The Lawton Chiles Foundation, in partnership with local communities in Florida and Electronic Training Solutions, Inc. created the Whole Child Project to assist communities to insure that all children thrive. The project focuses on children ages 0-5 and their families and uses web-based technology:

• To assist parents in identifying needs and connecting with providers,
• To assist providers in building holistic service delivery networks, and
• To assist policy makers, community leaders and advocates to identify critical issues related to the well being of children 0-5 and develop the capacity to address these issues.

Lawton Chiles, who served as Florida’s Governor from 1991 through 1998, focused a major part of his administration on building a state that was committed to insuring the healthy development of all children. His wife, Rhea Chiles, created The Lawton Chiles Foundation to continue the Governor’s commitment to children by assisting communities to become Whole Child Communities.

The Whole Child Project is not another program, but a philosophy that uses strategic planning, web-based technology, performance measurement and broad-based community engagement to build communities where everyone works together to make sure children thrive.

The Governor 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 funding to ensure fairness, equity, and consistent outcomes.

The Lawton Chiles Foundation in partnership with pilot communities in Florida defines a Whole Child and a Whole Child Community as follows:

"A Whole Child" is one who:

• Attains physical, intellectual and spiritual well-being.
• Experiences strong, positive family attachment,
• Interacts constructively in a social context,
• Has a sense of hope, and
• Lives in an environment that encourages him/her to succeed.

"A Whole Child Community" believes that:

• All children should have the opportunity to grow to be healthy, contributing members of society,
• Parents have primary responsibility for raising their children,
• The community is a partner with parents in this endeavor, and
• The community must pay attention to all dimensions of a child’s and its parents’ well-being."

All six dimensions of child well-being need to be addressed:

• Physical and Mental Health
• Quality Early Education and Development
• Social Interaction and Competence
• Spiritual Foundation and Strength
• Safe and Nurturing Environment
• Economic Stability

Whole Child communities utilize the Whole Child Connection, web-based technology to:

• Assist families in identifying the needs of their young children.
• Connect families with appropriate service providers,
• Encourage and enable service providers to build collaborative networks, and
• Enable communities to identify gaps in service and assess their progress in ensuring that all children thrive.

Whole Child communities believe that all segments of the community need to work together
to make sure children thrive: