Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County Opening doors for young children

February Newsletter : Family News You Can Use

Free Tax Assistance for Families Now, you can get tax prep assistance for free, thanks to a partnership with the United Way and Community Services. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program provides free tax-preparation services for individuals or families earning $55,000 or less. All volunteers are trained by an IRS-certified tax instructor. The United Way of St. Lucie County has partnered with St. Lucie County Community Services to provide this service. There are six VITA sites currently available for the residents in St. Lucie County. Thank you to these hard-working volunteers who are helping the community.

SUBSIDIZED CHILDCARE ENROLLMENT DOLLARS AVAILABLE FOR QUALIFIED FAMILIES There is currently no wait list for qualified, income-eligible families to receive financial assistance for subsidized early learning, that is in addition to the 540 hours of free VPK. (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) If a family applies today and is deemed eligible through state guidelines, your children could be receiving service by next month or sooner! Apply online at www.elcslc.org or call us for more information at 772-595-6424

New permanent, more convenient location for Early Learning Coalition at Treasure Health Building . We're moving! The offices of the Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County will close early at 3 pm on Friday, March 1 and remain closed for both Monday, March 4 and Tuesday, March 5, to relocate our offices. Our office will re-open in our new location, at the Treasure Health Building, 5000 Dunn Road, with regular office hours of 8:00 am - 5:00 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. The new location is at the intersection of Midway Road and Dunn Road, conveniently located to all parts of St. Lucie County.   During our closure, if you have a child care emergency and need to search for a provider or you wish to report child abuse or neglect you can do so, online at www.myflfamilies.com . If you are in need community referrals, please contact 211.

Family Fun Fair on April 6 is FREE Join us for the Early Learning Coalition's Annual Family Fun Fair from 11-2 on April 6th at John B. Park/ Lawnwood Stadium on Virginia Avenue. Your kids get free books and enjoy hands-on activities especially designed for kids, Story Stations, Games, Bounce House, Face-painting, K-9 demonstrations, and much more, all FREE for your family. Participating early learning childcare centers & other child service agencies will join the fun, with interactive Story Stations, performing groups and hands-on craft and STEM activities. Every child gets a FREE book and families can earn extra books, by participating in the Healthy St. Lucie Billion Step challenge, either at the track on the day of the event, or in the weeks before it! Entrance, games, entertainment and booth activities at the Family Fun Fair are completely FREE to all families, with hot dogs and pizza available for only $1.

Five Dangerous Parenting Tips we used to believe.. . Your mom or grandma might not know ALL the answers if they still believe these old tips: https://www.thisisinsider.com/outdated-parenting-advice-2019-2

Vroom APP helpful & easy to use! This Vroom App offers tips and ideas for your family, in any situation, to encourage early education. It's personalized to your children's ages and it is completely FREE Find out more here: https://www.facebook.com/joinvroom/videos/1896129257095229/

Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie County www.elcslc.org 772-595-6424

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