Mildred,
One Amazed Mom at One Amazing Mind
Mildred is
currently in her second year at the intensive three-year Avance-Dallas Born Learning Program in
Pleasant Grove. At Born Learning, children get prepared for school success,
while parents learn the importance of building into their children’s development
during the critical first three years of life.
This concept
surprised Mildred, who believed that her son, Azarel, was too young to learn
and that he would get educated when he went to school. As she says, “Before Avance
I would always underestimate my son saying, ‘he is too little to do that.’” She
found out that he could already learn so much—even in his earliest years.
Last year her
husband came to the program with her, and as a result, he was motivated to give
his son a pep talk about education every time they got in the car. One morning, he started his “car speech” when
Azarel interrupted him: “I know, I know—I’m going to go to college, be
successful, and achieve all my dreams and goals.”
Today Mildred has a new perspective on her son, Azarel, and on education.
She sees all that he has accomplished at Avance-Dallas,
and she says, if he’s doing all these things today, “imagine him twenty years from now.” This family,
thanks to Avance-Dallas’s early
intervention, is looking forward to a bright future for Azarel.
Annual Principals Breakfast with Dr. Michael Hinojosa
At our annual principals breakfast, eight-year-old Christian (pictured left
with his mother), an Avance-Dallas
graduate, told Dallas ISD Superintendant Dr. Michael Hinojosa and the
principals from our school-based program sites that he plans on being the
President of the United States when he grows up. The Avance-Dallas program was a foundational piece in giving
Christian a vision for achievement.
Christian’s story was just one of thousands that we celebrated at the
February 11, 2011 breakfast. The Avance-Dallas
model is based on a partnership with the school district that strengthens our
impact on children and schools. The Dallas ISD currently provides classroom
space for our program on twenty-five of its elementary school campuses,
allowing the Avance-Dallas program
to prepare hundreds of children every year for success in those same buildings
as they progress through their academic career.
We were pleased this year to host Dallas ISD Superintendant Dr. Michael
Hinojosa, who congratulated Avance-Dallas
on our fifteenth anniversary and thanked us for our work that shows such strong results
in children’s education, not only in measurable outcomes, but also in the many
testimonials like Christian’s.
Executive Director Lisa Oglesby Rocha thanked Dr. Hinojosa for fifteen
years of partnership and for the $300,000 contract we’ve received from the
Dallas ISD in recent years. She added that we are poised to leverage additional
funding to meet the increasing need for early education in the face of state
budget challenges.
Avance-Dallas supports the critical work of educating our
community’s children, and so we especially thanked all the principals who
attended for partnering with Avance-Dallas
and for dedicating themselves to strengthening children’s learning in our city.
We presented a framed picture of an Avance-Dallas
child to Dr. Hinojosa and Avance-Dallas
anniversary mugs to the principals in appreciation for their partnership and
support.
Carlson Foundation Makes Significant Gift
This program year the Carlson Foundation made a $10,000 contribution to Avance-Dallas in order to advance
children through strategic early education. This significant gift ensures that
low-income parents have the tools they need to partner with their children in
education, and it provides critical stimulation to young, at-risk children during
their earliest years. We’re grateful for the Carlson Foundation’s support of
the Avance-Dallas mission!