Child Care of Southwest Florida, Inc.

Our mission is to strengthen and enhance the lives of children and their families. We carry out our mission by offering child care scholarships to families in need of child care, but who may not have the means to pay for it.

We are only able to offer these scholarships when we have enough money that is donated by philanthropic people like yourself who see the value in stimulating young minds while ensuring proper nutrition. We believe that kindergarten is too late to begin educating children because according to our research, for those children who don't receive high-quality early childhood experiences:

• 25% are more likely to drop out of school
• 40% are more likely to become a teen parent
• 50% are more likely to be placed in special education
• 60% are more likely to never attend college
• 70% are more likely to be arrested for a violent crime

While our main service is providing child care scholarships to families in need at any one of our six preschools/child care centers, we also provide three other valueable services to our community.

First, we provide Florida child care training classes to members of our community who absolutely love caring for small children.

Second, we organize an annual child care conference in Fort Myers, FL called Circles of Care, in which preschool teachers, home-schooling parents, and other child care professionals come to listen to keynote speakers and learn about the latest and greatest toys, games, and exercises for educating young children.

Finally, for child care centers and family home day cares in South Florida that would like to reduce their food costs, we help them by administering the federal child care food program which also ensures that their students receive 3 square meals a day and snacks in between.