In The Press

January 12, 2021 | Kay Kipling Philip Tavill, the longtime president and CEO of Children First, Sarasota County’s exclusive Head Start provider, has vivid memories of spending time beside his father, a physician working in public health, in locations from Morocco to Milwaukee. His South African mother’s passionate anti-apartheid stance also helped shape [...]

December 3, 2020 Brigette Davis, Associate Head Start and Early Head Start Director at Children First in Sarasota, has been elected to the Florida Head Start Association (FHSA) Board of Directors. As a FHSA board member, she plays a key role in representing Sarasota County and fulfilling FHSA’s work across the state to deliver high-quality [...]

December 1, 2020 When Ted and Ethna Wishnie of Sarasota walk through the halls of Children First in Sarasota, they are touched by the success stories, the gratitude and the children’s songs. That zest for life reminds them of Eric Wishnie, Ted’s son and Ethna’s stepson, whose death at age 45 came amidst a successful broadcast [...]

November 26, 2020 | Thanksgiving in Tampa Bay Children First is providing meals to families and staff for the holiday season thanks to the generosity of Sarasota realtor Michele Tanner, her non-profit Tanner’s Turkeys, and an anonymous donor. The agency distributed 60 turkeys and sides to the families it serves as a recipient of ‘Tanner’s Turkey’s [...]

November 15, 2020 Meeting Children’s Needs Now for Future Success There’s a Chinese proverb that epitomizes Sarasota’s many and varied children’s nonprofits: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” Some of the area’s youth-centered organizations began working decades ago and have cultivated generations of young Sarasotans into adult [...]

September 22, 2020 Sarasota has a legacy of strong leaders and innovators. Leadership Sarasota County, a program of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, is continuing that legacy by building a community of leaders for Sarasota today and tomorrow. This year, CEO Philip Tavill, Leadership Class of 1993, was honored alongside Pam Beitlich, of Sarasota [...]