In The Press

January 26, 2021 PGT Innovations, a national leader in the premium windows and doors category, has partnered with Children First, the exclusive provider of Head Start and Early Head Start services for Sarasota County, to kick off the agency’s 60th anniversary in a special initiative called “60 for 60.” In honor of Children First’s major milestone, the agency is [...]

January 15, 2021 – Sarasota Dr. Melania Kesoglou, Ed.S., Ph.D., and Director of Education at Children First, has been invited to serve on the National Head Start Association’s Region IV Foster Care Challenge (FCC) Committee. In her role, Dr. Kesoglou will help to oversee the FCC’s work in Head Start’s Region IV, the southeastern United [...]

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 [...]