The Founder’s Story (feat. Amber Knowles, The Riverside Project)
Mon Feb 02 2026
From the beginning of their relationship, adoption was always a part of our founder, Amber, and her husband’s plan; they even had an adoption fund in their wedding registry! After they stepped into the child welfare system, they felt a desire to support foster parents like themselves—and this vision would quickly turn into something much bigger.
Amber Knowles is our founder and Executive Director. In 2018, she launched the Babysitting Collaborative, which would become The Riverside Project’s first initiative and lay the foundation for everything we do now.
A pediatric nurse practitioner by training, Amber holds a BSN from Baylor and an MSN from UTHealth Houston, and is a TBRI® Practitioner, bringing a trauma-informed approach to her work. Today, Amber combines her background in healthcare and her passion for child welfare to create meaningful change for vulnerable children and families in Houston.
In this episode, Amber shares more about how The Riverside Project began, the challenges faced by every foster parent, a vision for the future of Houston and foster care, and much more.
Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/amber-knowles-46
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From the beginning of their relationship, adoption was always a part of our founder, Amber, and her husband’s plan; they even had an adoption fund in their wedding registry! After they stepped into the child welfare system, they felt a desire to support foster parents like themselves—and this vision would quickly turn into something much bigger. Amber Knowles is our founder and Executive Director. In 2018, she launched the Babysitting Collaborative, which would become The Riverside Project’s first initiative and lay the foundation for everything we do now. A pediatric nurse practitioner by training, Amber holds a BSN from Baylor and an MSN from UTHealth Houston, and is a TBRI® Practitioner, bringing a trauma-informed approach to her work. Today, Amber combines her background in healthcare and her passion for child welfare to create meaningful change for vulnerable children and families in Houston. In this episode, Amber shares more about how The Riverside Project began, the challenges faced by every foster parent, a vision for the future of Houston and foster care, and much more. Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/amber-knowles-46