SRQ MAGAZINE | May/June 2024 In Conversation: Serving Families

IN CONVERSATION: SERVING FAMILIES IN THE REGION

INTERVIEW BY WES ROBERTS

EDITED BY BARBIE HEIT

WHAT POPULATION DOES CHILDREN FIRST SERVE?

PHILIP TAVILL: Our primary focus is families living below the federal poverty level with very young children. In our ideal world, we are enrolling an expectant family and we’re working with that family through the time that the child goes to kindergarten. So if we enroll a mom who’s pregnant, through our case managers—we call them family advocates—we are able to help mom with access to high quality prenatal healthcare and nutrition. And once that baby is born, we will begin serving that baby at one of our 10 facilities across the county, at six weeks of age. We then work with that child in an early-care setting, through preschool until they go to kindergarten. At the same time we are working with the families who are economically

PHILIP TAVILL, PRESIDENT & CEO OF CHILDREN FIRST

In Conversation

vulnerable. We take children and families based on risk factors. For instance, about 15% of the children that we’re serving right now have a diagnosed disability–it could be a physical disability, developmental delay or behavioral and sometimes it could be something like speech and language–but there are all these challenges that our families face, on top of being so economically vulnerable. So we’re doing a ton of work with the family and that’s sort of a hidden part of Children First that we like to let people know about.

I WOULD IMAGINE THAT ONE OF THE PREDICTORS OF CHALLENGES FOR KIDS CAN COME FROM BEING IN A SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLD. IS THAT ACCURATE?

About 70% of the families that we serve are single heads of

Philip Tavill has been President & CEO of Children First, Sarasota County’s exclusive Head Start provider, since 1996. Since obtaining a baccalaureate degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 1989, Mr. Tavill has worked in the human services field both in direct service and management capacities. He returned to Sarasota in 1990 and was appointed Executive Director of the Loveland Center in 1991. At Case Western Reserve University, he earned a Master of Nonprofit Organizations from the Weatherhead School of Management and Master of Science in Social Administration from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. In 2022, Mr. Tavill received the Mandel School Alumni Association Nonprofit Leadership Award. Most recently, he was recognized with the Sargent Shriver Excellence in Community Service Award by the National Head Start Association. He was first recognized at the state and regional levels for his impact in elevating excellence across the Head Start community.

household. There are also other categories. We have a few children who are with us from foster families and we also have some children that are being raised by what we call other kin. It might be the grandparents raising the grandchildren or an aunt or an uncle, but these are situations that don’t arise from good circumstances with the biological parents. In addition to that family advocacy or case management work, we have a program called the Families First Institute. And those are evening classes where we’re really working to help bolster and support the family. We o er, in partnership with the Literacy Council, English as a second language because we have a significant number of our families that don’t speak English as their primary language. And because they’re familiar with our facilities because we have their

kids, it’s really nice that we o er those classes at our site. It’s like a second home for them. Same goes for really all of the classes, many of which are now virtual. We o er budgeting classes, because if you can bring some economic stability and reduce the stressors on the family, the likelihood of intactness, so to speak, is enhanced. We o er parenting classes and we have a class called Circle of Security that’s facilitated by our early childhood licensed mental health specialists. We also have a class called Nurturing Dads, and this is a class that we put into place, going all the way back to 1999 because what we saw is so many moms availed themselves of parenting courses and very few men did. And we had the opportunity of working with a local author, Mark Perlman, who wrote this beautiful curriculum for men. The intent was how do

we further engage men to be involved in their children’s lives? Whether it’s the biological dad, the boyfriend of the mom, a stepdad or any man who plays that parenting role. Clearly one of the intentions is if we can strengthen the bonds in that family unit, the child’s going to benefit. That said, with 70% or so single head of household, we’re o ering a ton of support to typically that mom, to really ameliorate many of those challenges that come with that single head of household setting.

WHEN I’VE TOURED YOUR FACILITIES I WAS FLOORED BY HOW POSITIVE IT FELT, HOW HAPPY, HOW CALM. HOW DO YOU TRAIN YOUR EDUCATORS AND WHAT ARE THE PHILOSOPHIES THAT ALLOW YOU TO SUSTAIN THAT WELL BEING?

That’s a very common observation that people make when they spend time with us. It’s not just visitors, we get the same thing from our volunteers. We have literally hundreds of volunteers, many of whom work in the classroom, and one of the observations that they’ll make is that at the beginning of the school year, it’s like the book Where the Wild Things Are. As the year goes on, it doesn’t become upper crust British Society Tea Party manners but the kids are in an environment where there’s very good structure, there’s a very intentional approach. Unlike many early childhood education settings, many of our lead teachers have either a bachelor’s or master’s in early childhood education and we’re very intentional in doing that. We have long-term dedicated sta with degrees in the field

and they’ve been well-educated in the principles and practices of high-quality early care and education. We invest a lot of resources in helping our sta be the best that they can be. We also use a curriculum called the High Scope Curriculum, a really tried and true, nationally recognized, valid and reliable, approach that begins with infants. We have what are called key developmental indicators in these areas or domains of growth. When you have that intentionality, you have this structure, it allows for you to have an extraordinarily individualized approach for each child. We’ve got high quality sta , we’ve got training, we’ve got this great curriculum, really low ratios in the classroom. The state requires a one to four ratio through 12 months and we go one to four with a maximum of eight, through age three. We have a third person in that classroom a majority of the time. So that when you’ve got a situation with children with very high risk factors, you need a ton of individualized attention. How does that play out? These kids are happy, they’re well adjusted coming from these tough circumstances and their social, emotional, literacy and math growth is really on par with their more significantly resourced peers.

IT SEEMS THAT YOU MUST HAVE FOUND THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO TRAIN YOUR STAFF TO DIFFERENTIATE YOU FROM OTHERS.

Yes and we have again been named one of the top 50 employers in the country and we’ve also been named one of the top 50 by USA Today National. What it is, and I believe that this is a di erentiator, fi rst and foremost,

is that every single decision that we make, from governance to nutrition to facilities is always through the mission lens. And whether it’s a for-profit or a nonprofit business, if you don’t keep that laser focus on your reason for existence, it’s easy to drift. It also comes with having extraordinarily high support for our educators and for our family advocates. Unlike many places, we have early childhood education coaches that are in the classrooms, observing, providing feedback, providing support, that allows for those educators to raise their game. We have a family advocate coach whose sole job is to focus on our family advocates and help them become better at what they do. We don’t have a lot of turnover, we have a lot of longevity, which is key to excellence and service. But the orientation process and the support process is so intensive, that you’re leaning them not just toward success but toward excellence. We also have unbelievable governance. It’s an amazing, diverse array of committed individuals, who are governing and guiding the mission and it’s a key indicator of a high-quality program. We have tremendously strong community partnerships with other agencies. When we’re partnering with another agency, we want to work with them to bring their best and brightest to work with our children and families that have specific needs. Then we have our volunteers. Imagine a classroom that might have three full-time sta in there, the ratio’s super low and in a baby classroom, we have two additional volunteers there —almost a one-to-one ratio with children that are six weeks old, three months old, six months

old. And that kind of nurturing and care, it’s a direct equation to high quality outcomes.

YOU HAVE EDUCATORS THAT ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR WORK. IS THAT WHAT MAKES THE MAGIC HAPPEN AT CHILDREN FIRST?

It begins with expectations on a number of levels. If you don’t have very high expectations of the children or you just believe that they’re going to run around and cause chaos, well that’s your expectation. February was my 28th anniversary at Children

First. We have seen over the last 28 years, the knowledge about a baby’s brain development become so much clearer. Ninety percent of a child’s brain development is happening while they’re with us. So, we have expectations of children, educational sta and families. Families want to be engaged because they’re welcomed and encouraged to be a part of their child’s success. It’s very much what we do and again, it’s a di erentiator.

WHAT WOULD BE THINGS THAT YOU THINK WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T BEEN IN A CLASSROOM FOR A WHILE?

There became for a period of time a very regimented approach based on extraordinarily high, unrealistic expectations that ignored a number of things. One of them being the very wide range of development amongst children. High expectations in terms of each child’s individual ability to grow and be successful, that’s something that might be di erent from many years ago when learning was by rote, when learning was regimented, and/or there weren’t many

expectations. We have fantastic playgrounds and playtime is also fi ne motor skill time and gross motor skill time, and play well with others time, so the playground’s really a learning environment. We have arts and crafts, we have creativity, but it’s also intentional in terms of what we now understand as these are key developmental indicators. There are these very precise measures of how a child learns and grows. And that’s been a very significant evolution in the field of early childhood education. Di erent from what somebody would’ve seen 20, 30 or 50 years ago. And it’s helped us tremendously.

TALK ABOUT THE LASER FOCUS OF YOUR MISSION THAT YOU MENTIONED EARLIER AND HOW THAT GUIDES YOU.

First, you literally can’t go wrong if you’re always guided by a mission. I know that might seem a little bit of an overstatement, but that’s from 28 years of experience, and having the glory of working for a board composed of many di erent people who have had that same focus on mission.

in so many ways, but we are cautious in our testing, our piloting. And if we have something that we see pilots well, then we implement well. We put the resources into training and supplies, materials, so that when we do something new and we know it’s a good idea, we’re going to do it well when we implement it. We’re not going to do it halfway sort of thing. So those three things have really kept us laser focused on mission and safe.

IT’S A PRETTY TREMENDOUS ACHIEVEMENT TO HAVE BEEN IN A ROLE WHERE YOU’RE HEADING AN ORGANIZATION THAT’S GOTTEN TO CHANGE SO MANY LIVES.

Second, sometimes people invite you, either as an individual or an organization, to join a conversation that the organization really has no business joining. I don’t have specific views on legislation, unless they’re directly related to our mission. I have an obligation to Children

First, to be in essence as apolitical as possible, unless it’s legislation that specifically impacts our mission. So we stick to our knitting, so to speak. Third, we’re big believers in piloting. We are cutting edge

The ability to have the privilege to work for an organization that was created in 1961 by the women of the Junior League, to help vulnerable families with very young children meet obstacles and be successful and to have that mission 63 years later, be at the core, the very same, it’s expanded greatly, but to have the privilege of working for an organization that says, ‘We will intentionally identify these extraordinarily vulnerable families with very young children, who su er from the toxic stressors of poverty and we will do everything we can, within our scope and resources, to help them be successful,’ that’s a rare thing. One of the best things that happens for me is when a 22-year-old comes back and says, “Hey, Mr. Philip. I just fi nished my degree in... I’m the fi rst one in my family to

graduate from college.” That’s early childhood investment, paying benefits to that child, to that family, and to our community. James Heckman, a professor at the University of Chicago and a Nobel Prize-winning economist says unequivocally that the very best economic investment that you can make in human services, social services, is in a high-quality early childhood education program because for every dollar investment at that point, there is a $13-17 return on investment. There isn’t a single Wall Street investor that wouldn’t say, “Sign me up for that kind of return.” And that return has social implications that are so beyond anything that I ever get to see. The reward is immeasurable, personally and professionally, and not just for me, but for all of the sta members and volunteers.

ARE THERE INITIATIVES THAT PEOPLE SHOULD BE EXCITED ABOUT?

Yes, the fi rst is that we are thick into the most elevated, strategic planning process we’ve ever done at Children

First. The second thing is, the board o ered me a 10-year employment agreement in December, and I’ve accepted that. I’m very excited about that, the board is very excited about that. I believe that our donors and volunteers and funders will be pleased that stability is there for Children First, that longevity will result in even more of that laser focus on mission, and really exciting and innovative things will soon be revealed.

1723 N. Orange Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34234

941.953.3877

info@childrenfirst.net

childrenfirst.net

@ChildrenFirstHeadStart