About Us: Our History

Since 2000, The Lawton Chiles Foundation has been working to unite entire communities around the goal of providing for children. The Whole Child Project in three pilot counties has laid the foundation for the creation of “Whole Child Florida” – building a stronger foundation for our children across our state by continuing our focus at the community level.

Governor Chiles understood that successful nurturing and development of all children required a dramatically new approach. An approach that:

• Starts early – before conception
• Provides continuous support to parents
• Is grounded in the family
• Is holistic, considering the physical, economic, social, cultural and spiritual environment in which the child lives
• Creates a “no wrong door” culture whereby service providers are committed to building collaborative service delivery networks instead of competitive, single strategy agencies and institutions
• Builds a partnership across all sectors of our society whose activities impinge on the lives of children
• Provides state and local government funding to ensure fairness, equity and consistent outcomes

Building on Governor Chiles’ legacy, The Lawton Chiles Foundation partnered with Manatee County and Electronic Training Solutions (ETS) to create the vision for the Whole Child Project. The Whole Child Project has had positive results and outcomes in three pilot counties including Manatee, Martin and Leon. Whole Child Florida will take this vision, philosophy and strategic framework across Florida to engage our statewide community around common goals related to children.