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Breaking the Cycle

Empowering Children & Families to Thrive and Reach Their Fullest Potential In A Therapeutic Environment

Our Work & MISSION

Our mission is to champion the life changing power of high-quality early childhood education.

Our goal is to create an equitable landscape that creates high-quality opportunities to learn and grow—no matter what zip code a child lives in.

Working in the Third Ward and Sunnyside, Generation One is a living laboratory for education research and development. With high-quality early education, engaging after-school programming, and family support, Generation One empowers children and families to thrive and reach their fullest potential.

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The Why

Why Houston needs quality early education
for all our children:

When equity is a priority, it's a matter of justice. Trauma in children creates inequity. Inequity fuels injustice.

— Dr. Ivy Bonk,
Childhood Trauma Expert & Author

If students are not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, they are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.

— Dr. Donald J. Hernandez,
Double Jeopardy, How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation, a study for The Annie E. Casey Foundation

The single most powerful predictor of the ability to read at 3rd grade level is: Did you start kindergarten ready to learn and read?

— Dr. Stephen L. Klineberg,
Prophetic City: Houston on Cusp of a Changing America

Only 39% of HISD and 53% of Texas kindergarteners enter school kinder-ready (i.e. ready to read and learn).

— Good Reason Scorecard, 2020

Providing disadvantaged families with access to quality early childhood programs is critical to America’s immediate and long-term economic future.

Our Difference

We’re impacting the future of Houston.

1 to 8

Teacher to Student
Ratio

26%

Children Benefiting from a Comprehensive Package of Therapeutic Services

600+

Donors Make Sure Quality Education is Tuition Free

91%

Academy Students Transition to Kindergarten Ready to Learn

72%

Of Families are
Actively Engaged

Breaking the Cycle

Empowering Children & Families to Thrive and Reach Their Fullest Potential In A Therapeutic Environment

Our Work & MISSION

Our mission is to champion the life changing power of high-quality early childhood education.

The Why

Why Houston needs quality early education
for all our children:

When equity is a priority, it's a matter of justice. Trauma in children creates inequity. Inequity fuels injustice.

If students are not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, they are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.

The single most powerful predictor of the ability to read at 3rd grade level is: Did you start kindergarten ready to learn and read?

Only 39% of HISD and 53% of Texas kindergarteners enter school kinder-ready (i.e. ready to read and learn).

Per-pupil spending for poor students is too low in Texas

— Rice | Kinder Institute for Urban Research

When equity is a priority, it's a matter of justice. Trauma in children creates inequity. Inequity fuels injustice.

— Dr. Ivy Bonk

Providing disadvantaged families with access to quality early childhood programs is critical to America’s immediate and long-term economic future.

— The Heckman Equation

If students are not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, they are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.

— The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Minorities and children with a mental illness disproportionately comprise the school to prison pipeline.

— Shared Justice

Our Difference

We’re impacting the future of Houston.

1 to 8

26%

600+

91%

72%

Our Programs

We work with the youngest learners in our community to break the cycle of the impact poverty, continued stress, trauma and grief brings.

Explore

The Academy

Explore

Next Gen

Explore

Empowered
Families

Support Us

Our kids are brilliant. You can help them shine.

Breaking the Cycle

Empowering Children & Families to Thrive and Reach Their Fullest Potential In A Therapeutic Environment

Our Work & MISSION

Our mission is to champion the life changing power of high-quality early childhood education.

The Why

Why Houston needs quality early education for all our children:

When equity is a priority, it's a matter of justice. Trauma in children creates inequity. Inequity fuels injustice.

If students are not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, they are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.

The single most powerful predictor of the ability to read at 3rd grade level is: Did you start kindergarten ready to learn and read?

Only 39% of HISD and 53% of Texas kindergarteners enter school kinder-ready (i.e. ready to read and learn).

Per-pupil spending for poor students is too low in Texas

— Rice | Kinder Institute for Urban Research

When equity is a priority, it's a matter of justice. Trauma in children creates inequity. Inequity fuels injustice.

— Dr. Ivy Bonk

Providing disadvantaged families with access to quality early childhood programs is critical to America’s immediate and long-term economic future.

— The Heckman Equation

If students are not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, they are 4 times more likely to drop out of school.

— The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Minorities and children with a mental illness disproportionately comprise the school to prison pipeline.

— Shared Justice

Our Difference

We’re impacting the future of Houston.

1 to 8

26%

600+

91%

72%

Our Programs

We work with the youngest learners in our community to break the cycle of the impact poverty, continued stress, trauma and grief brings.

Explore

The Academy

Explore

Next Gen

Explore

EmpoweredFamilies

Support Us

Our kids are brilliant. You can help them shine.

Why Houston needs quality early education
for all our children:

Empowered
Families