Provided
Nicole Webb
Fort Worth local Nicole Webb spends her days showing parents how the smallest interactions — stacking cups, rolling a ball, and singing the words in a picture book — can spark their child’s growth. What looks like play is actually the foundation of learning. And Webb is good at showing that both to parents and their children.
This October, her work will be recognized on an international stage in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Webb will be named “Parent Educator of the Year” at the Parents as Teachers International Conference, one of the largest gatherings of early childhood home-visiting professionals in the world.
Webb’s path to this moment began in a high school English classroom. She loved teaching, but when her first child arrived, she left the classroom to focus on motherhood. A few years later, she returned to education through a pre-K classroom in Fort Worth and discovered a new calling. A parent of one of her students told her about Parents as Teachers, a program that partners with caregivers to help them become their child’s first and best teacher.
Webb hasn’t looked back.
“It’s an incredible honor,” Webb says. “Professionally, it validates my dedication and passion for serving others. Personally, it celebrates my resiliency. In 2019, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and there were moments I wondered if I could keep going. But I did. And I think that perseverance helps me connect with families who are facing their own struggles.”
As a Parent Partnership Specialist with Northwest Family Services, Webb conducts hour-long home visits that blend parent–child interaction, developmental coaching, and family well-being support. She guides parents in nurturing skills, routines, and early literacy, while also addressing mental health, employment, relationships, and overall family wellness. “Families are like a mobile,” she says. “If one part shifts, the whole thing moves.” Her goal isn’t to teach children herself — it’s to empower parents to be confident, capable educators.
Her approach has earned high praise from her supervisor, Cynthia Elliott. “Whether she’s helping a child adjust to a new sibling, supporting developmental milestones, or advocating for services like Early Childhood Special Education, Nicole tailors each visit to meet families’ unique needs,” Elliott says. “She brings engaging, practical activities and helpful resources, creating an environment where parents feel heard, supported, and empowered.”
Webb’s empathy comes from experience. The daughter of a single mother, she saw firsthand the resilience required to juggle work, school, and parenting. As a mother herself, she understands the challenges parents face. One young mother, new to Fort Worth, struggled to connect with her child and doubted her own abilities. Over several months, Webb helped build her confidence through parent–child activities and affirmations. By the end, the mother could say, “I can do this. I am my child’s best teacher.”
This fall, Webb will join more than 1,400 colleagues at the San Juan conference. She is eager to connect with other educators, but also to mark a personal milestone: her fifteenth wedding anniversary, celebrated alongside her husband. “This award isn’t just mine,” she says. “It belongs to my husband, my kids, my mom — the people who’ve supported me and sacrificed with me along the way.”
Looking ahead, Webb wants to see Parents as Teachers accessible in every school district and county. “When you support families, you’re shaping the future. Kids are our future,” she says.
For now, she focuses on each visit, each parent, each child, helping families believe in themselves and their potential.
“It’s humbling,” she says. “But at the end of the day, it’s about families. If they feel stronger, more capable, more connected — then that’s the real award.”
