Houston Office

State Headquarters

CDF-Texas works to ensure a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life for the more than 6 million children who call Texas "home".

In 1999, CDF-Texas began with a focus on child health to address the state's highest-in-the-nation rate of uninsured children. CDF-Texas has not only been the leader in state policy advances for children's health care coverage, but also established the now independent Texas Early Childhood Education Coalition. Now in its second decade, CDF-Texas continues to lead with innovative, nationally recognized campaigns for child health, poverty, youth leadership development, and juvenile justice efforts.

CDF-Texas has led collaborative, statewide and grassroot mobilization efforts, both in advocacy and public awareness and outreach, to ensure that every Texas child has seamless access to the quality, affordable health care coverage children need to grow and thrive.

Some highlights include:

Mobilizing regional coordinators in ten cities across the state to advocate for and restore the Texas CHIP program. Leading the 650 member, 16 county, Gulf Coast CHIP Coalition for three years to engage key community, faith, business, health and media partners in enrolling more than 90,000 Harris County children in affordable health coverage.

CDF educates working families about financial literacy basics, including free tax preparation VITA sites, and claiming tax credits like the Earned Income Credit and Child Tax Credit.

CDF-Texas innovates with youth development and intergenerational leadership models to improve childhood literacy and close the educational achievement gaps during summer and out of school time with its CDF Freedom Schools program. There are a growing number of participating sites statewide that are transforming communities, one mind at a time.

See our growing list of partners