September 2010 E-Newsletter
Avance Grads Give Back
“Get Up and Give” Today
Greeting from Executive Director
Dear Friend,
Did you know that over 7,000 children drop out each
school day in the United States?
Oscar®-winning director Davis Guggenheim explores
the education crisis facing our children in his upcoming film, Waiting For “Superman,” by following the
stories of five promising students facing barriers in their schools. The crisis
is severe, but it’s not all doom and gloom—Guggenheim also points to some
hopeful reform movements. Watch the trailer today at www.WaitingForSuperman.com.
Preventing children from dropping out of school requires a robust
solution, not only in our schools, but also in families. Here at Avance-Dallas, we believe reform starts
with parents taking the helm of education in the home and with children
building a foundation for learning in their earliest days. Our Parent-Child
Education Program is helping children stay in school and excel.
Thank you for caring about our children and their education!
Lisa Oglesby Rocha
Executive Director
“Get Up and Give” Is Today!
Avance-Dallas
is taking part in Get Up and Give! North Texas Giving Day. Today only, from 7
a.m. to 7 p.m., every donation above $25 will be matched if you donate to us
through www.donorbridgetx.org, an online resource
to connect donors with nonprofit organizations like us. Visit our profile on DonorBridge and multiply your investment in
advancing young low-income children today!
New AmeriCorps
Members Join Avance-Dallas
We’re pleased
to announce a new partnership with our sister chapter Avance-El
Paso. They
received an expansion grant from AmeriCorps through the OneStar
Foundation that funds eight
AmeriCorps members to serve in our program. The AmeriCorps funding is made
possible by a matching grant from the Meadows
Foundation, and this
partnership is already making a difference in the Avance-Dallas program.
Eight
AmeriCorps members are serving at Avance-Dallas
in the 2010–2011 program year. Pictured above (left to right) are Carolina, Marissa,
Myrna, Diana, Veronica, Nancy, and Audiela (missing from the picture is
Grisel). They provide enriched early childcare services and adult literacy
instruction in our regular programs. Six of the members are graduates of Avance-Dallas who want to support the
community and advance their own education.
Special thanks goes to the Meadows Foundation for providing a matching grant of $20,000
to make the AmeriCorps partnership possible. The Meadows Foundation has been a
long-time supporter of Avance-Dallas
and has provided our office headquarters along the historic Swiss Avenue
stretch in-kind since 2000. Their mission is “to assist
people and institutions of Texas improve the quality and circumstances of life
for themselves and future generations,” and following the principles of the
foundation’s founders, Algur H. Meadows and Virginia Garrison Stuart Meadows,
they address a variety of needs by “working toward the elimination of
ignorance, hopelessness and suffering, protecting the environment, providing
cultural enrichment, encouraging excellence and promoting understanding and
cooperation among people."
The
AmeriCorps program is a unique opportunity that supports significant volunteer
involvement in addressing unmet needs in local communities. Grants support
organizations that use volunteer service as a strategy for addressing national
and community needs, while fostering an ethic of civic responsibility.
AmeriCorps provides thousands of Americans of all ages and backgrounds with
intensive full- and part- time opportunities to serve their communities and
build the capacity of grassroots organizations to meet local needs.
In
return for their service, AmeriCorps participants, known as members, receive a
modest living allowance and an education award that can be used toward existing
college loans or to pay continuing education costs. AmeriCorps programs recruit,
select, train, and manage their own AmeriCorps members, design and operate
their program, and are responsible for providing funds and other resources to
match the federal funds they receive through their AmeriCorps grant.
We’re
grateful for this new opportunity to advance children in our community through
our partnership with Avance-El
Paso, AmeriCorps, the OneStar Foundation, and the Meadows Foundation!
Celia Opens
the Door
Celia first
heard about Avance-Dallas when
some Avance staff knocked on her
door to invite her to the program. She didn’t want to talk to them, so she made
her husband answer the door. When he came back inside, he was so impressed by
the program that he told her, “I want you to go to that program with our girl.”
So she decided to go with their 19-month-old daughter.
One of the greatest benefits from the program for Celia was the network
of moms that grew out of the group, friendships she deeply values today. The
parenting instruction also helped her change her home environment. She used to
never leave her apartment, but Avance-Dallas
opened up the community to her and her children: “When I was
participating at Avance, we
started going to libraries, we got into the habit of reading, we learned about the
programs available in the community, and I got more involved with my children’s
school as a volunteer.”
Celia also saw a change in her daughter. “She sang, talked more, knew
her colors, and the things that the teachers taught her, she would repeat at
home.” Now her daughter’s in pre-K, and she started reading last spring. She
also writes and speaks well for her age. Looking back Celia says, “participating in Avance was a total change in my life,
and exceeded my expectations,” both for her and her daughter.
After graduating she kept talking about Avance-Dallas
to everyone. Then our Baby University staff contacted Celia to see if she would
serve as a Promotora, and she didn’t send her husband to answer them this time.
Instead, she says, “I had no doubt in saying yes right away.”
Now Celia goes door to door as a Promotora, sharing with other moms the
parenting and early childhood information that changed her life. She says, “I feel very
comfortable visiting and talking to families, telling them that there is good
information and help for various needs. I tell them not to close the doors to
themselves, and definitely not to close the doors to their children, who are
the most important thing we have.”
Because the Avance-Dallas program
transformed her family, Celia has the personal experience that convinces other
families to embrace education the Avance
way. “Wow! I feel
so happy! I just have to thank Avance-Dallas for having picked me to do
this job, that for me is so full of satisfaction.” Because Celia decided to
walk through the Avance door, today she is
opening educational doors for other parents in her community.
Pleasant Grove Graduates Giving Back
Several of
the mothers who graduated from our 2009–2010 programs in Pleasant Grove are now
working in educational programs to give back to the community. These parents
have expressed that they feel more accomplished both in
personal growth and in the life of their families.
The first group of mothers graduated from our
three-year Born Learning Program, funded in full by a special initiative of the
United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. These Phase III graduates (pictured above, left to right) have been hired to
make a difference through education:
– Myrna: Hired
by AmeriCorps to work at Avance-Dallas
as an Early Childhood Teacher
– Nancy: Hired
by AmeriCorps to work at Avance-Dallas
as an Early Childhood Teacher
– Rosa: Hired
by Avance-Dallas as a Home Visitor
– Mayela (not pictured): Hired
by the Dallas ISD to serve in the HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence)
Program
Another
mom, Shirley (pictured below), graduated from the core Parent-Child Education
Program at our Urban Park Elementary program site and was hired by the Garland ISD as a
Teacher's Assistant. She also received a scholarship to pursue her early childhood
education associate degree.
We celebrate how these moms have progressed both in
personal and professional arenas. We’re thrilled to see our graduates
progressing to a point where they can give back to the community through their
own skills and experience!
Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation Funds Avance-Dallas
Since their
launch in 2007, the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation (VMYDF) has been
a supporter of Avance-Dallas. Their
mission is “to make Vickery
Meadow a great community and to help its children reach their full potential.”
They leverage their funds by focusing on a defined geographic location and by investing
in programs that directly serve children and youth.
Their most
recent grant to Avance-Dallas
furthers their investment in Vickery Meadow. The award funds our evidence-based
Parent-Child Education Program at Jack Lowe Sr. Elementary School (at 7000 Holly Hill
Dr.) and L. L. Hotchkiss Elementary School (at 6929 Town North Dr.). The
2010–2011 year represents the third year in a row that VMYDF has funded these sites.
The Vickery
Meadow area, once a vibrant community, suffered a blow in the economic downturn
of the 1980s and continued on a serious decline into the 1990s. In 1993 a
number of groups began collaborating to decrease crime and improve living
conditions and education in Vickery Meadow. The VMYDF joined this movement when
it launched in 2007.
We’re proud
to partner with the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation in advancing
children in Vickery Meadow and giving this community a vision for a bright
future!