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STEP UP
SUNCOAST!
Empowering Manatee County
For More Than 50 Years…
WORDS: Amy Bell
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
For more than 50 years, Step Up Suncoast has served the
communities of Manatee, Hardee, and Desoto counties.
The agency was rst incorporated in 18 as a Community
Action Agency (CAA) under the name Manatee Opportunity
Council. CAA’s are grassroots agencies originally founded
under the 14 Economic Opportunity Act to ght poverty by
empowering the poor. There are approximately 1,000 CAA
organizations across the U.S.
Today, CAAs like Step Up Suncoast work to promote selfsuf
ciency among low-income families to reduce poverty in its
community. These agencies work to focus available local, state,
federal, and private resources and help low-income individuals
and families acquire useful skills and knowledge, gain access
to new opportunities, and achieve economic self-sufciency.
In 2007, the Manatee Opportunity Council organization changed
its name to Manatee Community Action Agency (MCAA). Last
year, in celebration of 50 years of service, MCAA rebranded as
Step Up Suncoast.
“The new name represents not only the long-term commitment
of ‘stepping up’ to help our low-income families move towards
economic self-sufficiency, but also our desire to have
the community as a whole ‘step up’ with us to make real
change in ghting poverty,” explains Barbara Patten, CEO of
Step Up Suncoast.
Today, Step Up Suncoast offers programs in Manatee, Hardee,
DeSoto, Sarasota, and Charlotte counties. “Our mission is
straight forward,” says Patten. “Empowering people toward
self-sufficiency through education, support services, and
community partnerships.”
A Leg Up for Manatee
To accomplish its mission, Step Up Suncoast offers a wide range
of programs throughout Manatee and surrounding counties.
“Our overarching goal is to assist families in becoming
economically self-sustaining,” Patten emphasizes. “Many of
our programs address this goal on the front end by providing
services to young children that will help ensure school success.”
Here are just a handful of programs Step Up Suncoast offers:
• Head Start and Early Head Start at Rise and Shine
Early Learning: These programs provide early childhood
education and family engagement services focused on
closing the achievement gap for children throughout
Manatee County. At six Rise and Shine Early Learning
centers, Step Up Suncoast offers comprehensive childhood
development programs serving children from birth to ve
years of age.
• Healthy Families Manatee: This home visiting program
focuses on parenting skills, developmental milestones,
discipline, and goal setting. Healthy Families staff helps
monitor the child’s development as well as provide activities
to increase their skills.
• Parents as Teachers (PAT): The PAT program provides
support for families through home visits, group events,
a variety of health and developmental screenings and a
network of community resources.
• Home School Instruction for Parents of Preschool
Youngsters (HIPPY): This parent involvement, school
readiness program helps parents prepare their children
(ages 3, 4 and 5) for success in school.
• Teaching our Toddlers (TOTS): The TOTS program
provides parents of young children with information
and resources to support early learning. “The everyday
experiences of a child in the rst three years have a direct
impact on overall development,” says Patten. “It is at this
time in life when most learning occurs and when 85 percent
of the brain structure is developed.”