Enhancements that Empower

For our next generation to reach its potential, quality early care and eduction programs are essential. Collaborative for Children has partnered with a number of agencies and members of the corporate community to enhance classroom settings, helping to ensure that our valued educators can help guide children within nurturing and productive environments. Of equal importance, our educator programs help strengthen the foundation upon which teachers can continually improve their skills.

College Bound – Beginning at Birth

Academic focus in underserved Houston communities

This transformative new initiative unites the resources of family, educational, neighborhood and health care entities in underserved Houston communities to help children succeed. The goal of College Bound - Beginning at Birth is to significantly improve kindergarten school readiness, third grade reading scores and ultimately high school completion and college participation rates among youth living in these communities. The initiative is already making tremendous progress in Sunnyside, the first neighborhood to participate.

With the assistance of College Bound - Beginning at Birth, we have positively impacted the lives of 842 children. In addition, 70 teachers working in Sunnyside are enrolled in a professional development course.

Based on success in Sunnyside, College Bound – Beginning at Birth will be replicated in communities throughout Houston. To find out more about College Bound - Beginning at Birth, click here.

Corporate HANDS

Business support for classroom improvement

A collaboration of Houston’s leading employers, Corporate HANDS (Houston Area Network for Dependent Services) is dedicated to increasing the quality and supply of both child care and elder care in the communities where their employees live and work. Through the project, employees nominate child care programs to receive quality improvement services, including training, educational scholarships and classroom resources. Since 1992, Corporate HANDS has invested more than $9 million in dependent care projects and assisted thousands of employees in the care of their families. As a strategic partner to Corporate HANDS, Collaborative for Children administers funding for local projects and improves learning environments in programs nominated by employees.

Texas School Ready!

Language and literacy development

Research consistently demonstrates that the more children know about language and literacy before they arrive at kindergarten, the better equipped they are to succeed in school. While reading and writing skills are refined throughout life, the early years are the most important for language and literacy development. Through a contract with the State Center for Early Childhood Development, Collaborative for Children has implemented the Texas School Ready! Project: Preparing Young Texans to Learn.  Via mentoring programs in Galveston and Brazoria Counties, Texas School Ready! Project helps child care, Head Start and public pre-kindergarten teachers improve early literacy and language teaching strategies in the classroom.

United Way Bright Beginnings

Enriching the classroom experience

Our most vulnerable children, those born into financial strife or harsh circumstances, desperately need high-quality early care and education so that they may thrive. A partnership between the United Way of Greater Houston and ExxonMobil, Bright Beginnings facilitates intense quality improvement programs in nearly twenty-five Houston area child care programs serving these at-risk children. This program provides much needed classroom materials and playground equipment, teacher scholarships, in-class mentoring, leadership training and support to achieve national accreditation standards.

Workforce Early Care and Education Industry Committee

Industry improvements from the inside

This committee comprises the early care and education industry's largest employers, who partner with Workforce Solutions to identify the industry's critical skill shortages and human resource needs. Members include representatives from Head Start, private and nationally franchised child care programs, a representative from a community action agency and the Development Corporation for Children.

Please visit Workforce Solutions for further information.

Workforce Success Express

Strengthening state-subsidized programs

In partnership with Workforce Solutions, Collaborative for Children’s Success Express program assists child care facilities that are struggling to meet licensing standards. State-subsidized child care programs are selected to participate in Success Express based on the number of non-compliance notifications they receive from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Success Express is a critical component in the improvement of these deficient state-subsidized programs, which most often serve children in low-income, high-risk circumstances. Through providing consultation, training and resources, Success Express helps these programs meet or exceed licensing standards.

Workforce Texas Rising Stars

Step-by-step to quality care

Through the Texas Rising Stars program, Collaborative for Children and Workforce Solutions are working to continually improve child care programs throughout our region. This 13-county certification initiative helps licensed and registered programs maintain a standard that exceeds state licensing standards. Certification as a Texas Rising Stars Provider is available to licensed center, licensed care home, and registered child care home providers who meet certification criteria. Collaborative for Children assists in Texas Rising Stars maintenance by providing annual certification assessments.

Collaborative for Children serves as the child care provider services contractor for Workforce Solutions, a program operated by the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Board.