The authors describe an initiative to improve child care for the children of teen parents. Since 1999, the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy has worked with seven childcare programs in four school districts to achieve this goal. The initiative included development of a quality improvement plan for each site as well as training of school administrators, child care directors, caregivers, and, occasionally, teen parents. After first visiting the sites and observing harmful practices, the initiative team set out to earn the right to influence those working in the participating programs. The team sought to listen to, respect and nurture the participants and to accept each program at its starting point and expect that each would make progress. Team members thus did not criticize participants' work or practices; instead, they recognized and praised each center's efforts and steps, no matter how small, toward higher quality childcare. The initiative required persistence and continued involvement by team members to ensure enduring program participation. Five years after the initiative began, five of the seven centers have continued their focus on quality improvement and much progress has been made.