman
Carbyne
Karen Andrews
Greenville Schools
Gina Blohm
Community Foundation
Tommy FLinn
First Citizens bank
Rhonda Hipp
SC DHEC
Jonatahn Cote
Milliken
Stacy Burr
USC Upstate
Cal Hurst
Southern First
Jennifer James
SC DSS
Corey McDowell
YMCA
Grady Patterson
Leg Appointee
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/22/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.