Mission Statement, History, and Background
Mission Statement
To unlock
America’s potential by strengthening families in at-risk communities through
effective parent education and support programs.
Core Values
We believe…
1. people can
change and want to change
2. parent-child relationship success begins with
strengthening the bond that already exists
3. preventing problems at an early age (when
children are under three) is key to later success
4. effective training must address the whole
family—mother, father, children, and siblings
5. we can rekindle the spirit of hope and
motivation by treating participants with dignity and respect
6. public and private partnership is essential to
our success
Avance-Dallas History
Avance-Dallas
is a community-based, nonprofit organization that provides family support and
education services to at-risk, economically impoverished families. We are one
of ten chapters affiliated with our parent
agency, Avance, Inc.,
established in San Antonio, Texas in 1973.
In the early 1970s, the M. B. and Edna Zale
Foundation funded a three-year seed grant to develop the Avance concept in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Gloria
Rodriguez, a San Antonio teacher, visited the program and initiated the concept
in San Antonio where it flourished. Avance, Inc. was established in 1973 in San Antonio. For the first fourteen
years (1973-1987), Avance firmly rooted itself as a local direct service delivery model in San
Antonio, offering parent education and early childhood development services.
In 1995, the Texas State Legislature
appropriated $1,000,000 for the expansion and replication of the Avance, Inc. Family Support and
Education Program to four communities: Dallas, El Paso, Laredo, and Corpus
Christi. Avance was officially
welcomed to Dallas in 1996 by city proclamation.
The Avance-Dallas
chapter officially threw open its doors in October 1996, serving more than 200
individuals in the first nine months. During our fourteen-year history, Avance-Dallas has furthered the
education of nearly 12,000 Dallas Hispanics. We started at two sites in 1996,
and have since grown to twenty-five sites.
Avance-Dallas now advances the lives of more than 1,700 children and parents annually
through a complex of five interrelated programs.
Awards and Achievements
• 1997 Community-Based
Organization of the Year, the Dallas Concilio of Hispanic Service Organizations
• 1999: Avance-Dallas became a United Way of
Metropolitan Dallas member agency
• May
2000 Family Literacy Program of the Year, Dallas Reads
• 2001
Community-Based Organization of the Year, the Dallas Concilio of Hispanic
Service Organizations
• 2003 Nuestra Gente Honoree, United Way of
Metropolitan Dallas and Channel 39 Telemundo
• 2004 Excellence
in Human Service Programming Award, Community Council of Greater Dallas
• 2005
Grantee for the First Lady’s Family Literacy Initiative for Texas (one of only
ten awards in the state)
• October
2006 Finalist for the Excellence in Mission Achievement Award, Center for
Nonprofit Management
• 2007
Born Learning Grant Recipient, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
• 2008-2010: Hispanic Business Magazine has included Avance, Inc. on its list
of Top 25 Hispanic Nonprofits in the U.S. for three years in a row
• 2008
Neighborhood Builders Grant Award Recipient, Bank of America
• 2009 Recipient of the Zero to Five Funders' Collaborative
The entire Avance,
Inc. network is nationally recognized for its impact and program success. Avance is one of only three models
specifically listed by the National
Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics (www.ecehispanic.org) and
Avance is also specifically listed on the Pathways
Mapping Initiative website (http://www.cssp.org/major_initiatives/pathways.html)
as being one of the effective pathways to ensuring that children are ready for
school and succeeding at third grade. In Susan Neuman’s book published in fall
2008, Changing the Odds for Children at Risk: Seven Essential Principles of
Educational Programs that Break the Cycle of Poverty (Praeger
Publishers, 2008), Avance is
described as one of eight model programs and is the only one listed that is
specifically designed to serve Latino children and families.
Additional Downloads and Links about Avance-Dallas