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Some of the attendees at our last film series screening, It All Adds Up, had great ideas about how we can make Austin schools better, and KLRU caught up with them to find out what they had to say: The next Live United Film Series screening is Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Alamo Drafthouse South. The evening will focus on financial stability and feature Frontline: Inside the Meltdown. For more details and to RSVP, click here.

What is the best way to improve the lives of children? Engage more effectively with their parents. During the past three years, United Way Success By 6 has been doing just that by offering Touchpoints training, a parent education program developed by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton. “The Touchpoints training helped me provide solutions to the mother of a two-year-old whose child cried every time she was left at school,” said Nadine Rueb, Family Service Coordinator of MainSpring Schools. “The mother made a few simple adjustments such as extending the child’s sleep schedule, reading books to help her child understand feelings of separation anxiety, and giving her child a stuffed comfort animal. Within two weeks, the child was doing much better. The mother was also greatly relieved to know this was all part of her child’s normal growth and development.” Early childhood professionals engagedin a Touchpoints training session.In the training, child care providers and early childhood professionals learn how to enhance parenting skills to help parents identify, expect and understand the stages of normal child development. Armed with this knowledge, parents are less likely to become frustrated and more able to enjoy and support their children.United Way Capital Area subsidizes qualified early childhood professionals to become trainers and leaders in the Touchpoints program. In exchange, each trainer agrees to train others. To date, UWCA has sponsored seven trainers, who in turn have trained 80 individuals from more than a dozen early childhood agencies. The Touchpoints program provides a vehicle for Success […]

Life is too hectic.Work is crazy busy.I am already overcommitted.There never seems to be enough time.I have my own kids.Someone else will do it.Will I really make a difference? What do all these statements have in common? They could easily be reasons as to why you cannot be a mentor to a young person in need. And guess what? They are all very valid statements. However, they are also an easy way convince yourself to NOT get involved in the life of a young person. As the Director of Volunteer Services and Community Partnerships for Communities In Schools of Central Texas (CIS), I see the impact a caring adult mentor can have on a child just by showing up one time per week. Each year, we match more than 500 CIS students with adult mentors. Often times, these students are in need of a little extra support. This support can come from a one hour a week volunteer mentor. That hour can spent playing a game of Uno. It can be as simple as homework help or a walk around the school track. That extra support can be just the thing that makes a difference to a child. Knowing that their mentor will be there can translate to improvement a child’s attendance at school. Or it could be just the thing that allows them to dream of a brighter future. Or gives them the hope that they can achieve great things. Our mentors are able to connect with students in […]

On January 28 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. KLRU and United Way Capital Area will present the film “It All Adds Up” as part of the Live United Film Series. “It All Adds Up” chronicles the experiences of Math Corps – a Detroit-based effort to engage middle and high school students in high energy math instruction. Math Corps is defying the stereotypes of not only mathematics education, but of participating students themselves. As one of the program founders notes, math can be a tool for engaging children in education and in their own futures. While the program’s committed adults and rigorous and relevant academics inspire students to be academically success, the students also gain skills to win the day to do more than simply solve sophisticated math problems. While the focus of “It All Adds Up” is on lively math instruction, there is no doubt that a big part of the student success can be attributed to the committed adults who are working with these middle and high school students. Whether it is time spent on instruction, time visiting a college campus or time just hanging out, the building of a positive relationship is at the core. During this month, National Mentor Month, we salute those who are giving of their time to make a difference in the lives of youth and I invite everyone that is passionate about young people to join us. We invite you to attend the screening and the moderated panel discussion of the film and […]

As we developed the first screening of the LIVE UNITED Film Series, we wanted to ensure we had a good mix of community leaders and issue experts on our panel. The film’s (It All Adds Up) focus is on education and we targeted people in the field; experts and those who understand the culture of how education affects communities. We wanted to mix it up and didn’t go with the usual suspects and we liked how it turned out! The panel consists of an education/public policy expert, an entrepreneur & mentor, a physicist/mathematician & a media/marketing professional and we’ll also hear first-hand from a young person dealing with the issues highlighted in the film. The LIVE UNITED Film Series panelists include…. Clayton Christopher, CEO of Sweet Leaf Tea Liliana Ary, Client Service Director at Univision Radio Dr. Michael Marder, Physics Professor at the University of Texas at Austin Jason Sabo, Senior Vice President of Public Policy at United Ways of Texas. Jason will also serve as moderator for the evening. Thanks to all our participants and we hope to see you on January 28th! LIVE UNITED Film SeriesJanuary 28, 20106:00-8:30pmKLRU’s Austin City Limits StudiosRSVP at www.handsoncentraltexas.org

As concerns about the economy and American competitiveness grow, a new axiom is emerging in education debates. Many education reformers, parents, and students argue that the fight for a high quality education for every American isn’t only good economic policy, it is the twenty-first century incarnation of the civil rights movement. Taking this analogy one step further, some contend that Freshman Algebra has become a key gateway to Dr. Martin Luther King’s mountaintop of equal opportunity and the freedom to pursue the American dream. Unfortunately, supporting the academic success of students in math and science can sometimes feel as complicated as a complex algebraic equation. On January 28 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. KLRU and United Way Capital Area will present the film “It All Adds Up” as part of the Live United Film Series. “It All Adds Up” chronicles the experiences of Math Corps – a Detroit-based effort to engage middle and high school students in high energy math instuction. Math Corps is defying the stereotypes of not only mathematics education, but of participating students themselves. As one of the program’s founders notes, math is merely a tool for engaging children in education and in their own futures. Math Corps has proven time and time again that motivated and engaged students can break the barriers that all too often create obstacles to success. The program’s committed adults and rigorous and relevant academics win the day – and do more than simply solve sophisticated math problems. After the screening of […]

A recent article in the NY Times provides a refreshing look at how children under the age of five learn. It’s no surprise to our Success By 6 supporters that “babies and very young children know, observe, explore, imagine and learn more than we would ever have thought possible,” but the article also underscores the importance of developing pre-K programs that aren’t loaded with focused, planned learning and results-based testing. This approach may work for children over the age of 5 or so. But babies and very young children are terrible at planning and aiming for precise goals. When we say that preschoolers can’t pay attention, we really mean that they can’t not pay attention: they have trouble focusing on just one event and shutting out all the rest. This has led us to underestimate babies in the past. But the new research tells us that babies can be rational without being goal-oriented. Want to learn more about what United Way and Success By 6 are doing to ensure that Central Texas kids are ready for their first day of school? Go to unitedwayaustin.org/sb6