Rose receives surprise award from Child Care Associates

Child Care Associates Early Investors Luncheon at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas on October 3, 2018. (Photo/Sharon Ellman )

BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose and Marquita Davis, Deputy Director of Early Learning at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Child Care Associates surprised BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose with an award at its Early Childhood Investors’ Luncheon on Oct. 3, 2018, at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel.

The inaugural North Texas Early Childhood Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership that is working to move the needle on child outcomes at scale in the region, the state of Texas, and beyond, the organization said in a news release.

Rose is the executive chairman of BNSF who will retire in 2019 and chairman of the Dallas Federal Reserve, represents a leader who has taken on this cause at many levels: personally, professionally and in the public space, the release said.

The luncheon walked through CCA’s fifty years of contributions to the community and detailed what’s to come.

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Marquita Davis, Deputy Director of Early Learning at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was the keynote speaker.

“Child Care Associates didn’t jump on the early education bandwagon,” said Child Care Associates CEO Kara Waddell. “Instead, we’ve helped build a bandwagon of support and are helping form a system of early education and care to ensure every child of every means can start kindergarten ready to be successful in school.”

Among those attending were the superintendents of four independent school district – Fort Worth, Arlington, Crowley and Everman – as well representatives of IDEA Public Charter, Tarleton University and Texas Christian University, the agency said.

“Your zip code in Tarrant County shouldn’t determine your ability to read at grade level,” Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price told the audience.

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Child Care Associates is the largest child development nonprofit in North Texas and has served over half a million young children in the past 48 years. Through Head Start and Early Head Start programs, Child Care Associates delivers early education that ensures at-risk children are ready to succeed in school.

The agency operates 23 child development centers in the greater Fort Worth and Arlington areas to serve approximately 2,300 children per year.

– FWBP Staff