Unlocking America’s Potential Project
Making a difference in America’s future
June 21, 2011 12:30 PM
A $12.6 million expansion of AVANCE’s Parent-Child Education Program across the country
The failure rate amongst low income minority children, especially Hispanics, is reaching pandemic proportions. What is being done about it? One program that is making a difference is the Unlocking America’s Potential project.
AVANCE, Inc. National will hold a Press Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. starting with a networking lunch at noon and press conference at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, June 21st in the Murrow Room to announce the official launch of the Unlocking America’s Potential Project (UAPP), a $12.6 million grant funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to expand AVANCE’s Parent-Child Education Program (PCEP) throughout communities across the country.
Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro – both strong supporters of AVANCE - will join AVANCE Board Chairman Dean Aguillen and President and CEO Richard J. Noriega to remark about how educational attainment programs, like AVANCE, directly align with ensuring the country’s economic competitiveness and national security.
With this grant, AVANCE is well-poised to make a strategic and long-term impact in the economy by providing low-income parents and their children the tools they need to be successful in school and ultimately secure higher paying jobs. Over the next five years AVANCE will expand to 12 new sites through partnerships with organizations that already serve Hispanic communities and implement a research study to adapt their program to three other minority groups - specifically African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics of non-Mexican descent. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop, document and share innovative ideas for strengthening our communities in a global society by helping children and their families. In the past six months, AVANCE expanded to seven additional states via the UAPP re-grant monies, providing even more families with hope for a better future.
Attending the press conference will be Elida Galindo, an 1973 AVANCE graduate who will share her story about being 18 years old, a single mother with three children, living on welfare. She had no job, no money, and no education. Then AVANCE came knocking on her door. “AVANCE changed my life. They taught me to be a better mother and helped me get my GED. I was able to go to college and my dream came true, I became a Nurse. If everyone was encouraged like I was, then the world would be a better place and everyone would say, ‘Oh yes, I can do it,’ and when you feel better about yourself, you make your children feel better about themselves, and they say, 'If Mom can do it, then I can too.' ”
Representatives from the four re-grant sites and research partners will also be available:
Family Partnership Center in Bradenton, Florida
El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Casa Guanajuato Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois
Ready by Five in Yakima, Washington
La Casa de Don Pedro in Newark, New Jersey
The Excellence Foundation for Parents and Children, Inc. in Brooklyn, New York
National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER).
Who:
Keynote Speaker:
• Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Others:
• San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, Mayor Castro has placed an emphasis on education with a goal of attracting future jobs to San Antonio.
• AVANCE Board Chairman Dean Aguillen
• AVANCE President & CEO Richard J. Noriega
• UAPP Project Manager Magdalena Santos
Re-Grant Partners:
1. Family Partnership Center in Bradenton, Florida
2. El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
3. Casa Guanajuato Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois
4. Ready by Five in Yakima, Washington
Each of these non-profit agencies already serves low-income Hispanic families and were chosen for their alignment with AVANCE’s mission and their ability to sustain the program.
Research-partners:
1. Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Cloquet, Minnesota
2. La Casa de Don Pedro in Newark, New Jersey
3. The Excellence Foundation for Parents and Children, Inc. in Brooklyn, New York
Program Research Partner:
National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER)
When: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, Networking lunch at noon and Press Conference at 12:30pm -1:30pm
Where: National Press Club, Murrow Room, 529 14th St. NW, Washington D.C. 20045