Laurens County First Steps earns second national Blue Ribbon honor for Parents as Teachers program
October 28, 2026
Laurens County First Steps has again earned Blue Ribbon Affiliate designation from the Parents as Teachers National Center, a national recognition of the organization’s high-quality, evidence-based home visiting services for families with young children across Laurens County.
This is the second time the local organization has received the honor. Blue Ribbon status is the highest quality recognition awarded to Parents as Teachers affiliates and places Laurens County First Steps among the top home visiting programs in the organization’s international network.
To earn the designation, Laurens County First Steps completed the Quality Endorsement and Improvement Process, an extensive review conducted every five years to evaluate program quality, accountability and fidelity to the Parents as Teachers model. The review examines how well affiliates carry out the program’s core components, including personalized home visits, parent-child activities, developmental screenings, group connections and referrals to community resources.
“Earning Blue Ribbon status for the second time is an extraordinary accomplishment for Laurens County First Steps,” said Executive Director Toni Able. “This recognition reflects not only the quality of our Parents as Teachers program but also the dedication, compassion and professionalism of our parent educators, Kathryn Meadows and Jackie Riegel. Achieving this distinction once is an honor; earning it a second time demonstrates our continued commitment to providing Laurens County families with the highest-quality services.”
The Parents as Teachers program is built on the belief that parents are their children’s first and most influential teachers. Through individualized home visits, trained parent educators share information on child development, practical parenting strategies, developmental screenings and referrals to community resources.
The program serves families from pregnancy through kindergarten entry, helping parents build confidence, strengthen relationships with their children and create nurturing home environments that support healthy development and school readiness.
Meadows and Riegel work directly with families throughout the county, and Able said their personal commitment makes the recognition especially meaningful.
“Our parent educators do so much more than conduct home visits,” Able said. “They celebrate developmental milestones, help parents navigate challenges, connect families with needed resources and offer encouragement during some of the most important years of a child’s life. Their work makes a lasting difference, one family and one child at a time.”
The designation also confirms that the program meets nationally established standards shown to produce positive outcomes for children and families, demonstrating accountability to the families it serves as well as its community partners, funders and supporters.
“We are a small local program, but this recognition shows that the quality of our services meets the highest national standards,” Able said. “Our families deserve nothing less, and I could not be prouder of the work being done by Laurens County First Steps.”
Parents as Teachers is one of several early childhood initiatives Laurens County First Steps administers to strengthen families, promote healthy child development and improve school readiness across Laurens County.
