South Carolina First Steps Director Susan DeVenny, left, is shown with Libbie Cheek of United Way at Tuesday's State First Steps Director Susan DeVenny is well aware of the challenges that lie ahead with the state early childhood education initiative headed into the strong winds of a turbulent economic time.

But DeVenny said she believes early childhood education holds the key to providing children with a good start in school.

"Parents are the first and most important teacher of a child," DeVenny said. "We need to support parents and provide targeted resources in the community to help at-risk children get the learning experiences they need to be successful in school."

DeVenny spoke about First Steps at last week's Gaffney Rotary Club meeting.

Started in 2001, First Steps is an early childhood initiative that provides services in all 46 counties aimed at preparing pre-school children to enter school.

Representatives from First Steps met Thursday with the education transition team for President-elect Barack Obama in Washington. First Steps is among eight state early childhood programs the Obama administration is studying while developing his education policy.

First Steps recently started a Nurse-Family partnership in Spartanburg, Anderson, Greenville, Lexington, and Richland counties. First-time mothers will meet with a registered nurse early in pregnancy and will continue to make regular home visits through the child's second birthday.

The Nurse-Family program is designed to improve pregnancy outcomes by helping women improve their diet, reduce their use of cigarettes and alcohol and obtain prenatal care.

Future priorities for First Steps include serving more at-risk children in preschool programs, pursuing more private funding and continuing to work on enhancing the quality of child care provided in the state's 1,800 child care facilities.

South Carolina has received a 5-year, $500,000 federal grant to further develop the Nurse-Family program. Due to its close location to Spartanburg, DeVenny said Cherokee County is among the counties that could be considered for the Nurse-Family program in a future expansion effort.

"This partnership is a perfect example of the good that can result when organizations join forces and work to improve results for our children," DeVenny said.