Fort Worth’s Best Place for Kids! initiative has developed a new online resource that business leaders, families, and community partners can use to “plug into education, from cradle to career” in Fort Worth.
The interactive map includes clickable links to engagement opportunities spanning the education continuum.
For example, the site invites business leaders interested in engaging in early learning to share Best Kids’ Find! Child Care Tool with their employees; share linked early childhood and health resources with employees; and learn more about how Best Kids is levering government and private resources for children.
For business leaders who want to engage in third-grade literacy – only about a third of Fort Worth ISD third graders read on level today, which city thought leaders have identified as a critical workforce and economic development problem – the site invites them to sign up to become a reading mentor, collaborate with schools to end chronic absenteeism, or join the Read Fort Worth advocacy committee to increase incentives to teachers.
Business leaders interested in high schools can sign up to become a mentor through The Tarrant To & Through Partnership, host student internships and job shadowing, and promote career pathways.
Finally, businesses can take a self-assessment to determine whether they can earn a Best Place for Working Parents designation, be featured as a Best Place for Working Parents case study, or join the Best Place for Working Parents Network.
Best Place for Kids! has been developed over several years by community leaders and organizations, “ignited by data that showed that while Fort Worth stands as the 13th largest city in the nation and boasts the fastest-growing employment sector, our children were not performing to their full potential.”