The LiveWell Early Childhood workgroup champions increased access to healthy eating and active living for all children ages 0-5 in Greenville County through convening partners to impact policies, systems and environmental changes.
With an expanded focus, beyond solely partnering with childcare centers, LiveWell Early Childhood aims to impact changes in the community impacting all children five and under regardless of their childcare situation.
1) Support policy, system and environmental changes that increase access to healthy eating for children 0-5 in Greenville County 2) Support policy, system and environmental changes that increase access to active living for children ages 0-5 in Greenville County. 3) Supporting education opportunities that promote health and wellness for children 0-5 in child care settings and families in Greenville County.
ABC Quality South Carolina’s statewide quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early care and education providers. South Carolina is committed to an early care and education system that focuses on building high quality, comprehensive programs that provide integrated services. ABC Quality provides early care and education providers the criteria, tools, and resources they need to improve the quality of their programs; Establishes Quality Ratings of early care and education providers, which parents can access to make informed child care decisions; and enables early care and education providers to become eligible to receive SC Voucher, a program that pays providers so they can care for children from low-income families.
Clemson SNAP-Ed Nutrition Education Resources The state of South Carolina has commissioned The Youth Learning Institute of Clemson University with the responsibility of providing nutrition education to families and individuals throughout South Carolina. Clemson SNAP-Ed Providing high-quality nutrition and physical activity education to children and adults in both English and Spanish through trained Health Educators.
Greenville First Steps Local non-profit that uses state, federal, and private funds to support programs to measurably improve school readiness outcomes for children. Greenville First Steps partners with public and private organizations (including churches, schools, neighborhoods, childcare providers, and businesses). to support families as their child’s first and most important teacher, to ensure children enter school on track and ready to succeed.
Palmetto Services Alliance South Carolina non-profit that launched in 2016 with initial funding from Greenville First Steps. Palmetto Services strives to improve quality in childcare and after-school programs by offering online and onsite supports designed to help programs save time and money and improve overall quality. Providers gain access to their Online Portal, Palmetto Childcare Connect, and Online University.
SC Child Care The Division of Early Care and Education which is a division of the South Carolina Department of Social Services. Resources for parents & providers including licensing.
SC Endeavors (formerly the Center for Child Care Career Development or CCCCD), is the professional development system for South Carolina’s early childhood workforce. SC Endeavors supports the continuous growth and improvement of early education programs and professionals to create positive outcomes for young children and their families in South Carolina. SC Endeavors continues to enhance professional development opportunities, resources, and tools for early education professionals.
South Carolina Program for Infant and Toddler Care (SCPITC) The SCPITC promotes responsive, relationship-based approach to infant/toddler care. The positions advocated by the South Carolina PITC are based in sound child development and family support research, theory and practice. Infant/Toddler Specialists work side by side with directors and teachers to help develop a service plan that meets the individual needs of each program and builds on the strengths of each provider.
South Carolina Resource & Referral Network (SCR&R) Provides referrals to parents raising children and looking for childcare; supports child care providers through education and training to improve quality of care; and documents childcare needs and trends to better meet childcare needs.
South Carolina Inclusion Collaborative (SCIC) Provides individualized training and technical assistance for child care providers to support the inclusion of children with disabilities/developmental delays in child care programs. Inclusion specialists work directly with child care staff and program administrators to increase the use of evidence-based practices that lead to access and meaningful participation for all children
National Resources:
Go NAP SACC (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care) Childcare programs use Go NAPSACC to improve their practices,
policies and environments to meet our best practices in these seven areas (Child Nutrition; Breast Feeding and Infant Feeding; Farm to ECE, Oral Health; Infant & Child Physical Activity; Outdoor Play & Learning; and Screen Time). Go NAPSACC walks child care providers through 5 steps (Assess, Plan, Take Action, Learn More and Keep It Up) to make healthy changes to their programs. View Go NAP SACC Best Practices for all seven areas here.
National CACFP Sponsors Association A National Platform for the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Find resources, information on regulations and advocacy as well as training events and conferences.
Greenville Parents / Triple P Information Local information about Triple P – Positive Parenting Program seminars and sessions. Triple P gives parents simple and practical strategies to help them build strong, healthy relationships, confidently manage their children’s behavior and prevent problems developing. Triple P is currently used in more than 25 countries and has been shown to work across cultures, socio-economic groups and in many different kinds of family structures.
Head Start / Share Early Head Start provides early, continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family support services on a year-round basis to children under age three and pregnant women. Head Start provides comprehensive child development services to 3- 5 year old children and their families to prepare them for success in public school and beyond.
Help Me Grow Local Affiliate of National Help Me Grow Network. Help Me Grow is made up of Child Development Specialists who help parents sort through the clutter of raising healthy children, learn about child development and connect families to resources.
SCThrive Financial assistance resources for individuals and families throughout South Carolina.
Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program WIC is a nutrition program that provides health education, healthy foods, breastfeeding support, and other services free of charge to South Carolina families who qualify.
LiveWell Greenville places an emphasis on evaluating all community-based projects with the goal of developing and implementing best practices in each of our community settings. Learn more about our collaborative, multi-university evaluation team that engages researchers from multiple Social and Behavioral Health disciplines.
For more information or to become involved in the LiveWell Early Childhood, please contact Matina Kazameas.
Register for our annual spring conference for Early Childcare providers on April 30 from 8:30 am-2:30 pm and earn up to 4.5 credit hours!
The summer-long scavenger hunt is back for its eight annual year and is a fun way to keep your family excited about staying active throughout the summer. Park Hop creates a great opportunity to explore the 15+ different parks in the Greenville/Spartanburg area with clues to solve a question at each park. Clues are now available in Spanish as well!
LiveWell At Early Childhood is embarking on an expansion of our great work with Early Childcare Centers, to help make the healthy choice the easy choice where we learn and play! If you are a childcare provider, or if your child is being served by a childcare provider, and are interested in improving healthy eating and active living best practices, then consider encouraging you early childcare center to join Palmetto HEALthie Start!
