From Cradle To College Foundation
Building Dreams - Transforming Lives - Impacting Generations
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The From Cradle to College Foundation aims to provide unique services that support the community, families, and early childhood educators in their success. We are working to address educational and family engagement needs, and scholarship services to promote careers in much-needed first responder and early childhood educators positions. We are working to address the ongoing need for emergency preparedness in educational facilities where our youngest children receive essential early learning instruction each day while their parents work to care for their families.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Operation W.I.T. - Whatever It Takes
W.I.T. provides a multi-faceted approach to supporting young children to grow and develop to their maximum by partnering with churches throughout the community. The program is provided either with our Mobile Learning Lab or The Book Bus. Parents receive the Effective Black Parent curriculum with a trained professional while an early learning educator offers children the Connect for Learning curriculum. Parents and children regroup then participate in an early childhood activity. Parents practice skills with the support of the parent educator. Parents and children will be invited to participate in a family field trip!
Mission
The goal of Operation W.I.T. is to improve overall educational outcomes indirectly, by giving parents the tools they need to better connect with their children and be more effective in their parenting.
PEARLS
The Preschool Emergency Learning System (PEARLS) team travels throughout the state, sharing valuable training, providing awareness and exposure to a new way of thinking, including options for acting in threatening circumstances.
Evaluation of their environment, discussion, and planning are immediate outcomes of this training, as well as communicating with their children and parents to establish preparation and protection as a priority. Training has been proven to give individuals the ability to make decisions and act quickly in situations where danger exists, such as CPR. PEARLS trainees firmly support this concept and the necessity of thinking in a new way to handle potential events in our world today.
An underlying theme throughout the training is collaboration and communication with law enforcement to mitigate risk and save lives. Events such as active shooting are often over before law enforcement has arrived at the scene, so it is critical that citizens understand options such as Evacuation, Lockdown with Barricade, and Counter to protect themselves and those in their care.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of staff members certified in subject area training
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
PEARLS
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Number of child care providers who have participated in PEARLS trainings
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
FCTCF is dedicated to helping provide scholarships to Manatee County youth for educational and first responder careers. These career paths yield not only success for the individuals, but continued essential support for the community as well. Through the PEARLS program, FCTCF trains child care providers how to respond and act in threatening circumstances such as an active shooter situation. FCTCF also has one other main program – Operation W.I.T. (Whatever It Takes) – a program that gives parents the tools they need to better connect with their children and be more effective in their parenting, while also providing the children tools for success in learning.
FCTCF is actively applying for grants and local funding as an individual agency and in collaboration with partners.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
FCTCF actively applies for grants and local funding as an individual agency and collaborates with community partners such as MTC Foundation and SCF Foundation to maximize the results of funds.
FCTCF has significant state and county funding for programs and continually looks for grant or funding opportunities that would benefit the organization's goals to support the community. FCTCF has an annual fundraising plan to generate funds for the agency to fund its mission.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
FCTCF has two staff who oversee the admin and day-to-day running of the organization, and a well-versed board of directors with expertise in law, education, finance, and business operations.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
FCTCF has been operating the PEARLS program for over four years and continues to train child care providers across the state. The Foundation has continued to grow over its existence, providing value to the local community and state as well. FCTCF also received a significant grant from Manatee County through the CARES Act funding. This money was used to purchase a brand new school bus that serves as a Mobile Community Center. The bus helped distribute food to over 5000 families in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can also be used as a mobile book library and an educational vehicle equipped with modern technology and the capability to host outdoor lessons for children in line with social distancing. FCTCF stands ready to respond to the community's ongoing needs.
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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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
The From Cradle to College Foundation serves the community through programs that provide much-needed resources to the public. Our WIT program serves families who can be uplifted through educational and family engagement support. These underserved families learn and grow together, helping improve their future. Our PEARLS programs provide emergency planning training to the caretakers of our most vulnerable children in their environment. These essential workers assume tremendous responsibility every day as they care for children so parents can work or educate themselves to improve their families' lives. Our goal is to help them address emergency planning, providing options to help them improve their action plan so they are ready to protect themselves and those in their care.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Case management notes,
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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 make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
Enhancing the resources available for clients to keep.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
Our staff, Our board,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
The most important aspect of serving others is to listen and understand their needs, only then can you provide maximum value with your time and efforts. The challenging times we live in have heightened anxiety in many ways, it is essential to hear what the individual's concerns are and respect those to provide impactful services.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
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
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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.
From Cradle To College Foundation
Board of directorsas of 06/06/2022
Judge Marc Gilner
Diana Dill
Dianne Kopczynski
Linda Guritz
Rachael Quinn
Howard Veltz
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? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
No data
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/06/2022GuideStar 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 review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- 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.