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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Renée C. Lee
1111 North Loop West, Suite 600
Houston, TX 77008
Office: 713-600-1265
Cell: 281-536-2405
Grant from Texas Workforce Commission to increase the number of Texas Rising Star providers and improve quality of child care in Texas.
Houston, Texas (Dec. 11, 2019) – Collaborative for Children has been awarded a $3 million grant from the Texas Workforce Commission to improve the quality of child care in Texas, and to increase the number of Texas Rising Star providers in the state. The 32-year early education nonprofit recently received this funding to establish a Child Care Business Accelerator for providers statewide in collaboration with its key partners.
The Child Care Business Accelerator brings together resources from Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Policy Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy and the May’s Business School to provide world-class research expertise in an integrated, multi-phase program. The Child Care Business Accelerator will offer business assessment tools, customized business training and planning sessions, face-to-face child care business summits and online courses.
With several decades of experience in providing direct services to those who influence child outcomes, Collaborative for Children is taking steps to disrupt the current landscape of early childhood education. This grant opportunity not only complements our bold strategy, but also mirrors our newly created business development and recruitment department. Through this innovative department, we help providers in the 13-county Houston region stabilize their business operations so they can, in turn, fully focus on improving the quality of early learning.
With nearly half of Texas preschoolers unprepared to enter kindergarten, such groundbreaking initiatives are necessary to change the trajectory of Houston-area children, especially those in vulnerable neighborhoods, said Dr. Melanie Johnson, president and CEO of Collaborative for Children.
“This grant makes it possible for our agency to continue providing the best resources and training to those charged with ensuring our children are prepared for kindergarten,” Johnson said. “We are grateful to the Texas Workforce Commission for its support and to our partners for making this effort a priority.”
A Texas Rising Star designation offers providers the opportunity to participate in a voluntary plan to improve the quality of child care they offer by meeting program criteria that exceed the minimum standards for child care licensing in Texas.
As part of the Child Care Business Accelerator, Collaborative for Children will provide online training to 28 Texas Workforce Commission boards, as well as in-person training for nine geographical areas. These include North Central Dallas, the Heart of Texas, Capital Area, Southeast Texas, Alamo, Coastal Bend, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and the Gulf Coast. Priority will be given to areas that have fewer than 20% of providers in the TRS program. Currently, there are 14 such areas with 4,183 ineligible TRS providers that could benefit from the Child Care Business Accelerator.
For more than 30 years, Collaborative for Children has meaningfully improved the quality of early childhood education and care for Houston-area children through those who are most influential in their lives. The agency works with child care providers and families to create high-quality learning environments and advocates for policies that benefit the early learning landscape in Texas
