Two years ago fourteen local foundations and organizations came together to impact early child education. After a period of research they chose to direct their funding to the high-need Bachman Lake neighborhood. The Zero to Five Funders' Collaborative includes funding from the Dallas Foundation, the Meadows Foundation, the M. R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation, Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation, the Rees-Jones Foundation, Communities Foundation of Texas, M. B. and Edna Zale Foundation, Harold Simmons Foundation, the Dallas Women's Foundation, and two anonymous foundations. Additional members of the Collaborative include the Catholic Foundation, Dallas Social Venture Partners, and the Dallas Regional Chamber.
The Collaborative's primary goal was "to identify and implement programs which help parents interact with their children, ages birth to five, in order to foster healthy communication and language development." Through the winter and spring months, they evaluated several organizations that might equip parents to prepare children birth to age five for school success, and in May 2009, Avance-Dallas was selected as one of only four agencies to receive an award.
The Collaborative has committed $338,480 to Avance-Dallas to fund Year One of a five-year project so we can implement our Baby University Project in Bachman Lake. This project will expand our impact to three additional sites in the Bachman Lake area, and it will also make it possible for us to execute new initiatives, including a dynamic DVD tool and a project of volunteer "Promotoras" who will spread the Avance-Dallas message throughout the broader Bachman Lake community and further expand our impact.
The Zero to Five Funders' Collaborative will enable us to deliver our Baby University Project and advance the lives of hundreds of children and parents early on to help them achieve for years to come!