Starting Strong Rapid City

Don't miss it!! Call and get your spot for December 4th screenings for your preschooler!

RCAS to offer early childhood screenings The screenings for preschool children aged three to five will be held on December 4, 2023, at Jefferson School.

Uplifting Parents Financial Assistance Catholic Social Services Catholic Social Services of Rapid City’s Uplifting Parents (Program UP) Program provides mentoring and financial assistance for single parent families in SD.

We want to give a giant shout out and thanks to Synchrony for donating backpacks and school supplies for our Starting Strong scholarship recipients. Employees spent the morning filling over 70 backpacks for the kids, showcasing their commitment to community and early education. Thank you!!!

We are underway with our Tried and True Teacher Tips workshop with Caylee Carullo!

It's going to be a great day of learning and networking for Starting Strong teaching staff, leadership, and many additional preschool teachers! 😊

We are less than two weeks away from our annual Starting Strong professional development day with Caylee Carullo of Tried and True Teacher Tips!!

If you are a preschool teacher and would like to know how to be involved, click on the photo flyer for more information!

You can also follow Caylee here: Tried and True Teacher Tips

Caylee from Tried and True Teacher will be our presenter for the 2023-2024 School Year Kick Off Event on August 12th....
Click the link to learn more about Caylee and the work she does with preschool and kindergarten teachers.
https://www.triedandtrueteacher.com/about
If you're interested in attending or would like more information, check out the flyer below! :-)

We are so appreciative of all the support and partnership from United Way of the Black Hills !!

AGENCY SPOTLIGHT: Starting Strong Rapid City
Starting Strong Rapid City has two goals: improve the quality of preschool in Rapid City and provide an opportunity to attend preschool for children from impoverished families.

They work directly with five Rapid City preschools to provide training, coaching and financial support through Quality Improvement Funding to improve the quality of early education in each program. Children of low-income families tend to have more risk factors when it comes to education. According to a survey done by the National Center for Children in Poverty in 2016, 44% of children in South Dakota live at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Often, these are the children that are not receiving any form of early education. By offering them a scholarship to a quality preschool, we can start building their educational foundation and point them down a path that leads to success later in their schooling career.

Caylee from Tried and True Teacher will be our presenter for the 2023-2024 School Year Kick Off Event on August 12th....
Click the link to learn more about Caylee and the work she does with preschool and kindergarten teachers.
https://www.triedandtrueteacher.com/about
If you're interested in attending or would like more information, check out the flyer below! :-)

We are still accepting applications for Fall enrollment so get your applications in today!

You can apply online by visiting www.startingstrongrapidcity.org

Check out the video below to see how Bethany got not one, but both of her children scholarships throughout the existence of our program. :-)

Starting Strong Rapid City: Bethany Carbajal and Family Bethany Carbajal shares how Starting Strong helped enroll her children in high quality preschool that was financially out of reach even though she is employe...

Thank you, John T. Vucurevich Foundation for your ongoing and unwavering support in Starting Strong Rapid City!

The John T. Vucurevich proudly supports the Starting Strong Program. Community need for affordable, high-quality early learning programs has never been higher. Access to affordable childcare is one of the leading barriers for families working towards economic stability. We know that high quality early learning experiences positively impact high school graduation rates, household incomes, home life stability, health, and decreased rates of incarceration. The earlier the intervention starts in a person’s life, the higher the return on investment. That’s why the John T. Vucurevich Foundation has invested nearly $4.4 million into this program since its inception. We know that Starting Strong program helps families afford high quality preschool experience their children deserve.

Starting Strong Rapid City: Preschool Scholarship Program Starting Strong is a preschool scholarship program for three and four-year-old children as well as a quality-building tool for participating preschool progra...