What we do
NEXTGEN is the official family resource of Manatee County, featuring local events and good news around our community and is brought to you by the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County, Inc (ELC). The educational and family resource magazine is distributed to the parents of 25,000 elementary school children in 47 Manatee County schools, with an additional 8,000 distributed to over 200 childcare facilities, libraries, medical offices, hospitals and other business offices throughout the county. Our new website features local events, community updates and interactive activities and games for children of all ages.
Latest Issue
Winter 2025
Recent Issues
Wonders from the Deep
Our future is bound to our oceans. The ocean supplies most of the oxygen we breathe, much of the food we eat, and the critical resources that underpin ecosystems and economies...
The Women Who Show Up
This is a story about a volunteer force that knows how to get stuff done. If there's a project that needs to be completed, they'll show up with supplies before most people have even finished planning it out…
Spotlight on Imagination
You know who are experts in turning ordinary things into the extraordinary? Children. Walk with them into their little worlds, and you'll find a puddle has become an ocean…
The Ripple Effect
If you believe that everything happens for a reason, then it's clear that for the past 11 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County's (BGCMC) CEO, Dawn Stanhope, is exactly where she is meant to be...
Where Learning’s at Play
Across communities, certain places quietly shape the future. Libraries do it through books; parks do it through play. But Soar in 4's new Soar Lab in west Bradenton brings learning and play together…
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Every community has a pulse, and one of Bradenton's strongest beats comes from a small building on 14th Street West. Here, an entirely volunteer-run organization called Stillpoint Mission has been meeting...
NEXTGEN Partners
