Child Development through Avance

“I was nervous, but now I see he is developing.”

Leticia Mendieta’s three-year-old son, Andy, was experiencing a significant speech development delay, and was receiving individual speech and occupational therapies through Any Baby Can. When Andy’s therapists referred him to AVANCE for beneficial group interactions, Leticia and her husband weren’t sure what to expect.
“My husband and I were both scared, because we didn’t know anything about it,” Leticia remembers. “But the first day, I sat down for orientation, and they asked me how I was feeling. They were concerned about me and took time to talk to me.

“When we left AVANCE, Andy was smiling and laughing and trying to talk and tell me things,” she continues. “They really took the time to make sure we were both OK.”

AVANCE is an Austin-based nonprofit organization that works to help families with low income and young children via parent training and high-quality early childhood education programs. AVANCE provides regular screeners to track Andy’s progress, and supports Leticia with child-development information, ESL classes, community-resource information, and social connections with other
families.

Working with AVANCE for several months, Leticia today is feeling much more confident, and says Andy is clearly progressing – socializing more, trying new things, becoming more independent.

“There are little things he does now where I can see him developing,” notes Leticia. “They’re little, but they’re significant to me.”

Early Education Options for Everyone

“I was unsure of how my babies would feel and how they would be treated.”

Life was already kind of crazy for mother-of-two Monica, who was already caring for her infant son, Lorenzo, and toddler daughter, Melody. When she realized she needed to find full-time child care for her children so she could return to work, Monica was overwhelmed.

“It was difficult to even begin to search for child care,” Monica recalls. “It took several months to find the right spot for us – at Mainspring Schools.” Mainspring Schools is a nonprofit organization working to provide high-quality early education for families all over Austin who represent diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and socio-economic levels; 75% of the school’s students receive tuition subsidies. Mainspring is a highly-rated early education center, but that didn’t keep Melody from missing her mom during her first days at the school.

“Mommy was all she had known,” Monica confirms. “So we both used to cry through drop-off every morning – but nowadays, she’s smiling big-time when I pick her up in the afternoon. The staff at Mainspring is very caring, hardworking, and patient. They listen to my concerns and reassure me my babies are safe with them – and they are!”

Meanwhile, mom Sonia has four daughters, ranging in age from 3 months to 13 years. She was lucky enough to find public-school care for her middle girls; they’re currently enrolled in Austin ISD Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 programs.

“Finding child care in which the children are enriched and developed is one of the biggest struggles facing young families today,” notes AISD Pre-K3 teacher Dolores McDonald, who taught one daughter of Sonia’s last year, and this year, is teaching her sister. “Children should begin their education in a positive, engaging way – in a way that gets them excited about learning.”

Just like Monica, Sonia remembers clearly how she felt the first day her now-teenager started preschool.

“We were both scared and happy at the same time,” Sonia recalls. “I was worried she was too little to start school, but I was hopeful she’d begin learning more. And she adapted to preschool quickly; she was always happy to go to school.”

Sonia’s eldest daughter’s pro-ed attitude is apparently rubbing off on her younger siblings; both are enjoying going to school every day alongside their big sis.

“The older one has developed in all areas at school,” notes Sonia. “The younger one has become less timid, more social. And I think I may be feeling just a little less tired.”

Businesses Invest in Families, Benefit Bottom Line

“Early childhood development today is critical for our workforce tomorrow.”

“I was just 17 when I had my daughter,” begins Jeanette Ward, Chief Operating Officer of Texas Mutual. “I had already been accepted at The University of Texas, so I moved us to Austin and put myself through school – I found affordable housing, I had transportation, I did find child care, and I just put one foot in front of the other every day and got through college.”

At 23, Jeanette was hired as a receptionist by Texas Mutual, and has spent the past quarter-century building a highly successful career with the workers’-compensation insurance firm. But over the past few years, she’s come to realize that young women today in similar starting situations can’t do the same.

“I don’t know how you do it in today’s environment,” Jeanette affirms. “Austin especially has such huge affordability challenges – housing, transportation, child care. That’s why I’m trying to lend a helping hand, because I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to move up in life.”

Jeanette is involved in Early Matters Greater Austin, a coalition of local businesses working to promote investment in young children by influencing public policy, encouraging family-friendly workplaces, and advancing innovation. According to Jeanette, one of the first things employers can do to better their business is to support employees in their role as parents – provide them with the flexibility to take proper care of their children’s health, and make sure they have dependable, quality child care.

“If your employees can’t access affordable child care, then they’re coming to work worried about their kids,” she notes. “You want your employees there, present, giving their best, and if they can’t do that because of family concerns, that’s bad for business.”

At the same time, businesses need to be investing in today’s young children, to ensure they get on the right path to school and career success.

“We know now that a child’s earliest years – from birth to Kindergarten – are so, so important in terms of their development; it can impact their learning for the rest of their lives,” concurs Jeanette. “So if we as a business community don’t tackle Austin’s affordability issue, then we won’t have a skilled and ready workforce in the future.”