Florida Center for Early Childhood and Starfish Academy

The Florida Center for Early Childhood has been a leading provider of therapeutic services, early education, and healthy development for children in southwest Florida. Its programs focus on infants and children through eight years old who are at-risk academically, socially, or economically. The Florida Center provides developmental therapies, mental health counseling, and the Starfish Academy preschool in Sarasota and North Port. The organization also offers Healthy Families, a home-visiting program that guides parents who need assistance.

Starfish Academy serves children aged six weeks to five years and operates as an inclusion therapy model, where typically developing children and those with delays or disabilities learn together and are challenged to meet their individual potential. The model promotes leadership, empathy, and diversity.