A class of 2-year-old students dance at the Child Care Studio at Rise in Fort Worth’s Las Vegas Trail neighborhood on May 7, 2026.
Lina Ruiz
lruiz@star-telegram.com
A new childcare center was unveiled in Fort Worth’s Las Vegas Trail neighborhood on Thursday, expanding childcare options in a community that’s awaited the new center for almost a decade.
Families and public officials celebrated the recent opening of the Child Care Studio at Rise, located on Calmont Avenue, that will soon provide more than 100 childcare seats to infants, toddlers and preschoolers in west Fort Worth. The center’s opening was long anticipated after Fort Worth City Council member Michael Crain said the idea to build a childcare facility in the area had first been proposed about nine years ago. Crain’s council district includes the Las Vegas Trail area.
Crain noted how investment in the community was driven by service rather than politics, as there aren’t many active voters in the area.
“Residents have made it clear: access to quality childcare isn’t a luxury. It’s essential. It’s essential for working parents, for economic stability and for creating real opportunity. When we invest in early learning right here in the neighborhood, we’re not just supporting families, we’re strengthening our workforce and setting our children on a path to succeed during the most critical years of their development,” Crain said.
Fort Worth City Council member Michael Crain looks at ladybugs with children enrolled at the Child Care Studio at Rise in Fort Worth’s Las Vegas Trail neighborhood on May 7, 2026. Lina Ruiz lruiz@star-telegram.com
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, Fort Worth City Council member Alan Blaylock and Tarrant County Public Health Director Brian Byrd, who formerly served on the City Council, were also in attendance.
The Child Care Studio at Rise is the first childcare center in the area to provide Early Head Start and Head Start, a federal-to-local program that provides services such as childcare to qualifying families. The center also serves families who pay private tuition or receive other forms of tuition assistance.
Kara Waddell, CEO and president of Child Care Associates, reiterated how childcare infrastructure allows parents to go to work while their children receive early learning services that prepare them for kindergarten. Child Care Associates, one of the largest child development nonprofits in Texas, operates the new center alongside several others in the Tarrant County area.
“We all recognize the wonder and importance of the early years. It’s a really special time of life, and it’s why places like this matter,” Waddell said. “Despite twists, turns, setbacks and even a pandemic, what never changed was this community’s commitment to ensure the children and families of Las Vegas Trail would have infrastructure like this.”
Child Care Associates President and CEO Kara Waddell speaks during a ribbon-cutting event for the Child Care Studio at Rise in Fort Worth’s Las Vegas Trail neighborhood on May 7, 2026. Lina Ruiz lruiz@star-telegram.com
LayToya Perry, mother of 2-year-old LaMoni who is enrolled at the center, said she’s been eagerly waiting for it to open for years and was “amazed” by how spacious the classrooms are, the measures that are in place to keep the children safe and the access to nature in the outdoor learning area. Her commute to the Child Care Studio at Rise is about eight minutes, and she previously commuted more than 30 minutes to take LaMoni to his previous child care site.
“Child Care Associates really, really comes in handy for me, not only cost wise, but I feel like they actually care about the kids,” Perry said. “The communication here is beyond amazing for me and knowing that if anything happens, I’m right up the street, I can get here quickly. And that right there, as a mother, really makes you feel even better.”
Several local, state and federal partners contributed to the center, including the PNC Foundation, which funded the outdoor learning area. During the Thursday event, children played at a sensory table with water and sand, hopped across tree stumps and admired ladybugs outside.
A group of 3- and 4-year-old students play with sand and water at a sensory table in the outdoor learning area of the Child Care Studio at Rise in Fort Worth’s Las Vegas Trail Neighborhood on May 7, 2026. Lina Ruiz lruiz@star-telegram.com
The Child Care Studio at Rise is the latest of six centers opening across Tarrant County that are operated by Child Care Associates. The centers are beginning to open to families years after local officials pledged to invest millions of federal COVID-19 relief funding into infant and toddler classrooms.
The Child Care Studio at Riverside in central Fort Worth was the first of these to open in November 2024. Two centers at Tarrant County College’s south and northwest campuses are slated to open in the fall, according to Child Care Associates. Two other centers located in Arlington and in Fort Worth’s Stop Six neighborhood are still in development.
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Lina Ruiz covers early childhood education in Tarrant County and North Texas for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. A University of Florida graduate, she previously wrote about local government in South Florida for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers.