Webcast: AVANCE Announces National Partners
REPLAY VIDEO: San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro joined AVANCE CEO Richard J. Noriega at a news conference announcing AVANCE's new national partners in the Unlocking America’s Potential Project.
Castro and Noriega talked about how educational attainment programs, such as AVANCE, ensure the country’s economic competitiveness and national security. The event highlighted the continued national expansion of AVANCE’s Parent-Child Education Program, funded by a $12.6 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
For the first time ever, NOWCastSA used interactive video to simultaneously bring speakers from five cities across the country into one live webcast. You can replay the webcast here:
This will be the first NOWCastSA webcast of its kind, using interactive video to simultaneously bring AVANCE’s partners from four other cities into the live video stream. AVANCE is underwriting the webcast.
The participants from other cities are: Amistades Inc. in Tucson, AZ; ASPIRA of Florida Inc. in Miami; The Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative in Grand Rapids, MI; and The Family Place Inc. in Washington, D.C.
Guests will be treated to a bilingual performance by AVANCE-San Antonio mothers and their children of the AVANCE Estrellita (Star) song.
At last year’s project launch, Castro praised AVANCE. “There is no other endeavor in our nation that has as much power to change lives and spurn economic growth as education, especially early childhood education," Castro said. "The fact is AVANCE has paved the way for thousands of families to break the cycle of poverty and I am proud to bear witness to their expansion. This is a life-changing moment for not just AVANCE, or San Antonio, but for communities across the United States.”
Castro recently made national headlines with his San Antonio Brainpower Taskforce, which asks voters to approve a sales tax increase of one-eighth of a cent to finance full-day pre-K, for 4-year-olds from low-income households in San Antonio. (Watch video from the Mayor's 2012 State of the City Address here.)
San Antonio was named a 2012 All-America City for the collaboration between Castro, P16 Plus Council, and the Eastside Promise Neighborhood increase school readiness, attendance and grade-level reading performance.
Noriega commended Castro for his leadership on early childhood learning. “One of our goals is to help families advance to their full potential and transform the communities in which we live. We are proud to have our national office located in a city that supports early childhood education and is leading the way in early learning initiatives,” Noriega said.
“AVANCE continues to be 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, providing even more families with hope for a better future,” said Noriega.
Magdalena G. Santos, who directs AVANCE’s national expansion efforts, explained th process. “With Kellogg’s support, we have been able to expand the AVANCE program into other ethnically diverse communities across the country and we are thrilled to collaborate with like-minded organizations to ensure that more children enter grade school prepared to succeed,” Santos said.
"NOWCastSA's expertise in online multimedia and video production is being put to good use with this news conference," said NOWCastSA Managing Director Charlotte-Anne Lucas. "It is very exciting to collaborate and stretch interactive live streaming technology in new ways for this very significant event."
