TIES is a FREE early intervention program targeting children six years and under. During program sessions, parent are trained to work in a classroom as a way to actively practice their skills they are learning. It is staffed by both professionals and parents who have completed the program with their own children. TIES is based on Tennessee's Regional Intervention Program (RIP), which began in 1969. In 2010, the RIP Expansion Program voted unanimously to grant the Cedar Rapids' TIES program full accreditation. There is no cost to families to participate in the TIES program. Adult family members pay with their time. After completing the program they are asked to return and help train new families. TIES is a partnership of the ABBE Center for Community Health, Grant Wood AEA, Healthy Linn Care Network, Mercy Medical Center, St. Luke's Hospital and the Linn County Early Childhood Iowa.
