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First 1000 Days Aims to Strengthen Early Childhood Development in Sarasota County

Newborn Baby
Wikimedia Commons
Newborn Baby

A group of 32 community partners in Sarasota County are teaming up to strengthen prenatal care and early childhood development services in the county...it’s calledFirst 1000 Days.It’s part of a broader, statewide effort calledFirst 1000 Days Florida – Sarasota County is the first local affiliate. The idea is driven by the fact that 52% of babies born in the county last year were born intofamilies living in poverty, and 80% of brain development happens before a child’s second birthday, so getting families connected to the right services early on is crucial.The effort, which officially launched last week, is being led by theCharles & Margery Barancik Foundation, and is being facilitated by the former director of the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County, Bill Little. We’re joined now by KellyRomanoff, she’s Projects Manager for the Foundation, and joins us by phone from her office in Sarasota.

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Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.
RachelIacovoneis a reporter and associate producer ofGulf Coast LiveforWGCU News. Rachel came toWGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.