Thrive Demonstration Communities
The Thrive Demonstration Communities are local partnerships designed to serve as models for how a community-wide approach to early learning can improve the development of all children from birth to age 5 and their readiness to enter school.
Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, these communities are part of the Early Learning Initiative (ELI) that is designed to improve school readiness of Washington state’s children.
In 2006, White Center, located south of Seattle, and East Yakima were chosen to be the two Thrive Demonstration Communities because of their strong local leadership, diverse populations, size and community commitment to improving early learning.
Each community developed a continuum of programs for children birth to age 5 as well as their parents and caregivers. Some of the services and programs that will be offered include:
- home visitation for expectant families;
- play-and-learn groups for toddlers;
- resources to support language development and literacy;
- parenting activities; and
- a kindergarten transition program.
Both communities also are participating in the state’s field test of a quality rating and improvement system that offers child care providers coaching and resources to improve the quality of care they offer families and children.
White Center opened an Educare Center; a high-quality child care center based on the national Educare model. Read the series of quality briefs on the local Educare Center:
Lessons learned from White Center and East Yakima will be shared throughout the state, so that families across Washington benefit from this investment.
Princeton-based Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) has served as the third-party evaluator for the ELI and has been studying different aspects of the ELI. If you are interested in learning more about the Thrive Demonstration Community studies please see:
- The baseline study of existing services and quality of services in both communities:
- The kindergarten readiness study of the children and families in both communities:
- Executive Reports about the Thrive Demonstration Communities:
