About Us

Smiling mother and child.

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a parent involvement, school readiness program that helps parents prepare their three, four, and five year old children for success in school and beyond. The parent is provided with a set of carefully developed curriculum, books and materials designed to strengthen their children's cognitive skills, early literacy skills, social/emotional and physical development.

Mission Statement

HIPPY programs empower parents as primary educators of their children in the home and foster parent involvement in school and community life to maximize the chances of successful early school experiences. HIPPY USA supports the development and operation of programs in communities across the United States through ongoing program development and technical assistance informed by research and public policy.

HIPPY helps parents empower themselves as their children's first teacher by giving them the tools, skills and confidence they need to work with their children in the home. The program was designed to bring families, organizations and communities together and remove any barriers to participation that may include limited financial resources or lack of education.

HIPPY is an international program that started in Israel in 1969 as a research and demonstration project. It has since spread to other countries. Germany, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Canada along with Israel and the United States now comprise HIPPY International. The HIPPY program came to the United States in 1984.

HIPPY USA, located in Little Rock, AR, was established as an independent non-profit organization in 1988 to promote and guide the development of the HIPPY program in the United States. In the 2006-07 program year, there are 146 HIPPY program sites in 25 states and the District of Columbia, serving over 16,000 children and their families.

HIPPY USA is the national office for the network of state coordinating offices and local HIPPY programs in the United States, with the primary responsibilities of providing training and technical assistance; developing and improving the HIPPY materials and model; conducting outreach and advocacy; collecting national data; and overseeing research. To contact staff regarding specific issues, please see the HIPPY USA staff list.