Press Release: CHILDREN AT RISK Launches Houston-Area Early Childhood Education Alliance

TEXAS (Dec 17, 2025) – Texas continues to face an escalating child care crisis. Without access to stable, high-quality early learning, children are less likely to enter kindergarten ready to succeed, contributing to long-term educational and economic disparities. To confront this growing divide, CHILDREN AT RISK (C@R) has launched Strong Start: Greater Houston Early Childhood Education Alliance, a regional initiative that gathers key stakeholders to build unified approach to a funded, aligned, and coordinated early learning system that supports access to high-quality, affordable child care for families with children ages 0–8. 

Between 2023 and 2024, Texas lost 75,000 child care seats, intensifying a shortage that affects 420 of the state’s 1,933 ZIP codes—and 778 ZIP codes for low-income families. Harris County mirrors this emergency, with an insufficient supply of child care in 87% of its ZIP codes, particularly impacting working families with limited resources. 

“Strong Start represents a united regional response to a statewide crisis,” said Dr. Bob Sanborn, CEO and President of CHILDREN AT RISK. “Our goal is ambitious but simple: ensure every Houston-area child enters kindergarten ready to learn and thrive, and that every parent has access to the reliable, high-quality child care they need to work and support their family.”   

Leading this initiative, Santrice Jones-Hare, who currently serves as the Director, Early Childhood Initiatives for Harris County, will join C@R mid-January 2026 as the founding Director of the Strong Start Alliance. Jones-Hare brings approximately two decades of expertise in early childhood education and cross-sector systems integration. Her background includes serving as a teacher and principal in Houston ISD, and working within nonprofit and government to support early childhood. Her expertise spans instructional leadership, child care provider support, systems-building, and cross-agency collaboration.  

“The early childhood needs of the Greater Houston area are urgent and it will take each of us to meet them,” says Santrice Jones-Hare, incoming Director of Strong Start. “Through continued collaboration from early childhood stakeholders including government, businesses, funders, nonprofits, education entities and the community at large we will continue to build a stronger, more connected ecosystem that will expand access, improve quality, and elevate opportunities for all young children. I am honored to step into this role and work alongside our partners to ensure Strong Start becomes a catalyst for lasting change across our region.”   

By embedding early childhood solutions within public schools, higher education, workforce systems, early care, and local initiatives, the Alliance will leverage existing infrastructure to accelerate impact.  

Strong Start will be guided by a developing steering committee that brings together cross-sector expertise, elevating perspectives from local government, business leaders, child care stakeholders, philanthropy, and nonprofit partners serving the Greater Houston area. With an official launch set for January 2026, the Strong Start Alliance is continuing to build its core membership in alignment with the initiative’s first goals. 

Under Jones-Hare’s leadership, the Strong Start Alliance will: 

• Design a unified strategic plan for strengthening ECE quality, access, workforce development, and family engagement. 
• Support leveraging resources, including the exploration of philanthropic investment and long-term public funding options. 
• Coordinate regional providers and partners, ensuring that efforts align rather than duplicate existing work. 
• Advocate for policies and investments that support high-quality early learning for all Houston-area children.