Meet the Partners!
Candor & Co Consulting
Candor & Co. brings expertise in early childhood systems and strategy development, solving complex challenges, and building capacity for partners. The firm focuses on high-quality implementation and driving meaningful outcomes for children, families, and communities.
Early Excellence Project (EEP)
EEP is dedicated to narrowing opportunity gaps by supporting Black and marginalized children through accessible and successful center-based and home-based child care models. They prioritize equity, sustainable job creation, and innovative designs to improve child care outcomes.
The Learning Lamp
The Learning Lamp serves children in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains region through early childhood education and a shared services hub. They provide critical supports such as credentialing, HR assistance, behavior management, and funding guidance to child care providers in their service area.
Trying Together
Trying Together supports high-quality early childhood care and education through advocacy, community resources, and professional growth opportunities. The organization has a long history of serving the needs of children, families, and early learning professionals, driven by equity and racial justice.
Wright Child Care Solutions (WCS)
WCS operates a network of Keystone STAR 4 and NAEYC-accredited centers, serving over 500 children in Allegheny County. They focus on creating safe, nurturing environments that support children’s development while building strong community connections.
About Civitas Strategies
Founded in 2009, Civitas Strategies has grown to become a leading management consulting firm with a national reach. With a strong focus on sectors such as forgotten small businesses, early learning, college readiness, K-12 education, workforce development, economic and community development, philanthropy, and youth development, they have made a significant difference in the lives of millions of families and children across the nation.
The Civitas Strategies team is comprised of diverse professionals with extensive expertise and a passion for learning in entrepreneurship, program development, and fundraising. With their collective knowledge and experience, they bring a unique perspective to every project, delivering innovative and tailored solutions that drive tangible results for their clients.
The team is dedicated to revitalizing forgotten businesses and supporting the stabilization of industries in need across the nation. Civitas Strategies’ primary focus is on providing business coaching and training at scale, and empowering small enterprises with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive. As they navigate the post-pandemic landscape, Civitas Strategies is actively involved in supporting recovering economies and developing innovative resources and systems to ensure long-term sustainability for small businesses.
What sets Civitas Strategies apart from competitors is their unique value proposition:
Niche Expertise: They specialize in supporting small to mid-sized businesses and mission-driven organizations, an often overlooked and underserved segment.
Scale and Impact: Their products and services are utilized by tens of thousands of organizations, which impacts millions of families and children in communities across the country.
Measurable Results: Their work has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in new resources and efficiency gains for their clients.
Accessibility: They offer many of their products freely, eliminating financial barriers to best practices and leveraging public-serving investments.
Mission-Driven Adaptability: They proudly embrace their mission-driven philosophy, leveraging their unique for-profit status to remain agile and uninhibited, empowering them to generously share their innovations and intellectual property for the greater good.
Throughout their history, Civitas Strategies has achieved significant milestones and recognition:
Founded in 2009 by Gary Romano, leveraging his extensive experience in public and private sector planning.
Completed the Million Family and Child Challenge in less than three years, exceeding their goal of positively impacting more than a million families and children.
Renowned for its effectiveness, their recruitment approach, Lean Recruitment, impacts organizations worldwide.
Selected for the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses National Cohort in 2019, accelerating their growth and expansion plans.
Since 2020, their projects have resulted in more than 80,000 coaching interactions with family and center child care providers and leveraged more than $130 million in federal tax credits and more than $4.8 billion in stabilization funding.
Their vision is to empower vital organizations to thrive while making a positive impact on families and the economy. At the heart of their endeavors, they diligently weave equity into every aspect of their work, fostering inclusivity, diversity, and fairness to empower and uplift all those they touch. Sustainability and philanthropy are integral to their values, as they maintain a zero-impact operation and contribute a minimum of 15% of their net profit through cash donations or pro-bono work each year.
Their services primarily cater to national and state governmental agencies, nonprofits, and philanthropic leaders dedicated to supporting marginalized communities and families.
