Avance-Dallas Staff
Over 50 staff members make our Avance-Dallas programs possible. Meet the Avance-Dallas staff:
Lisa Oglesby Rocha, Founder and Executive Director
Lisa has devoted her life to the mission of Avance-Dallas. Through her
tireless efforts, she has established Avance-Dallas as a respected,
results-driven organization, and she has expanded the agency from its startup
of five staff at three sites on a $300,000 budget to a staff of 50 serving
nearly 2,000 parents and children annually at 23 sites on a $1.9 million
budget. She ensures that Avance-Dallas establishes a strong fiscal and programmatic base to support Dallas
families, and she is wholeheartedly committed to the betterment of children and
the Dallas community.
Background Highlights:
• 22 years of experience working in
low-income communities and management of programs for high-risk families
• Executive Director of Avance-Dallas,
1996–present
• Article
(co-author): “Maternal Attitudes and Parent Education: How Immigrant Mothers
Support Their Child’s Education Despite Their Own Low Levels of Education” (Early Childhood Education Journal, April
2007), which examines Avance-Dallas
as a case study for effective outreach to at-risk Hispanic families
• Article
(co-author): “Supporting Immigrant Family Strengths: Promoting
Optimal Health, Health Care, and Child Development” (Zero to Three, November 2008), which features Avance-Dallas as a community-based
program that successfully reduces disparities in Hispanic children’s health and
development
• March
21, 2000 – participated on a U.S. Department of Education Panel with U.S.
Secretary of Education Richard Riley in the Satellite Town Meeting, “Nurturing
Readers: Building and Sustaining Community Reading Programs”
• Numerous Leadership Efforts: Dallas
Achieves; the Dallas Mayor’s Every Child
Ready to Read Initiative; and the Women’s Council of Dallas County
• Honors:
Outstanding Individual Award from the Women’s Council of Dallas County
(May 2007); Dreamers, Doers, and Unsung
Heroes Award from the Real Estate Council (November 2007)
• Education Coordinator for AmeriCorps,
University of Texas at Arlington in Arlington, TX, 1994–1996
• Executive Director of Trinity River Mission
in Dallas, TX, 1986–1993
• MSSW (Master of Science in Social Work),
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 1986
• BS in Human Development and Family Studies,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1979
Anne Thomas, Operations Manager
Anne Thomas manages the
day-to-day operations of Avance-Dallas
as it fulfills its mission in the community. She ensures effective
administration of Avance-Dallas
operations, maintains high financial operations standards, develops and
sustains agency revenue streams, and oversees effective operations of all
program services.
Background Highlights:
• Operations Manager, Avance-Dallas,
Dallas, TX, 2007–present
• Vice President for Internal
Operations at the ChildCareGroup, Inc., Dallas, TX, 2005–2007
• Various roles (including Interim President/CEO and Chief Operating
Officer), Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, Inc., 2000–2005
• Educational roles (English Teacher, Administrator, Guidance Counselor),
1995–2000
• SPHR (Senior Professional Human Resources) certified
• Numerous Leadership Efforts: On the board of
the Dallas Association of Fundraisers, LifeNet Community Behavioral Healthcare
– Dallas, and the Texas Homeless Network
• International Experience: Lived in Korea for six years; visited every
continent at least once; traveled around the world six times
• BA in Business, Human Resources, Warren
University, Cheyenne, WY, 2008
• MBA in Nonprofit Business Management,
Warren University, Cheyenne, WY, in progress
Five Program Coordinators oversee our onsite
program delivery:
Claudia Arango, Parent-Child Program Coordinator
The Parent-Child Program Coordinator is
responsible for managing our core Parent-Child Education Program at our
seventeen Parent-Child sites. This position manages the various teaching teams,
ensures effective program delivery, and helps to coordinate tracking and
evaluation activities. Ms. Arango has been at Avance-Dallas since 2005
and started serving in this position in August 2008, bringing strong management
experience and knowledge of the program to the position.
Diana Muñiz, Baby University Program Coordinator
Diana Muñiz is responsible for the planning
and implementation of the Avance-Dallas
Baby University Program, an intensive two-year program which incorporates our
core early childhood development and parent education curriculum with
additional initiatives including our family nights and leadership projects that
turn parents into “promotoras,” that is, promoters of our key Avance educational message. Ms. Muñiz
has been with Avance-Dallas since
2000 and is heading up the new Baby University effort, which launched in August
2009.
Luzma Duque, Born Learning Program Coordinator
The Born Learning Program Coordinator oversees
our two intensive Born Learning sites in Pleasant Grove, which offer a
three-year program to families, starting with children birth to age 2 so that
they are thoroughly prepared for success in school. Ms. Duque previously served
as a professor teaching early childhood development in Columbia and has
published books in the field.
Daisy Cano, HOPE Program Coordinator
Daisy Cano oversees our case management and
referral services, and she began with Avance-Dallas in January 2009. In December 2008 she graduated from the University of
Texas at Arlington with a Master of Social Work degree.
Linda Saenz, Adult Literacy Coordinator
Linda Saenz oversees our ESL and GED classes,
and she has been with Avance in this role since July 2009. She recently retired from the Dallas ISD.
Ms. Saenz holds a masters degree in education with certification in ESL, and
she taught ESL for 27 years at various public and private schools. She teaches
classes, trains staff, orders supplies, administers the program, and compiles reports.
Several other program staff members directly
impact the children and parents in our program, including Parent Educators,
Home Visitors/Toy-Making Instructors, Literacy Educators, Lead Early Childhood
Teachers, Early Childhood Development Teachers, Case Workers, and Family
Helpers.