CENTRAL — Pickens County First Steps (PCFS) has received $78,500 in federal funds to continue its Nurse Family Partnership home visiting program. Additionally, PCFS has received an AmeriCorps award to expand community outreach. South Carolina First Steps awarded the grant competitively as part of a $1 million effort to meet the changing needs of young children and families in South Carolina.

“These grant awards come at a critical time for young children and families in our state,” said South Carolina First Steps Executive Director Georgia Mjartan. “We know that access to child care is limited, social networks are strained, and parents are overwhelmed.”

Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) is an evidence-based home visitation program that has been around for over 40 years — and in Pickens County for over a decade. NFP empowers first-time moms to transform their lives and create better futures for themselves and their babies by having specially trained nurses regularly visit young, first-time moms-to-be, starting early in the pregnancy, and continuing through the child’s second birthday.

Officials said the grant will allow for the continuation of NFP in Pickens County. In addition, the grant will extend technology services through the “Phones for Families” partnership, providing cell phones and data service to NFP participants. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NFP visits are conducted virtually and through telehealth, they said.

The most recent needs and resources assessment conducted by Pickens County First Steps indicates that the following are the greatest service area needs: Hispanic families, children under age 1, mothers under the age of 20, and mothers with low educational backgrounds, they said.

“2020 has been a source of collective trauma for us all,” said PCFS Executive Director Amity Buckner. “For some in our county, it has been what we would consider toxic stress that will take years to overcome. The needs in our county are great and those needs have become more evident during this time of COVID. However, we are also filled with hope as we see our community and families working together toward resilience.”

Funding for the Family Services Expansion Grant comes from Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5), a federal grant awarded to South Carolina by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

Additionally, PCFS will expand its community outreach through a new AmeriCorps service program, thanks to funding and support from South Carolina First Steps. The state’s early childhood agency awarded the AmeriCorps grant competitively as part of a new effort to increase family support services and community outreach through national service, they said.

The grant award provides PCFS with the funding and support to recruit and deploy one AmeriCorps service member as a community outreach specialist. This Award will be used to train a member in The Palmetto Basics, five evidence-based parenting and caregiving principles that help children grow to become the happiest and most successful they can be. Using The Basics, they will coordinate community events and / or create videos that showcase locations and activities from around the state that embody The Basics, highlighting places that support school readiness.

“We believe the best way to continue to support our county’s youngest learners and their caregivers are through home visitation and community outreach,” said Buckner. “We are grateful for this generous grant that will enable us to continue and expand our support.”

The First Steps AmeriCorps program is funded by a three-year grant from the United Way Association of South Carolina.

Reach Kasie Strickland at 864-855-0355.