Our Vision
We envision the day when all children have the opportunity and the support to develop into happy, healthy, confident and capable members of a diverse community.
First Steps Primeros Pasos is an exemplary early care and education program meeting the developmental needs of its children by preparing them to lead happy, healthy, confident and capable lives.About Us
In 1996 a group of concerned citizens in Georgetown, Delaware, determined to find a way to provide safe, affordable and nurturing early care and education for the burgeoning number of children from Spanish-speaking families of the area was organized. These citizens included educators, clergy and people simply eager to do the best for children.
Today, the Hispanic community in Georgetown comprises over one-third of the area's population and the availability of child care, especially in a multicultural setting, remains nearly impossible for these families to access. Concerned that children were not receiving the early education that would enable them to succeed when they reached school age, this grass roots organization established a mission of providing exemplary early care and education.
First Steps Primeros Pasos has served over 200 children from six weeks through 4 years of age, reaping high compliments from the local public school system for the ability of Primeros Pasos' children to move successfully into the public schools. Working in a model of collaboration with other area service organizations, First Steps Primeros Pasos provided education for children and their parents, nutritional meals and health monitoring, and obtained social services where needed. It is this comprehensive care that we seek to re-establish.
Two unfortunate circumstances forced the original centers to close. One site was condemned after a fire, and another site, leased from the Town of Georgetown, was needed by the town for its own use. The First Steps Primeros Pasos Board has since been working to establish a new facility in Georgetown, Delaware that will be a family-oriented, holistic program that provides educational, emotional, nutritional, health and social services to give youngsters the best possible start on their road to adulthood. Now, a property has been secured and a design for a new building has been developed. First Steps Primeros Pasos Board is seeking to fund the building that will house this remarkable program. Once the facility is fully staffed and established, it will be self-sustaining financially, requiring only a small annual fund campaign to assure a balanced budget.
First Steps Primeros Pasos is unique in that it has been, and will continue to be, one of the only multicultural early care and education program in Georgetown serving the full range of pre-school ages. In addition, the program will be replicable, potentially meeting the needs of our children across the county and the region.