Spotlight on ESP
Enrichment Services Program (ESP) in Georgia and Alabama has partnered with Shine for over ten years to strengthen and expand its services.
About Enrichment Services Program
Enrichment Services Program, Inc. (ESP) serves the Chattahoochee Valley region of Georgia and Alabama. ESP is committed to increasing awareness of the impact of poverty and implementing strategies for reducing it and identifying and removing barriers to achieve family stability and promote interdependency. They provide Head Start and Early Head Start services to children and families in ten counties.
How have you partnered with Shine over the past ten years?
Shine has helped us with our transition and our expansion and provided on-the-ground staff who helped us as we were opening up those new programs. ~ Kelvin Thomas, Director of the Department of Early Childhood and Family Service
How would you describe your experience with Shine Early Learning?
Our experience with Shine Early Learning has been a great partnership. They share leading practices in the early childhood space. They have provided us with staff to help us continue to serve. They have partnered with us in the finance and HR areas. ~ Belva Dorsey, CEO of Enrichment Services Program
What words would you use to describe Shine?
Innovators. Leaders in Early Childhood. Collaborators. ~ Belva Dorsey, CEO of Enrichment Services Program
Shine uses best practices and helps others develop those best practices. They are a trendsetter in the area of early childhood education. ~ Kelvin Thomas, Director of the Department of Early Childhood and Family Service
How has Shine helped ESP achieve its mission?
Through our partnership, we have been able to develop a vision of where we want to see our program go. We want to be a premier early childhood education program in our area and beyond. Working with the leaders from Shine has helped us develop a laser focus on how to get there. ~ Kelvin Thomas, Director of the Department of Early Childhood and Family Service
What is ESP’s vision?
Every family is thriving and engaged in the community. ~ Belva Dorsey, CEO of Enrichment Services Program
What outcomes do you want for the children you serve?
We want them to be able to go to school anywhere. A longitudinal study found that students who attended Head Start at ESP performed at the same level or outperformed a lot of their peers through third grade. But it was only with children who looked like them – who had a similar background and similar experiences. Our goal is that a child who attends Head Start or Early Head Start at ESP can go to school with kids who had exposure to vacations and trips and private schools. We want them to have the same level of preparation to be able to enter and succeed. ~ Kelvin Thomas, Director of the Department of Early Childhood and Family Service
How has Shine helped ESP make a more significant impact in your community?
Shine made a great impact by helping us expand our footprint. They were our partner in preparing our funding application. They have helped us assess the need that exists in our community. ~ Belva Dorsey, CEO of Enrichment Services Program
How has your partnership with Shine strengthened ESP’s Head Start programs?
Shine Early Learning has shared best practices that lead to better child outcomes and strengthened our organization and leaders. The leadership training they have provided has helped us build the capacity of our leaders so we can provide better leadership for our team. Everything rises and falls based on leaders. They are a great partner that has been able to help our organization grow stronger and also meet the goals and the needs that we have. ~ Belva Dorsey, CEO of Enrichment Services Program