In 2000, the nonprofit community in Mecklenburg County committed to a comprehensive and
interdisciplinary effort to examine how it responds to the needs of its children and families. This effort was driven by the community's desire to make Charlotte Mecklenburg an ideal place for families to raise their children.

That commitment led to a year-long process known as the "United Agenda for Children." Led by the Lee Institute, a nationally recognized consulting firm, a community-wide study was initiated that included a series of town hall meetings, one-on-one meetings with key community leaders, engagement of children and youth, and the involvement of a network of government and private agencies that serve children and families.

At the conclusion of that effort, the Lee Institute convened a community-wide meeting, during which a series of recommendations were made to community leaders. The recommendation included a challenge to "make things happen." The Children’s Alliance was born in 2002 out of the finding that agencies serving children and families did not communicate well with one another, which created silos that make navigating help difficult for families.

There was a tremendous opportunity to collaborate and share valuable information.  The
goal of the Children’s Alliance collaboration being to remedy the lack of communication and connection between agencies. The agency leaders of approximately 30 agencies in Mecklenburg County came together and committed to ongoing face-to-face meetings structured with two goals in mind:

• Agencies share information about their programs and services. The end goal is to look for opportunities where agencies might "share" clients so that relevant services from multiple agencies might benefit clients and, therefore, provide better outcomes in the long run.

• To look for opportunities to collaborate in providing services to those collectively served.