Every Child Counts

The mission of Every Child Counts is to improve the lives of children who live in situations that threaten their physical and emotional health and well-being through targeted programs, advocacy and support.

The vision of Every Child Counts is for all children living in Delaware County to live happily, without hunger or poverty, without exposure to traumas and with equal access to high quality education.

ECC’s mission is to improve the lives of children living in high-risk situations. We work with victims and survivors of trauma, children living in foster care and those who live in poverty. We recognize that the higher the educational achievements of a community, the lower the poverty level. Barriers to educational and professional success include hunger, housing instability, increased crime, increased childhood trauma and exposure to violence in general. In Delaware County, ECC seeks to address many of these barriers with our four programs: Thriving After Adversity, Helping Hands at Holidays, A New Beginning and Operation Graduate.

Our Programs

Helping Hands 

Impact: 1,292 kids and their families served in 2025

The recipients of this program are children who are homeless, in foster care, those who are victims or survivors of child abuse and those who live in poverty. Our goal is to help these children achieve their highest potential. Every child deserves to be happy, safe and loved. Ideally, they should be well fed, be able to thrive in school, have needed supplies, clothing, shoes and a safe place to sleep. Unfortunately, this is not often the case. At ECC we recognize that the lack of these necessities may hamper a child’s ability to achieve to the best of their ability. Our goal is to continue to provide food, school supplies and clothing to support the children and their families.

A New Beginning 

Impact: 721 youth served in 2025

This program runs year long and is specific for children who are homeless and those who are placed into foster care. Years of research show that these children are more likely to be hungry, to have difficulty concentrating in school and therefore, struggle academically, mentally and socially as compared to their peers.  The goal of this program is to provide an easier transition from homelessness so that families can focus on healing and feeling whole again.

Thriving After Adversity

Impact: 142 youths served in 2025

The goal for the participants of this program is that we help children to heal after trauma. Child abuse crosses all socioeconomic and educational levels, all religions, cultures and ethnic groups. ECC seeks to decrease the cycle of violence in our community and reduce revictimization by teaching survivors about resilience through trauma informed care. There is adequate access to talk therapy in our county, but for those not ready to talk about their trauma, there is a paucity of intervention. ECC plans to provide alternative forms of trauma focused therapies: Art therapy, Yoga, Music therapy and dance/movement therapy.

Operation Graduate –
Bright Futures for Kids in Delaware County 

Impact: 25 kids served in 2025

The goal of this program is to help high school students achieve their goal of attending and graduating from college. These
students are chosen based on their risk status. Recognizing that the higher the educational achievements of a community, the lower the poverty level, we aim to slowly, over time raise the educational level of our impoverished areas in Delaware County to improve the social determinants of health. ECC provides college supplies, mentors and in 2020, began providing monetary scholarships for students.