The Kronkosky Charitable Foundation is pleased to report on its year ended December 31, 2012. The Foundation serves residents of Bandera, Bexar, Comal, and Kendall counties in Texas by awarding grants across the wide range of charitable purposes summarized in the Foundation's Program Guidelines. During 2012, 138 grants totaling $15.2 million were approved for 125 non-profit organizations covering all four counties in the service area of the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation.  These grants are made possible by the remarkable generosity of the Kronkoskys. Our communities are fortunate to benefit from the dedicated work done by thousands of caring staff and volunteers who carry out the missions of numerous non-profit agencies that serve our communities in so many areas of need. The organizations we fund are valued partners in the work of the Foundation.

In 2012 the Foundation recommenced making capital grants after several years in which grants were principally operating grants.

The Precious Minds, New Connections Initiative continues to be a major thrust of the Foundation and is the largest privately funded initiative that focuses on parents and young children in Bexar and surrounding counties. The objective of the Precious Minds, New Connections Initiative is to help parents understand the importance of the first three years of life when their child’s brain is developing so rapidly.  Parents are exposed to information and skills that help maximize their child’s potential during this critical time.  Ultimately, we hope to have a positive effect on every family with a young child in our service area.

The Foundation funded 20 parenting education programs during 2012 with funding of approximately $3.1 million.  Partner agencies are equipped with everything from parent educators, meals, childcare, incentives and data management services.  See the Precious Minds, New Connections section of this Website for more information on this important initiative of the Foundation.

A unique aspect of this Initiative is the ongoing training and networking that the Foundation supports.  We have found that there is energy and power that is both created and harnessed by bringing program managers together on at least a bi-monthly basis and having all parent educators meet on a quarterly basis. 

We hosted four Parent Educator Forums and provided top-notch training in areas that the PMNC grantees indicated in their grant application as topics of great interest.  Two of the Parent Educator Forums dealt with Domestic Violence:  one Forum addressed the overall issue in San Antonio and the second focused on the effect that domestic violence has on the young children, particularly in terms of brain development.  Another Forum focused a half-day on alcohol and substance abuse in families with young children and a half-day on Teaching Tips for group facilitation.   Finally, in November we had a Forum that was a true “working day.”  Parent Educators worked on developing activities to support the Nurturing Curriculum.  As a result of that Forum, we are now finalizing a book of over 70 activities to assist parent educators in keeping their classes vibrant and new.   We want to acknowledge and thank our Forum speakers who helped make each Forum a success:  Patricia Castillo, Trish Frye, Krista del Gallo, Dr. Lenore Strocchia Rivera, Dr. Jolyn Mikow and Lorene Dillard.  We also want to thank McKenna Systems for allowing us to use its facility for our PMNC Parent Educator Forums. 

Aside from hosting our own educational Forums, we also participate in community-wide trainings. In 2012, our Parent Educators again attended the Diversity Conference held in conjunction with the Jewish Community Center.  In addition, Program Managers participated in the Congress for Children held annually in San Antonio.   

Last year all of our site-based programs converted to the Nurturing Curriculum and it has been extremely successful.  Programs expanded their classes to 10 sessions and retention has improved.  Parents love the curriculum and the educators do as well.  In 2012, we printed our first Precious Minds, New Connections brochure that includes information about PMNC and lists each participating agency.  We are excited about the opportunity for greater outreach into the community.

The Precious Minds, New Connections Initiative includes grant making in the area of parenting education as well as funding other programs within the community that promote early brain development of infants and toddlers. We suggest that non-profit agencies active in every program area of the Foundation consider how their work affects early childhood development. We anticipate funding early childhood programs in museums, parks, libraries and other areas. We hope this initiative will help put our service area on the leading edge of developing child-centered communities.