10 Years of Impact Spotlight: Thrive by Five Tampa Bay
In December 2017, the Foundation was the first funder of a new initiative designed to unite different sectors of the community around a common goal: to increase the percentage of Pinellas County children ready to succeed in kindergarten.
Today, more than seven years after that initial grant, Thrive by Five Tampa Bay (TB5) is a regional collective that brings together caregivers, agencies, businesses, civic leaders, and community members to amplify and accelerate access to services and resources for families. The group takes a “whole child” approach that encompasses young learners’ intellectual, physical, social, and emotional well-being, and draws on a collective impact model for achieving change through a unique collaborative framework.
In the last two years, TB5 has more than doubled its collaborative partners, now claiming 65 Tampa Bay organizations and 145 members who are part of its work. Through its Family Friendly Business Awards program, which recognizes local businesses with policies that provide flexibility and support to employees striving to balance the demands of family while thriving in their jobs, it’s built valuable new relationships and helped influence policies that can benefit children and their caregivers.
“We also have a program to help businesses adopt an early learning center and really connect with students and families to understand young learners’ needs,” TB5 Director Diana Santangelo, PhD, said. “It’s important to have different lenses of engagement and consistently reach new partners. The more people we can engage with and involve, the better.”
Another recent TB5 accomplishment is the creation of an Early Literacy Resource Guide for Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties, which offers caregivers easy-to-access links to valuable resources including free books, learning supports, library services, and more. In the first three months after the guide’s launch, more than 500 QR codes from its pages were scanned.
“There’s great work being done, but a lot of families aren’t aware of it. We strive to fill that gap by connecting families with the resources and services that are available to them,” Santangelo explained. “We’re building touch points in so many different spaces so that we can flood the community with literacy and engagement opportunities.”
Initially housed under Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas, TB5 is today part of Community Foundation Tampa Bay. To learn more about TB5, visit https://tb5tb.org/
GRANT AWARDED IN 2017: $538,625, multi-year