Each year, we adopt a new campaign theme to inspire employees to give a little bit out of each paycheck to change their community. We at UWATX believe anyone can be a philanthropist–but the word “philanthropy” can sound overwhelming. We recruited some of Austin’s finest philanthropists–elementary school children–to show you just how easy philanthropy can be in this year’s campaign: “Philanthropy Easy as 1-2-3”. We were excited to once again work with Kathy Horn and her collective, Hunt, Gather, as well as local Austin photographer, Annie Ray. Local comedian Mac Blake spoke with these young philanthropists about how they help others and what giving back means to them. The videos highlight what philanthropy means at the most basic level, why we need philanthropy in our community and more. If you want a good laugh, check out all the videos here. We featured three UWATX service recipients in this year’s campaign, who can tell you in their own words what United Way and philanthropy means to them. Katrina and Aracelli Chapman UWATX gives Katrina invaluable peace of mind and support. A single mother and unable to work because of a disability, Katrina has looked to United Way for financial and emotional support since before the birth of her now three-year-old daughter, Aracelli, Now, she’s turning again to United Way’s Success By 6 program to make sure Aracelli is developmentally where she needs to be when she starts school. Ashley and Owen Trimpey Raising up the community, one family at a time. Through Play To Learn, […]
Read MoreSummer Learning Activities for Preschool-Aged Children
Wondering what to do with your young child at home all summer? We’ve compiled a list of fun AND educational activities you can do for free or very cheaply with your toddler or preschool-aged child this summer that will improve their math, reading and motor skills. Visit a farmer’s market The plethora of fruits and vegetables at markets are great learning tools. Children can learn colors and work on math skills by counting the fruit they help you pick out. Find a farmer’s market near you. Open a lemonade stand Make lemonade with your child and let them help you measure and count the ingredients. Help them count the money they receive from customers. Bonus points if you teach them about the importance of giving back by donating their profits to a local charity! Go on a nature walk Create an adventure in your backyard, neighborhood park or the greenbelt. Point out the different kinds of trees, plant and insect life you find with your child. Put on a puppet show This project will spark creativity. Read an age-appropriate book with your child. Then, using paper lunch bags, pipe cleaners, markers and other craft items, create puppets of the main characters and act out the story you just read together. At-home Olympics To get your child excited about the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, host a competition of your own. Count together to see how many times your child can jump over a jumprope or make a rotation with a […]
Read MoreAISD Doubles Capacity For Pre-K3 Next Year
(Via Austin ISD Press Release) Austin ISD will nearly double its capacity to teach prekindergarten for three-year-olds (Pre-K3) next year, thanks to funding from local donors. View photos from the press conference at Pleasant Hill Elementary on May 5th. “When students have a strong start, they have a strong future,” Superintendent Paul Cruz said. “We want make sure all students are given a path to success. Starting early improves the chance that students graduate college-, career- and life-ready.” AISD will be able to add Pre-K3 to 13 more schools: Barrington, Casey, Harris, Houston, Jordan, Kocurek, Metz, Ortega, Palm, Perez, Read, Sanchez and Widen elementary schools. Three years ago, AISD offered the Pre-K3 program to 42 three-year-old students at two pilot schools. This year, the program expanded to provide Pre-K3 for 550 three-year-old students funded by United Way for Greater Austin and its major donors. Next year, there will be space for more than 1,000 students thanks to the latest expansion. The partners who made this expansion possible: Buena Vista Foundation, Cullen Family Charitable Foundation, the Gottesman Family, Tapestry Foundation and Eric Stumberg with support from United Way for Greater Austin. AISD Early Childhood Director, Jacquie Porter, emphasized the strong foundation students build in Pre-K. “Prekindergarten is more than just shapes and colors. It’s about getting students ready for life,” Porter said. “In prekindergarten, students learn socializing, social and emotional learning, and how to work with others.” Registration for Pre-K is open through the beginning of the school year. However, capacity at some schools […]
Read MoreAmericorps, Literacy Coaches Make a Difference for Young Children
In Travis County, only about 42% of children from low-income families enter Kindergarten ready to learn. Research also tells us that there is a large vocabulary gap at age four between children from low-income families and children from high-income families. These are striking statistics because children who start school behind, are more likely to stay behind, and many never catch up. They are also more likely to need special education services and by adulthood, many drop out of high school and become part of the juvenile justice system. In order to support language development and improve school readiness among children in our Center Project centers, Success By 6 brought six AmeriCorps members and five Classroom Coaches on board this past fall to provide literacy and math support in early learning centers throughout Austin. The cadre of educators spends between 10 and 40 hours per week working directly with low-income children, building oral language skills, providing engaging research-based math and literacy curriculum, and supporting social-emotional development. This work is done in large groups, small groups and sometimes one-on-one. The supplemental one-on-one and small group instruction is incredibly important as it provides children with individualized instruction that is appropriate for their skill level. After analyzing last year’s interventions, UWATX saw tremendously positive results from this focus on literacy and math development. During the seven-month intervention period, children in our program saw more than 17 months of growth in their receptive language development. Furthermore, nearly 90% of the children from low-income families were developmentally on-target in […]
Read MoreNational Book Week
National Book Week 2016 is upon us – what better way to celebrate than to get your child involved by finding a good book to get hooked on? Reading allows a child to use their imagination and develop social, emotional, gross motor and fine motor skills that are important to their success in school and life. ReachoutandRead.org states that, “Children who fall seriously behind in the growth of critical early reading skills have fewer opportunities to practice reading. Evidence suggests that these lost practice opportunities make it extremely difficult for children who remain poor readers during the first three years of elementary school to ever acquire average levels of reading fluency.” So how do you get your child to love to read? Here are a few suggestions: Limit Media Time It’s easy to switch on the TV after a long day at work in order to quiet down your kiddos. However, best practices suggest to balance TV or media time with reading. Next time your child wants to watch their favorite TV show, suggest that they pick up a book instead or have to read for 30 minutes before being allowed to play their video games. Share Reading Experiences Reading together can be used to not only bond with your child, but is an important activity that allows you to discuss elements of a story with them. Once you have completed a book, open up a conversation discussing your favorite/least favorite part of the story, character development and common themes in the story. […]
Read MoreMath and Literacy Results Show Huge Strides For At-Risk Kids
One thing that sets United Way for Greater Austin apart from other non-profits is that all of our programs are research-based and results-driven. We are happy to announce the latest set of data showing our Success By 6 program is making a measurable, positive impact on local children. Between August of 2014 and July 2015, five AmeriCorps members were placed at seven Early Learning and Child Development Centers (five of which we work with through our Center Project, two that are family-serving agencies with early literacy programs). The members provided intensive math and literacy interventions to children for seven months. The AmeriCorps members engaged in both small group and one-on-one instruction with the children using research-based curriculum. Results from this project are extraordinary and broken down in three ways: gains made in language development, gains made in math skills and gains made on any assessment. 100% of children who received the intervention made gains in either their math or vocabulary levels, if not both. First, we looked whether children participating in the intervention showed improvement on either their language or math skills. Language skills were assessed by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) or its Spanish equivalent, Test de Vocabulario en Imágenes Peabody (TVIP). These assessments look at a child’s ability to understand specific words that are said to them, which is called receptive language ability. The math assessment was developed by UWATX’s Success By 6 staff and was based on the High Scope Numbers Plus curriculum. It measures a […]
Read MoreTwo-Generation Pilot Project Shows ESL As Biggest Need
Ascend is a policy program of The Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization that aims to pass on economic security and educational success from one generation to another. They emphasize a two-generation approach in every thing they do, meaning that they want to create opportunities for both the parent and child living in disadvantaged situations. UWATX received a grant from The Aspen Institute Ascend Fund in order to develop and test a two-gen pilot project of our own. United Way for Greater Austin engaged two researchers from the University of Texas’s Ray Marshall Center to measure impact through an evaluation that used multiple methodologies, including participant focus groups, individual interviews, surveys and pre- and post-skill tests. At the onset of the pilot, UWATX met with community partners to discuss project strategies to test an adult education care model for parents with children already engaged in high-quality early education. With Austin Independent School District (AISD) and Uphaus Early Childhood Center, UWATX developed an outreach plan to reach potential participants. After several weeks of dedicated outreach, UWATX reached over 100 parents and learned some valuable lessons. Over half of respondents cited English as their primary need and interest. Those who were interested, qualified and eligible for job training had diverse interests, making it difficult to form a cohort. At the same time, UWATX learned most of the job training families had reliable transportation and could access the existing training centers, while the Spanish-speaking families struggled with isolation. All of this […]
Read MoreUWATX Presents at TX Statewide Early Learning Summit
Last week, the cities of Fort Worth and Austin co-hosted a summit on early learning. This summit was the culmination of the National League of Cities’ Education Alignment for Young Children initiative. Austin and Fort Worth are among six cities nationwide that received this technical assistance grant to help with educational alignment for young children. The summit focused specifically on Texas, and dozens of early education experts spent the day learning about efforts in six communities- Austin, Forth Worth, Dallas, El Paso, Houston and San Antonio. “It was a very interesting and informative day that allowed us to reflect on our community’s efforts, share successes and lessons learned, and gain insight in how other communities are tackling the same challenges and issues.” –Dr. Alison Bentley, Success By 6 Coordinator Austin’s representatives included UWATX president, Debbie Bresette; SB6 coordinator, Dr. Alison Bentley; Travis County planner, Tara Carmean; E3’s Director of School Readiness, Laura Koenig; and Dr. Rosamaria Murillo and Cynthia Gamez from the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. Members from each city were able to share their work, exchange ideas and become part of a peer learning network on early childhood educational alignment. Groups were asked to present about best practices in their community including what has worked well in the past and what challenges they encountered. Dr. Bentley, in collaboration with Tara Carmean, presented on the School Readiness Action Plan of Austin/Travis County (SRAP)–-our community plan to ensure that school readiness becomes and remains a top priority. Specifically, their presentation […]
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