About
For more than 36 years, EveryChild NOW — formerly known as WV KIDS COUNT — has tracked the well-being of West Virginia’s children. That’s more than three decades of data, relationships, and community work built on a simple belief: every child in this state deserves the chance to thrive, and every community deserves the tools to make that happen.
Today, we’re channeling that legacy into a bold, achievable goal — moving West Virginia from 44th to 34th in the nation for child well-being by 2035. We don’t see that as a stretch. We see it as a state’s worth of communities, one county at a time, choosing to grow the good already happening around them.
Our approach: data + heart = change for the good
Real change starts with knowing where you stand. That’s why we built the Grow the Good Well-Being Platform, tracking 137 indicators across all 55 West Virginia counties in partnership with the University of Charleston. It gives families, funders, educators, and local leaders a clear, current picture of how kids are doing — not statewide averages, but county-by-county reality.
But data alone doesn’t change a child’s life. People do. That’s where the heart comes in — the volunteers, educators, nonprofit leaders, and neighbors who take that information and turn it into action in their own backyard. Our County Chapter Model was built for exactly that: giving communities a structure to organize around their own kids, their own priorities, and their own strengths.
We also know that caring for kids means caring for the adults around them — which is why our newest initiative, EveryChild CARES, brings workforce wellness support straight into West Virginia schools.
Bringing West Virginia together for kids.
Across the state, that mission shows up in a lot of different rooms:
• The Grow the Good Conference brings changemakers from every corner of West Virginia together each spring to share what’s working and build new partnerships.
• Champions of Children Awards celebrates the people — teachers, advocates, volunteers, everyday neighbors — doing this work day in and day out, often without recognition.
• EveryChild CARES, our workforce wellness pilot launching at Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary for the 2026–2027 school year, recognizes a simple truth: kids can’t thrive if the adults who care for them — teachers and school staff — are running on empty. The program brings wellness support directly into the school building, investing in the people on the front lines of children’s lives every day.
• Take a Flower to School Day and the EveryChild Closet are the kind of hands-on, community-rooted campaigns that turn appreciation and generosity into something tangible for kids and the adults who show up for them.
• Leading Ladies of Charleston and other local gatherings build the relationships and trust that make long-term, county-level change possible.
• The EveryChild 5K Walk/Run gets the whole community moving — literally — toward the same goal.
Each of these is a piece of the same puzzle: a state where every child, in every county, has what they need to grow up well.
Rooted in Appalachia
This work is personal for us. We’re West Virginians who believe deeply in this place — its resilience, its communities, and its kids. We’re not chasing a national ranking for its own sake. We’re chasing what that ranking represents: fewer kids growing up without what they need, more communities equipped with real information and real support, and a state that leads with both data and heart.
The mission is personal. It always has been.