Thrive by Five Washington champions positive early learning opportunities for every child, from birth to age five, so that they are ready to succeed in school and thrive in life. Thrive by Five partners with parents, early learning professionals, communities, philanthropic organizations, businesses and government to develop a sustainable system for statewide early learning improvement—strengthening families and ensuring that all children in Washington experience positive, early learning environments.

History

In 2005, Governor Gregoire and the Washington State Legislature began an effort to promote quality early learning and parenting and significantly improve Washington’s ability to ensure that all children are ready to succeed in school and thrive in life.

In November 2006, Washington Learns, the 18-month comprehensive study to examine Washington state’s education system launched by Governor Gregoire issued its Final Report. The report includes recommendations developed by an Early Learning Advisory Committee composed of experts and community leaders from across the state.

In 2006, as momentum was building to create the Department of Early Learning to coordinate state-funded early learning programs and policy recommendations were being developed, public and private funding partners joined to create Thrive by Five Washington, an organization designed to serve as a catalyst for improvements to parenting education and support, child care, preschool, and other early learning environments throughout Washington.

As a Washington nonprofit corporation, Thrive By Five is governed by a board of directors consisting of funding partners. Early steering committee members have formed the core of an advisory committee that helps guide Thrive by Five’s strategic efforts.

A diverse group of public and private partners has come together to create and support Thrive by Five because of a belief that public-private partnerships combine the assets of each sector to help achieve sustainable social change. The public sector offers experience, considerable public resources and infrastructure, and political legitimacy. Private organizations, such as foundations and businesses, bring expertise, credibility, nimbleness, rigor, and flexible funding to an issue.

Many funders have made multi-year commitments to Thrive by Five as well as intentionally aligning some of their own efforts to support Thrive By Five goals.

These are some of the Thrive by Five activities undertaken across Washington so far:

"A diverse group of public and private partners has come together to create and support Thrive by Five Washington. Public-private partnerships combine the assets of each sector to help achieve sustainable social change."