Educational First Steps' mission is to increase the number of economically disadvantaged children receiving high-quality early childhood education . EFS partners with 93 daycare centers in at-risk neighborhoods, carrying out a results-driven program for becoming nationally accredited preschools, at no cost to the centers, teachers or parents. These centers progress from daycares providing little more than babysitting to nationally accredited early education centers that become anchors in their neighborhoods while preparing more children for school and life success. More than 6,500 at-risk children ages birth to 5 years old are receiving quality early education because of EFS’ investment.

EFS, which started in south Dallas, has grown to serve Tarrant, Denton, Johnson, Collin and Grayson counties, collaborating across 23 school districts. They are continually pushing the boundaries and aggressively scaling programs to place more students in quality learning environments.