Our Story

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters(HIPPY) is a is a 3-year (90 week) parent involvement and school readiness program in which learning and play go hand in hand. Using a structured curriculum, parents encourage their children to recognize shapes and colors, tell stories, follow directions, solve logical problems and acquire other school readiness skills.

What began as a small pilot program 40 years ago in Israel has grown into an international program in over 10 countries that remove the barriers to education such as poverty. Through its message of school readiness and parent involvement HIPPY has changed the lives of countless of families. Join us today in helping change the state of Texas.

Our Impact

HIPPY Texas is dedicated to promoting and supporting the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program and other early childhood family initiatives for Texas.  HIPPY utilizes an internationally recognized method of teaching parents of preschoolers how to prepare their young children for success in school. Our program empowers parents as primary educators of their children. We foster parent involvement in school and community life to maximize the chances of successful early school experiences. After all, home is where the start is.

Program Outcomes

• Parents with an enhanced sense of their own abilities and the satisfaction of teaching their children.
• Children with an opportunity for both fun and learning with their parents at home.
• Families with the support and guidance of trained peer home visitors and a professional coordinator.
• Schools with children who enter school ready to succeed and parents who are active and supportive.
• Home Instructors with a means of assuming leadership in the community and steps toward self-sufficiency and marketable skills.

With test scores and expectations for student achievement continuing to rise, it is more important than ever for children to enter school with the skills needed to succeed in the classroom and their parents to be knowledgeable and willing to support their child’s education at home and school. HIPPY accomplishes this through integrating parental involvement and school readiness with the AmeriCorps model of community service and civic involvement. This is done in partnership with local school districts that implement the program model and receive training, monitoring and support from HIPPY Texas.

Get Involved

There is no greater investment to be made than in the building a brighter tomorrow one child and one family at a time.  Whether your investment is time spent advocating for school readiness and parent involvement, volunteering to help as a HIPPY mentor, hosting a HIPPY event, or a donation to help offset thousands of dollars in federal match, everything you do makes a difference.

Without your support, the number of children who go without a preschool education will only increase. According to The State of Preschool, by the National Institute for Early Education Research, only 4 percent of Texas’ 3-year olds and 46 percent of 4-year olds are currently enrolled in Pre-K or Head Start. 

We all win when a child succeeds in school. Studies show that children in early childhood education programs are more likely to score higher in reading and math, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. For every dollar we invest in these programs, we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs, and less crime.

Take action and give now.

Enroll in a Program

The HIPPY program was designed to bring families, organizations and communities together and remove any barriers to participation that may include limited financial resources or lack of education. However, enrollment is not limited to low income families. Our program is implemented in neighborhoods that school districts have identified as having children who enter school unprepared all across the state.

In order to enroll yourself and your child:

1. Understand that as a parent, you are enrolling you and your child in the program. A home instructor will work with you each week on that week's activities. You will then work with your child on that week's activities. There are 30 weeks of activities for children age 3 and 4 and 15 weeks for age 5 children.
2. Verify that there is a HIPPY program in your area. View local TX HIPPY Sites. If you live in another state, go to https://hippyusa.ecwid.com to find out if there is a program near you.
3. Contact the local program nearest you in order to find out when they are conducting enrollments. Most HIPPY programs are operating during the school year with summers off.

Texas HIPPY Case for Support

In Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise, a 2005 publication by the Rand Corporation, the HIPPY program was highlighted as “the lowest-cost intervention with a benefit-cost analysis…estimated to generate benefits to society of nearly $2 for every dollar invested.”  Rand’s calculated benefit to society of $3,032 per child demonstrates that HIPPY generates $1.80 benefit for every $1 spent. Researchers further stated that “Because not all benefits from the interventions could be translated into dollar values, our benefit-cost estimates for effective programs are likely to be conservative.”They conclude that “the economic benefits of early childhood interventions are likely to be greater for programs that effectively serve targeted, disadvantaged children...”  This is precisely the population served by HIPPY in Texas, and is what makes investment in HIPPY so cost effective. 

Donate by Telephone
To make a donation be telephone, please contact the Texas HIPPY, State Director Carla Weir at 214-442-1660.

Donate by Mail
Donation checks or money orders can be mailed to:

Texas HIPPY Center
2904 Floyd St, Suite B3
Dallas, TX 75204

Please make checks payable to the Texas Parent Child Initiative.

Online Donations
Raise money for HIPPY by surfing the web! For every search you make through GoodSearch, 1cent will be donated to the Texas Parent Child Initiative. It's easy and doesn't cost you anything! Go to www.goodsearch.com, under "who do you goodsearch for?" enter Texas Parent Child Initiative, and then under that click on "add goodsearch to your toolbar". From then on, GoodSearch will appear at the top of your screen and each time you search the internet you will be giving HIPPY a penny for your thoughts!

The Texas Parent Child Initiative:  Promoting and Supporting HIPPY and early childhood family initiatives for Texas HIPPY: Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. All donations are tax deductible under IRS 501c3.

Volunteer

Serve on a Local HIPPY Advisory Council

Each local HIPPY program has a group of stakeholders and supporters that serve as a HIPPY Advisory Council. The members of the HIPPY Advisory Council support, inform and promote HIPPY in the local community. We are seeking advisors from a variety of backgrounds (education, social services, community based, churches, corporate / business, government) to serve on each of our local HIPPY Advisory Councils (see list of communities and expansion sites).

The responsibilities of the HIPPY Advisory council are to:

• Support and advise the HIPPY coordinator
• Advocate for HIPPY with local, state and national decision-makers including legislators, funders and stakeholders
• Further the program’s public image through public relations, marketing, media and other efforts
• Assess the program’s performance and provide input for improvement
• Look for possible volunteers and donations that can benefit the program

Meetings are held approximately 4 times per year, and last 2 hours, in a public meeting space in the local community.

If you are interested in supporting a local HIPPY program in an advisory capacity, please contact us!

Other volunteer opportunities include:

• Hosting an event to support HIPPY in your community
• Present at a parent meeting or training for home visitors
• Contacting your local decision-makers about the benefits of school readiness