November
2011 E-Newsletter
A
New Home
Interim Executive
Director’s Corner
Educating parents is one of
the critical pathways leading to a successful generation of children. If
parents don’t practice the nurturing and educational activities that prepare
children for school, the whole society suffers.
That’s why Nobel Prize
winner James Heckman is a champion for children and a proponent for parental
involvement. He explains that “family environments of young children are major
predictors of cognitive and socioemotional abilities, as well as of a variety
of outcomes such as crime and health.” That’s why he says that “any proposed
program should respect the primacy of the family” (“The
Case for Investing in Disadvantaged Young Children,” 50, 56).
Avance-Dallas prioritizes the primacy of the family by
serving parents and children together. Training parents marks a key component
to our program model, which is why we’re happy to recognize two parent
graduates who this year became Avance-Dallas
Parent Educators.
It’s because of people like
you standing with Avance-Dallas
that we can celebrate the life-changing impact we’re making together on
families by touching parents and children at an early stage of life. We thank
you.
Helen Holman
Interim Executive Director
Settling into Our New Home
In August we moved our
offices from the Wilson Historic District back to our organization’s roots in
West Dallas. This move is a key development in the long-term growth of Avance-Dallas, and we’re thrilled to
thank publicly the many supportive individuals and groups who made this happen.
The move required
renovating the office space for Avance-Dallas’
staff and program specifications. Corgan
Associates, Inc. designed the office space
to meet our agency’s needs, donating significant time, leadership, and
expertise. Several individuals from Corgan devoted energy toward project concept and design,
including Lindsay Wilson, Mitch
Paradise, Jill Ibison Vessels, Stephanie Wheat, and Elizabeth Ryan.
Others also provided pro
bono services and in-kind donations. Special thanks go to Tony Vincent, Brad Carbo,
and their team at Metroplex
General Contractors for donating bidding services and construction
supervision and for salvaging doors, hardware, and millwork. Many thanks as
well to Jim Carew and Cari Johnson of the Shaw Contract Group for donating carpet; to
Dell Rice of JRT Construction for donating services for the demolition of lighting
and ceiling tile; and to Ann Harmon of Golden Living for donating the lighting
and ceiling tile.
Finally, special thanks to
The Meadows Foundation which for the last ten years generously allowed Avance-Dallas to be a part of the
community of nonprofit agencies housed rent-free in the Wilson Historic
District.
On behalf of our board,
staff, and families, we’re deeply grateful for the many people and
organizations that invested in Avance-Dallas
in this significant, long-term 2011 Relocation Project.
Lorena’s Journey through
Autism
Lorena came to Avance-Dallas eight years ago with her
13-month-old son, who she said was “different” from the other children. Her
time at Avance changed her son’s
life and prepared Lorena for a leadership role she never expected.
When Lorena first started
coming to Avance-Dallas with
Becker, her young son, she had to drag herself there because she was in the
midst of a high-risk pregnancy and because Becker was often inconsolable in the
early childhood room. She would have stopped coming, she says today, had the Avance-Dallas staff not been so patient
with Becker and encouraging to her.
The Early Childhood
Teachers quickly recognized that Becker was not meeting the developmental
benchmarks for his age, and they worked with Lorena, advising her to insist
that her pediatrician assess Becker. Because of their support and her
persistence, Becker finally started receiving speech and occupational therapy
at age two and was diagnosed with autism at age five. Eventually, Lorena and
her husband found the perfect program for Becker in Plano, where Becker’s
therapist said that the help he received starting as a toddler made a huge
difference in his development.
What Lorena had not
expected was that her experience with Becker’s autism would lead her into a
leadership role at Avance-Dallas.
She was invited back to Avance-Dallas
to become a “Promotora” (or promoter) in our Baby University Program, a role
which allows her to share with other moms in the Bachman Lake community about
the benefits of early stimulation for their young children.
This role also opened up an
opportunity to teach other Promotoras how best to care for autistic children.
And when she shared about her experiences with Becker, her heart shined through
brightly. She explained that for her, having an autistic child was a special privilege,
and that Becker had become a blessing to her family by teaching them the true
meaning of unconditional love.
We at Avance-Dallas are privileged to have
played a supportive role in helping Lorena make sure Becker found the help he
needed to advance. We celebrate all that Lorena has done for her family and are
honored that she is now giving back to her community by serving as a volunteer Avance-Dallas Promotora to spread the
educational message of early advancement to other young families in Dallas.
Partner Profile: Vickery
Meadow Youth Development Foundation
The Vickery Meadow
community was once a vibrant community of young professionals, but all that
changed in the 1980s with the shifting economy, leading Vickery Meadow to
become an economically depressed area of Dallas. Today groups like the VMYDF are
making a targeted impact on Vickery Meadow to revitalize the community.
One of their initiatives is
to focus on early intervention, which is why the VMYDF is partnering with Avance-Dallas to change the lives of
children in the Vickery Meadow community. By funding our program, the VMYDF is
providing young children the educational foundation that helps them succeed,
furthering their mission to “make Vickery Meadow a great community and to
help its children reach their full potential.”
Many thanks from our staff,
board, and families for investing in our time-tested program to advance young
children in Vickery Meadow.
Partner Profile: The Hoglund
Foundation
For the last seven years, The Hoglund Foundation has faithfully supported the Avance-Dallas mission. We’re privileged to continue our
partnership in the 2011–2012 program year with a new $5,000 grant from their
foundation.
The Hoglund Foundation,
founded in 1989, focuses on three areas of community improvement: education,
health, and family support services. Their initiatives connect with the Avance-Dallas program in that we provide support and training
to promote family stability and also stimulate the developmental needs of young
children.
This year The Hoglund Foundation awarded Avance-Dallas
a $5,000 grant to cover our general operating costs,
dollars that are hard to find but critical to the mission of any nonprofit
agency. We’re deeply grateful for The Hoglund Foundation’s investment in Avance-Dallas and willingness to allow
our organization to direct the funds to where they’re most needed.