Fortress

It is with profound sadness that we make this announcement. Despite good faith efforts of community partners and donors and the tireless work of our staff, the Board and executive leadership of Fortress have made the difficult and final decision to close permanently effective Friday, September 26, 2025.

The Board previously announced a pending closure in February 2025. Community investments rushed in, enabling us to keep our doors open through May, while our donor base rallied to keep us open through September. We used that blessing of extra time to continue serving children and families while also restructuring our funding and operating models for long-term sustainability. It became clear in recent weeks that a tough decision needed to be made. Fortress leadership has communicated with the 46 Fortress families currently enrolled in our programs, and the 24 staff members we employ, to let them know how they will be supported during this time.

Support for Fortress Families
We’re grateful to our partners at Center for Transforming Lives (CTL) who are supporting the smooth transition of the two CTL Early Head Start classrooms operating on the Fortress campus. We are also grateful to the Bethlehem Center for absorbing our After School students into their program and to Child Care Associates (CCA) who is helping our remaining Fortress families locate Texas Rising Star child care providers near their homes or work. CCA will also help ensure that Fortress families have updated paperwork with the Texas Workforce Commission’s Child Care Scholarship program. This program is oversubscribed statewide, with a waitlist in Tarrant County that tops 23,000 children. This is difficult news not just for Fortress families, but all lower-income families struggling to work and access support resources to afford quality child care.

Support for Fortress Staff
CCA is conducting on-site rapid cycle interviews and job offers this week to help place our educators into immediate positions within their vast network of early childhood education centers, and to facilitate networking opportunities with other Texas Rising Star providers and nonprofit organizations. As Fortress's Executive Director, I am deeply grateful to CCA for this opportunity, but I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that it is a viable option only because of our staff's hard work, dedication, and commitment to Fortress's mission. Despite the hardship of the last six months, Fortress's program team has maintained our 4-star Texas Rising Star rating, the highest achievement possible by the quality rating system that governs child care centers in Texas. Any early childhood education center will be blessed to have our excellent teachers on their team.

Our Impact
I am so proud of the legacy we’ve built and the lives we’ve been privileged to change. Since 2005, Fortress has been committed to ensuring that low-income families have access to high-quality children’s programming. We’ve blended social-emotional learning with developmental milestones, kindergarten readiness, literacy initiatives, and imaginative play to give kids the best possible foundations from which to grow. We instilled the belief that we are all children of God with the ability to achieve our dreams.

Rather than simply providing for parents, we partnered with them to create avenues for meaningful buy-in even when monetary contributions weren’t possible. Because consistent, dependable child care was available, dozens of parents were afforded the opportunity to complete their education, obtain job skills training, and to establish work histories that propelled them toward long-term stability, ultimately breaking cycles of generational poverty. Countless hours were invested by families into parenting classes, engagement opportunities, and community involvement. Some of the hardest working, most dedicated parents I've ever known have been Fortress parents. I am forever changed because of the lessons in tenacity, resilience, and gratitude that they've shown me.

Gratitude
Fortress wishes to thank the numerous foundations, churches, corporations, and individual supporters who stepped up to support us throughout the years. We owe gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers who enhanced our mission through their hands-on, servant-hearted work. Our efforts were multiplied exponentially by the organizations and community partners who walked alongside us to provide additional services such as our community pantry, mental health counseling, yoga and mindfulness, academic diagnostics, on-site therapies, and professional development. We have truly been part of a beautiful village.

We will remain eternally grateful for the care our Historic Southside neighbors entrusted to us and for the resources our donors allowed us to steward.

We trust we've been a blessing to the 1,700 children and youth we served over the last 20 years. While we bookend our chapter in direct service, we are heartened to know that our Fortress families will continue to be supported by a community of nonprofits, churches, and citizens whose efforts will ultimately continue our mission of “building bridges from poverty to promise.”

Children have always been the heart of Fortress, and it has been our greatest honor to grow alongside them. Thank you for making that possible.