The Florida Center for Early Childhood, a local nonprofit serving at-risk children and their families in Sarasota, Charlotte, Manatee and DeSoto/Hardee counties, was awarded a $3,000 grant from the Heron Creek Community Foundation in North Port. The grant will be used to acquire classroom supplies and furniture for children with special needs at the North Port campus of the Starfish Academy, The Florida Center’s early education program. In 2017, The Florida Center added an infant classroom to the North Port campus, with help from The Heron Creek Community Foundation, to serve the growing need for high-quality early childhood education in North Port. The Florida Center for Early Childhood is a community-based agency that provides early childhood education, developmental therapies, mental health therapy, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders diagnostic and intervention services, training and home-based child abuse prevention services.

The Florida Center for Early Childhood