Four River Counties Community Early Childhood Council is of vital importance to the rural area of Far Western KY by serving Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton and Hickman Counties. Extension FCS Agent serves as the council chairman. Early Childhood grant advocates for the young child and their families by improving quality childcare, increasing parent knowledge, improving school readiness, and collaboration to meet the needs of the families.  According to the 2019 Early Childhood Profiles Fulton County was below the state average on all five developmental domains for school readiness. Fulton County Percentage Ready for Kindergarten was 38.9%.

Grow. Learn. Succeed. Family Engagement Event is for parents and families to receive information about utilizing the five developmental domains of school readiness at home, child development information and Ages and Stages Screening in a community setting. The target audience is families and caregivers with children five and under. The event is held in partnership with school districts to broaden the target audience reached. The event is conducted much like a Health Fair with engaging activities based on the Five Domains of School Readiness with the Strengthening Families Framework integrated into the plans at each booth.

Parents were trained by preschool and kindergarten teachers on how to perform the same activities with their children at home through rotations within the event. A training on the importance of reading with children was provided. 29 Families came out to the Grow Event. 83% increase parent awareness of school readiness domains, 59% increase parent awareness of community support in times of need, and 64% increase implementation of activities at home to reinforce importance of early literacy and language development.