In 1985, a small group of Texans from faith and community-based groups joined together to form the "CARE Coalition” (Children Abused, Rejected and Endangered) for children. The group's aim was to give a more unified voice to the needs of Texas children, for the first time providing a powerful influence on state decisions centered around the multifaceted needs of children.
Phil Strickland, director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, chaired the group for many years. He went about this work by gathering information about what children in communities needed, determining what state policies could make a difference, and ensuring Texas legislators got the word. Each year, more victories for children and families in Texas emerged, as Phil and his band of Coalition members continued to seek more improvements for kids.
In 1996, the CARE Coalition incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Now called Texans Care for Children, the agency became the only multi-issue children's advocacy group in the state to bring together a vast array of public, private, and nonprofit partners for the sole purpose of improving Texas children's lives.
Among Texans Care for Children's accomplishments are the following:
Facilitating the establishment of a Council on Children and Families, consisting of top-level state agency leaders, to ensure children's needs are met
Working successfully to bring about reform and increased funding in Child Protective Services
Pushing for passage of laws that provide health care coverage for more than a million previously uninsured Texas children
Improving children's access to nutrition and physical education in schools and communities through policy advocacy to prevent childhood obesity
Giving hundreds of thousands of low-income families free guides to child health and development
Bringing together families, nonprofit groups, and policy leaders each month to arrive at consensus about policy solutions and strategies to improve children's health, safety, financial security at home, mental health, and juvenile justice
Getting Texas to increase its investment in quality early education and preschool programs
Training everyday Texans throughout the state to advocate for children on issues that matter to them
Bringing champions for children to the Capitol every legislative session to give voice to children's needs
Garnering widespread media attention for and public awareness about children's issues, including through the Children's Campaign biennial report and other reports on how children in Texas are faring
