ParentChild+
Mission Amarillo is part of a nationwide network of ParentChild+ sites stepping in with early intervention to ensure under-resourced families can prepare their children to start school on equal footing with more privelaged families.
Loving & Equipping
Mission Amarillo is part of nationwide network of ParentChild+ sites working with underprivileged and under-resourced families to help love our neighbor and equip them for life.
We step in with early intervention to ensure these families can prepare their children to start school on equal footing with other children, opening the door wide to equal possibilities from the start.
Families in ParentChild+
- Have at least one child who is 18 months-4 years
- Receive twice weekly visits in their own homes
- Receive 92 visits over the two-year program
- Receive at least 24 books and 22 educational toys or activities to keep using with all the children in the home.
Our consistent presence in the children’s homes is another way we live out our theme verse, “Let us not love in word or thought, but in actions and in truth,” 1 John 3:18. We become actively involved in the lives of the parents, helping our refugee neighbors navigate the difficulty of adapting to a new culture, giving them a consistent presence they can rely on.
Children who participate have:
- 30% higher graduation rates than their socioeconomic peers who did not have the program.
- 50% less likely of a need for Special Education services.
- Better performance on assessments and standardized tests than their peers without the program.
- Increased lifetime earning potential by up to 1 million dollars due to starting out on the pathway to success.
Christy Jalbert
Christy Jalbert has been the coordinator of Mission Amarillo’s ParentChild+ since 2015. Christy received her degree in Education from Texas A&M University and taught in the public school system for many years. After working with children in poverty and seeing the struggles they had in school, she decided to partner with Mission Amarillo to bring ParentChild+ to Amarillo.
Now she is helping low income parents ensure their children are getting the critical language development they need before starting school. ParentChild+ graduates are starting school ready and are 30% more like to go on to graduate from high school. Christy has been married to her wonderfully supportive husband, Luke, for 24 years and they have one son in college and another son in high school. Their family is involved in Mercy Church and likes to spend time outdoors together.
Register.
We serve families that face significant challenges to success including poverty, language barriers, teen parents, single parents, grandparents raising grandchildren, and more.
If you are interested in this program or know of a family who could benefit from it, please fill out the Referral Form below.
Join Our Team.
We hire and train our own Early Learning Specialists from our community. We love to hire parents that have completed the program, as well as people who speak the languages of our program families.
If you are interested in part-time employment as an Early Learning Specialist, please fill out the ELS Employment Interest Form.
Love & Equip with us.
Mission Amarillo is dependent on our generous donors that make all we do possible. If you would like to contribute financially, become a mentor, or support our events, we’d love to collaborate together to love and equip in Amarillo, Tx.