"Do you love your children?" Concerned about school dropouts and low educational attainment of Latino children, Dr. Gloria Rodriguez, an educator, posed this question as she walked door to door in one of San Antonio's most impoverished communities. The response was overwhelming, Dr. Rodriguez, in partnership with Stanford University, started AVANCE. As a local chapter of the national organization, AVANCE-Austin has delivered its services to nearly 4,000 individuals in the Austin, Manor and Del Valle areas since 1997. Derived from the Spanish word for progress, AVANCE (AH-VON-SAY) is dedicated to providing two-generation parent and child education and family support services since 1973. AVANCE is recognized nationally as a successful model with goals focused on poverty alleviation, child abuse prevention, education success, and overall family well-being. At the heart of our model is the Parent-Child Education Program (PCEP), designed as an intensive 9-month program. By imparting parenting knowledge that directly affects children's development, the program instills a philosophy of nurturing care, wellness and language development, helping parents embrace their role as their child's first teacher and the home as the first classroom. AVANCE's mission is to break the cycle of inter-generational poverty through innovative, two generation education and support for families with young children.
