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Worthy Convos: Parent Pass App Is the Ultimate Resource for Families
They say necessity is the mother of invention but in the case of Parent Pass, dads played a role too in creating this unique app specifically designed for Fort Worth families and caregivers. Free and easy to use, the Parent Pass app is the ultimate resource for anyone with children. What began as an idea to better serve and connect the many families in our growing community is now a dedicated organization living up to its name, The Best Place for Kids. The Parent Pass App is available for download on Google Play or the Apple App Store.
Responses by Sadie Funk and Sara Redington of Best Place for Kids!®
Let’s start with the mission and origin of Best Place for Kids. How did this movement come about?
In 2015, The Miles Foundation began hosting quarterly convenings with leaders from business, philanthropy, education, healthcare, nonprofit and government to discuss how we could come together to build a “whole community” approach to education in Tarrant County. This initial vision evolved into The Best Place for Kids!®, a public-private partnership that focuses on connecting local families with local education opportunities, events and community resources to help them thrive.
What was the reason for developing the Parent Pass app?
Parent Pass™ was developed in response to local families sharing that they spent too much time searching for and connecting to resources – and to community partners who said they struggled to find and connect with every family they wished to serve.
We saw an opportunity to leverage technology to help address this need and ensure every family could have access to the plethora of opportunities and resources available in our community. We engaged with 10 local Fort Worth neighborhood community organizations and 100-plus parents across the city to begin to build, from vision to execution, an app that would help local families connect to one another, events across the city and the amazing community resources that we have here in Tarrant County.
The app has been in development for two years. What was happening during that time?
Our Best Place for Kids!® team and more than 100 Fort Worth families spent a collective 2,200 hours over the past two years co-designing and co-developing Parent Pass™. This included bi-monthly meetings with those families to set the initial vision, brainstorm and iterate on the design and detail how the app would function.
Parent Pass™ had a soft launch in March of 2022 and over the next six months we continued our partnership with parents to pilot the app. They provided feedback and guidance on each iteration, tweak, and update to ensure Parent Pass™ was easy to use, relevant and, most importantly, helpful to them.
Parent Pass™ officially launched to the public in October 2022 with a community-wide celebration at the Dream Park.
We continue to make updates and upgrades on a regular basis with an eye toward ensuring the app is even easier to use and more customizable for families’ individual needs. This past fall, we hosted a Parent Pass Birthday Bash which attracted thousands of attendees and over 25 community partners at Fort Worth’s iconic Dream Park. We are growing rapidly and have big plans to reach even more families in 2024.
Today, Parent Pass™ exists as a hyper-local app for parents and caregivers that provides instant access to vetted social services, neighborhood events, and local education resources, as well as a larger network of parents in their community. Due to user demand, we recently expanded to all of Tarrant County with more than 8,000 families using Parent Pass™ to ease their parenting journey.
As a parent, what feature do you find most beneficial or exciting?
I love the parent-to-parent chat and the daily events. Having a network of thousands of parents and caregivers that I can ask about eczema creams or potty-training tips just lessens my mental load – letting me be part of a parenting village versus an island of one.
I also love the events section. It makes weekend planning quick, and our actual weekends better as we explore new parks, discounted museum features and festivals I wouldn’t otherwise have known about!
Looking ahead, I’m really excited about an upgrade we’ll be adding to our childcare search tool that will provide customized support to our local families in finding child care that works for them AND that will incorporate after school and summer camp options.
What role did community partners play in launching this program?
Our 70-plus community partners have played an instrumental role in the growth and success of Parent Pass™. They continue to help spread the word about this one-stop-shop resource for Tarrant County parents, and they make sure we have the most up-to-date resources and events listed on Parent Pass™ every single day. They also provide free activities, educational programming, and other key resources for families at our Parent Pass™ events across the community. In short, we couldn’t have Parent Pass™ without them!
Why is Fort Worth the perfect city for something like the Parent Pass App?
As the 13th largest city in the nation where more than 36% of our households have children, Fort Worth ranks second across the U.S. for the number of families with children in a large city – and that is for a reason. Fort Worth has some of the best educational opportunities, entertainment, neighborhoods, outdoor recreation options and employment opportunities in the country. The problem was that too many parents didn’t know about the amazing resources that were out there waiting for them and their families.
In addition, Fort Worth is a city with an innovative, collaborative spirit. We have an active, engaged Mayor (Mattie Parker) whose vision is laser-focused on economic growth through being THE Best Place for Kids. With her support, alongside that of the city government partners like the library, local non-profits, Fort Worth families, and community partners, Fort Worth has all the ingredients to be able to build and sustain a first-of-its-kind, all-in-one app that walks parents through each step of their parenting journey.
This love for community has enabled Parent Pass™ to thrive in Fort Worth, and we look forward to continuing our growth in Tarrant County.
We live in a digital world and are sometimes more trusting of technology than we should be. How is the app providing safeguards and protecting sensitive information?
Parent Pass™ was built to respect the safety and privacy concerns of parents. User information (and that of their children) is never sold or shared with third parties. Parents can choose their own display name for use in the chat.
Built into the app are safeguards against inappropriate content, language, or pictures being posted. Also, users have the ability to report anything within the app that may find inappropriate. Additionally, our Parent Pass™ manager monitors the app daily to ensure content and conversations are relevant and appropriate.
We also understood that parents were looking for more than just Google or Facebook. They were looking for a place to seek information across vetted resources. Parent Pass™ provides this vetted experience through the Parent-to-Parent Chat section where parents can talk honestly and learn what worked for other parents, learn from vetted resources developed by experts about your child’s development, and also get local reviews on key community resources. Even better, it hosts a community calendar of events happening across the city from partners we know and trust like Boys and Girls Club and the Fort Worth Library.
How does a community change when we start focusing on kids and parents?
Everyone reaps the rewards. When families are put at the center, diverse partners in a city can come together to build a comprehensive and innovative solutions like Parent Pass™ that benefits our families of today and lays the foundation for a brighter future. When we focus on supporting a thriving workforce by embracing policies that work for parents and businesses, such as our sister initiative Best Place for Working Parents®, it creates a home for increased economic growth and development, and a sustainable strategy for attracting businesses, families and leaders to places where they can thrive.
