What is Early Childhood Development?
We believe that children who are born healthy, grow up in stable families, have nurturing relationships with adults, and spend time in environments that provide stimulating experiences are more likely to succeed academically, socially, and economically.
Early childhood development is defined by the Foundation as the process of growth that occurs prenatally through the first five years of life. Improving the health and wellness of Spartanburg County through a focus on early childhood development will require efforts that address:
(1) Children’s relationships with families and other caregivers
(2) Children’s physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development
(3) Adolescent pregnancy and improving birth outcomes
NORTHSIDE INITIATIVE
The Mary Black Foundation is one of many community organizations collaborating with the Northside Development Group in support of the Northside Initiative. In addition to providing initial core operating support, the Foundation recently provided a $1 million lead grant toward the construction of an early learning center in the Northside.
QUALITY COUNTS
A partnership among Mary Black Foundation, Spartanburg County First Steps, and the community to recognize and improve the quality of early childhood experiences through a voluntary Continuous Quality Improvement program (CQI). Quality Counts builds upon the initial assessment of programs registered with and licensed by the South Carolina Division of Child Care Services and those that participate in the state’s Quality Improvement System by working intensively with programs to increase quality. Quality Counts also provides valuable information to families and community members about the quality of available child care options.
PREGNANCY ASSISTANCE FUND
In 2014, Spartanburg was 1 of 4 communities to receive a grant from the Children’s Trust of South Carolina and the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy to work with pregnant and parenting adolescent families. The three goals of this grant are to: (1) increase educational attainment among adolescent mothers and fathers, (2) decrease second pregnancies among this population, and (3) increase parenting skills. The Mary Black Foundation applied for and received the grant to engage all seven school districts and several community partners to work together to ensure comprehensive and countywide services for adolescent parents and their families.
SPARTANBURG ACADEMIC MOVEMENT (SAM)
The Mary Black Foundation joined SAM, a community partnership of schools and colleges, businesses, governments, foundations, faith communities, and individuals across Spartanburg County committed to ensuring that our children will grow into well-educated, independent adults. SAM is committed to increasing the importance placed on academic achievement of every child, from cradle to career, and to ensuring that young people gain the education required for life and work in an economy that requires specialized knowledge to be successful. The Mary Black Foundation has agreed to lead SAM’s Early Childhood Development Collaborative Action Network.
2023
| Organization | Amount Paid as of September 25, 2023 | Description |
| Beginning SC | $10,000 to expand screening services at childcare centers in Spartanburg. |
| Council for a Strong America | $15,000 to engage in public policy advocacy by working in collaboration with other federal, state, and local allies and partners focused on early care policies and programs that benefit children and families. |
| Impact America | $10,000 to continue providing free vision screenings to children in Spartanburg childcare centers. |
| Institute for Child Success | $20,000 to continue advocacy efforts throughout South Carolina. |
| Middle Tyger Community Center | $20,000 to increase the number of special needs children able to participate in childcare and other programming. |
| Spartanburg County First Steps | $15,000 to support students and teachers at the Franklin School by closing the gap between children who meet the poverty guideline cut-off and those who live just above it and are not eligible for federal or state funds and providing teacher retention incentives. |
2022
| Organization | Amount Paid as of December 31, 2022 / Description |
| BirthMatters | $92,648 for the second year of a two-year general operating support grant to provide community-based doula services to vulnerable, expectant mothers and their families. |
| City of Spartanburg | $200,000 for the second year of a five-year grant to support the development and implementation of Hello Family, a comprehensive array of services for families with young children. |
| Hope Center for Children | $10,000 to provide marketing and incentives for the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). $142,000 in general operating support to build healthy and stable families. |
| Institute for Child Success | $106,250 in general operating support, that leads to systems-level changes to improve early childhood development outcomes. |
| Middle Tyger Community Center | $50,000 to support This Is My Child, a high-quality preschool program that serves children, ages 6 weeks through 4 years, in Spartanburg School District Five. |
| Northside Development Group | $20,000 to support The Franklin School Staff Retention Program. $50,000 to support operations of The Franklin School, in partnership with Spartanburg County First Steps. |
| Spartanburg County First Steps |
$47,250 for the first year of a three-year grant to build its capacity to expand Quality Counts and support the Hello Family initiative. $50,000 to support operations of The Franklin School, in partnership with Northside Development Group. $145,000 in general operating support to help all children in Spartanburg County arrive at school prepared to be successful learners. |
| Spartanburg School District Three | $107,625 for the first year of a three-year grant to support the implementation of a three-year-old kindergarten program in Pacolet. |
| Spartanburg Regional Foundation | $93,000 for the first year of a three-year grant to address maternal and infant health outcomes through the Nurse Family Partnership program. |
| The Children’s Museum of the Upstate | $65,000 to support a Mobile Museum for the purpose of delivering educational programs directly to children in underserved communities. |
| Upstate Family Resource Center | $105,750 in general operating support to continue family development programming and work with PASOs Spartanburg. |
2021
| Organization | Amount Paid as of December 31, 2021 / Description |
| BirthMatters |
$7,500 to support executive coaching and professional development for the executive director. $83,792 for the first year of a two-year general operating support grant to provide community-based doula services to vulnerable, expectant mothers and their families. |
| Children’s Museum of the Upstate | $38,645 to expand early childhood programming in Spartanburg. |
| Children’s Trust of South Carolina | $41,325 to support training and expansion efforts for the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) throughout Spartanburg County. |
| City of Spartanburg | $200,000 for the first year of a five-year grant to support the development and implementation of Hello Family, a comprehensive array of services for families with young children. |
| Grace Community Church of SC | $5,250 to create more suitable spaces for parents and caregivers within the DSS system to have supervised visits with their children. |
| Healthy Families Initiative | $40,000 to the following eight organizations ($5,000 per organization) for the last year of a five-year grant to implement, the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P):
|
| Hope Center for Children |
$71,000 to provide general operating support that helps build healthy and stable families. $102,000 for the last year of a five-year grant to coordinate the Healthy Families Initiative, a five-year initiative to increase implementation of evidence-based parent education through the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). |
| Impact America | $18,725 to support the FocusFirst vision screening program for preschool-aged children in Spartanburg County. |
| Institute for Child Success | $80,000 to support core operating expenses leading to systems-level change and policies to improve early childhood development. |
| Reach Out and Read – South Carolina | $43,900 for the last year of a two-year grant to support early literacy efforts in pediatric medical offices and to provide professional development for early childhood educators. |
| Spartanburg Academic Movement | $55,000 for the last year of a two-year grant to collect kindergarten readiness data through the Early Development Instrument, which helps to identify strengths and weaknesses within Spartanburg’s early childhood system. |
| Spartanburg Community College Foundation | $15,898 to establish an early childhood simulation lab for the College’s Early Care and Education Associate Degree program. |
| Spartanburg County First Steps |
$100,000 in general operating support to help all children in Spartanburg County arrive at school prepared to be successful learners. $150,000 for year two of a three-year grant to support The Franklin School. |
| Spartanburg County School District Three | $45,000 to expand the Parents as Teachers program that provides early detection of developmental delays among preschool children and increases children’s school readiness and success. |
| Upstate Family Resource Center | $49,500 in general operating support to provide educational support and other services to help families thrive. |
2020
| Organization | Amount Paid as of December 31, 2020 / Description |
| BirthMatters | $121,250 for its community-based doula program, a home visitation program that provides educational and emotional support to young expectant mothers. |
| Children’s Museum of the Upstate | $36,400 for the final year of a two-year grant to expand early childhood programming at the museum’s Spartanburg location. |
| Children’s Trust of South Carolina | $18,325 to support training and implementation for Triple P expansion throughout Spartanburg County. |
| Community Supports for Young Parents |
$100,258 to the following organizations to provide education, case management, and home visits to expectant and parenting teens in an effort to (1) increase educational attainment, healthy birth outcomes, immunization compliance, and positive parenting skills and (2) decrease repeat teen pregnancies (Funding made possible through the US Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, Pregnancy Assistance Fund):
|
| Connect |
$228,827 to the following organizations to implement evidence-based interventions and positive youth development programming with youth throughout Spartanburg County (Funding made possible through the US Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, Tier 1 B):
|
| EMERGE Family Therapy and Teaching Clinic |
$25,000 to fund a part-time play therapy position and create a family therapy externship at Meeting Street Academy, adding family therapy to existing play therapy services for preschool children. $116,000 for the first year of an eighteen-month grant to support efforts to increase community awareness of mental health services and to increase its capacity to serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the Spartanburg community. |
| Healthy Families Initiative |
$40,000 to the following eight organizations ($5,000 per organization) for the second year of a five-year grant to implement evidence-based parent education, the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P).
|
| Hope Center for Children |
$102,000 to coordinate the Healthy Families Initiative, a five-year initiative to increase implementation of evidence-based parent education through the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). $73,000 for the final year of a three-year grant to support the implementation of Triple P, an evidence-based parenting curriculum, as part of Hope Center’s Family Strengthening Program. |
| Institute for Child Success |
$142,500 to support core operating expenses leading to systems-level change and policies to improve early childhood development. $180,000 to support the planning and development of Hello Family in Spartanburg |
| Middle Tyger Community Center |
$120,000 to support This is My Child, an early learning and education program that serves children, ages six weeks – four years, in Spartanburg County School District Five. $8,328 to provide education, case management, and home visits to expectant and parenting teens in an effort to (1) increase educational attainment, healthy birth outcomes, immunization compliance, and positive parenting skills and (2) decrease repeat teen pregnancies (Funding made possible through the US Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, Pregnancy Assistance Fund). |
| Reach Out and Read- South Carolina | $51,650 for the first year of a two-year grant to support an early literacy program based in pediatric medical offices and to provide professional development for early childhood educators. |
| Spartanburg Academic Movement |
$30,000 to expand the use of the Ages and Stages developmental screening tool and to transition the implementation of it to Spartanburg County First Steps. $55,000 for the first year of a two-year grant to collect kindergarten readiness data through the Early Development Instrument, which helps to identify strengths and weaknesses within Spartanburg’s early childhood system. |
| Spartanburg County First Steps |
$166,000 for services and supports offered through Quality Counts, a county-wide continuous quality improvement program for private and public early care and education settings. $200,000 for year one of a three-year grant to support The Franklin School. $20,000 for general operating support related to the planning and development of Hello Family. |
| Spartanburg County Libraries System | $24,900 for the final year of a two-year grant to purchase LENA technology (small wearable devices that help adults make proven, sustainable increases in interactive talk with children) and implement the LENA Start and LENA Home programs with local community partners. |
| Spartanburg County School District Three | $22,500 for the first year of an eighteen-month grant to expand the Parents as Teachers program that provides early detection of developmental delays among preschool children and increases children’s school readiness and success. |
| Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network | $27,000 to support a part-time case manager for one of its programs, the Opportunity Center, which addresses the basic needs of individuals who are without safe, stable housing. |
| Upstate Family Resource Center | $67,415 for the final year of a two-year grant to build the capacity of PASOs, a program that connects Latinx families with health, nutrition, parenting, and education services. |
| Upstate Fatherhood Coalition | $5,000 to support efforts to strengthen families with young children. |
2019
| Organization | Amount Paid as of December 31, 2019 / Description |
| BirthMatters |
$119,730 to support a home visitation program using community-based doula support for vulnerable, expectant mothers, and their families. $110,359 to provide the evidence-based curricula SHARP and Seventeen Days to teens in the community 15 years old and older and to provide continuation of their community health worker model to asses risk and navigate them to medical care. |
| Bloom Upstate | $35,946 to provide the evidence-based curricula Making a Difference and SiHLE to females in the community and to offer the positive youth development model Girls Circle. |
| Chapman Cultural | $54,000 for the final year of a three-year grant to develop and implement a professional development program for early childhood providers to integrate creativity and the arts in their classrooms. |
| Children’s Museum of the Upstate | $36,800 for the first year of a two-year grant to expand early childhood programming at the museum’s Spartanburg location. |
| Children’s Trust of South Carolina | $50,125 to support training and implementation for Triple P expansion throughout Spartanburg County. |
| City of Spartanburg | $121,669 to provide the evidence-based curricula Making a Difference and SiHLE, positive youth development programming, and a day of advocacy called RiZe for teens. |
| Community Supports for Young Parents |
$100,258 to the following organizations to provide education, case management, and home visits to expectant and parenting teens in an effort to (1) increase educational attainment, healthy birth outcomes, immunization compliance, and positive parenting skills and (2) decrease repeat teen pregnancies (Funding made possible through the US Health and Human Services, Office of Population Affairs, Pregnancy Assistance Fund):
|
| Early Learning Center at Park Hills | $3,000 to support the Early Childhood Development Project. |
| EMERGE Family Therapy Center & Teaching Clinic | $25,000 to fund one part-time play therapist position and create a family therapy externship at Meeting Street Academy, adding family therapy services to existing play therapy services for preschool children. |
| Healthy Families Initiative |
$40,000 to the following eight organizations ($5,000 per organization) for the second year of a five-year grant to implement evidence-based parent education, the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P).
|
| Hope Center for Children |
$102,000 to coordinate the Healthy Families Initiative, a five-year initiative to increase implementation of evidence-based parent education through the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). $37,000 for the final year of a three-year grant to support the implementation of Triple P, an evidence-based parenting curriculum, as part of Hope Center’s Family Strengthening Program. |
| In Heaven’s Hands Ministries | $19,500 to provide the evidence-based curriculum Love Notes and soft skills employment training for youth 16 years old and older in the community. |
| Institute for Child Success | $142,500 to support core operating expenses leading to systems-level change and policies to improve early childhood development. |
| Middle Tyger Community Center | $225,000 for the final year of a three-year grant to provide general operating support for its work in the areas of teen pregnancy prevention and early childhood development. |
| Spartanburg Academic Movement | $60,000 to guide and direct the transition and expansion of developmental screening systems to Spartanburg County First Steps. |
| Spartanburg County First Steps | $156,500 to support the implementation of Quality Counts, a continuous Quality Improvement Initiative for childcare programs. |
| The Spartanburg County Public Libraries System | $31,800 to purchase LENA technology and will implement the LENA Start and LENA Home programs with local community partners. LENA uses a small wearable device, often referred to as a talk pedometer, combined with cloud-based software to deliver detailed feedback that helps adults make proven, sustainable increases in interactive talk with children. |
| The Spartanburg County Foundation/Northside Neighborhood Fund | $200,000 for the final year of a five-year grant to establish The Franklin School, a child development center in the Northside. |
| Spartanburg School District 1 | $33,982 to provide all middle and high school students the evidence-based curricula Healthy Futures: Nu-CULTURE and Love Notes as incorporated into their South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act standards. |
| Spartanburg School District 5 | $60,000 to provide all middle and high school students the evidence-based curricula Healthy Futures: Nu-CULTURE and Love Notes as incorporated into their South Carolina Comprehensive Health Education Act standards and to support a positive youth development program for students at Byrnes High School. |
| Spartanburg School District 7 |
$103,250 for three different projects
|
2018
| Organization | Amount Paid / Description |
| BirthMatters | $116,500 to support a home visitation program using community-based doula support for vulnerable, expectant mothers, and their families. |
| Chapman Cultural Center | $60,000 for the second year of a three-year grant to develop and implement a professional development program for early childhood providers to integrate creativity and the arts in their classrooms. |
| Children’s Museum of the Upstate | $62,000 for the final year of a two-year grant to fund programming and instructional signage at the downtown Spartanburg location. $25,000 to support the Palmetto Basics Communication Campaign. |
| Children’s Trust of South Carolina | $18,325 to support training and implementation for Triple P expansion throughout Spartanburg County. |
| Community Supports for Young Parents | $234,811 to six local organizations to provider education, case management, and home visits to expectant and parenting teens in an effort to increase educational attainment, healthy birth outcomes, immunization compliance, and positive parenting skills and to to decrease repeat teen pregnancies.(Funding made possible through the US Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health, Pregnancy Assistance Fund.) |
| Connect | $550,646 to seven local organization to implement evidence-based interventions and positive youth development programming with youth throughout Spartanburg County. (Funding made possible through the US Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health, Tier 1B.) |
| Healthy Families Initiative | $45,000 to nine local organization ($5,000 per organization) for the second year of a five-year grant to implement evidence-based parent education, the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P). |
| Hope Center for Children | $102,000 to coordinate the Healthy Families Initiative, a five-year initiative to increase implementation of evidence-based parent education through the Positive Parenting Program. $77,000 for the second year of a three-year grant to support the implementation of triple P, an evidence-based parenting curriculum, as part of Hope Center’s Family Strengthening Program. |
| Impact America | $28,125 for the second year of a three-year grant to provide high quality vision screening to preschool children living in households with low-incomes. |
| Institute for Child Success | $142,500 to support core operating expenses leading to systems-level change and policies to improve early childhood development. |
| Meeting Street Academy | $2,100 to purchase equipment to provide hearing screenings for three and four-year olds in Spartanburg County School District 7. |
| Middle Tyger Community Center | $175,500 for the second year of a three-year grant to provide general operating support for its work in the areas of teen pregnancy prevention and early childhood development. |
| Reach Out and Read-Carolina’s | $39,900 for the first year of a two-year grant to support the expansion of the Reach Out and Read-Spartanburg County initiative to include the early literacy program in the office of additional local primary care physicians. |
| South Carolina Aquarium | $8,400 to bring the Rovers Education Outreach Program for Early Learners to preschool programs in Spartanburg County. |
| The Spartanburg County Foundation/Northside Neighborhood Fund | $200,000 for the fourth year of a five-year grant to establish The Franklin School, a child development center in the Northside. |
| Upstate Family Resource Center | $31,000 for the final year of a two-year grant to form a partnership with PASOs, a statewide nonprofit organization, to enhance services for Latinx children and families throughout Spartanburg County. $74,820 for the first year of a two-year grant to build the local capacity of PASOs,a program that connects Latix families with health, nutrition, parenting, and education services. The grant will also help other organizations in the community become more culturally competent and effective in serving Latinx families. |
2017
| Organization | Amount Paid / Description |
| BirthMatters |
$84,172 to support efforts to decrease teen pregnancy and support families with young children. $116,500 to support a community-based home visitation program for young moms. |
| Chapman Cultural Center | $21,500 to develop and implement a professional development program for early childhood providers to integrate creativity and the arts in their classrooms. |
| Children’s Museum of the Upstate | $77,500 over two years to fund programming and instructional signage at the downtown Spartanburg location. |
| EMERGE (formerly known as Westgate Training & Consultation Network | $55,960 to provide mental health services to families with preschool age children. |
| Hope Center for Children | $36,000 to coordinate the Healthy Families Initiative, a five-year Initiative to increase evidence-based supports across Spartanburg County. |
| Impact America | $84,375 over three years to provide high quality vision screening to preschool of children living in households with low-incomes. |
| Institute for Child Success |
$46,050 to support efforts to increase systems-level and policy change to improve early childhood development. $95,000 to support core operating expenses leading to systems-level change and policies to improve early childhood development. $95,000 to support core operating expenses leading to systems level change and policies to improve early childhood development. |
| Middle Tyger Community Center | $56,250 to support general operating support for its work in the areas of teen pregnancy prevention and early childhood development. |
| Spartanburg County First Steps |
$133,500 to support the implementation of Quality Counts, a continuous Quality Improvement Initiative for childcare programs. $124,500 to support the implementation of Quality Counts, a continuous quality improvement initiative for child care programs. |
| University of South Carolina Upstate Foundation | $5,000 to support expert multi-disciplinary training in child abuse prevention. |
| Upstate Family Resource Center | $29,000 to form a partnership with PASOs, a statewide nonprofit organization, to enhance services for Latino children throughout Spartanburg County. |
Measuring progress means monitoring and assessing the efforts of individual grantees and, more
importantly, it means tracking progress toward broader community-level outcomes. The ability to measure progress not only demonstrates our collective contribution toward improved health and wellness in Spartanburg County, it allows the Foundation’s staff and Board of Trustees to reflect on and improve upon our grantmaking and the impact of our investments.
Before we could measure progress, we had to know where we were headed and how we would get there. In 2014, the Foundation formed a committee, comprised of staff, members of the Board of Trustees, and community partners and grantees, to develop a logic model to guide our grantmaking. The ECD logic model graphically displays the short, intermediate, and long-term outcomes that we seek to accomplish. Additionally, we have developed indicators of success for each of the short-term outcomes. The accompanying theory of change explains the rationale and assumptions that guided the development of the logic model.
Click here to view the Early Childhood Development Logic Model