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OUR HISTORY

AVANCE Through the Years

The Beginning
1972

Our journey started in 1972 when two Cornell University doctoral students, Bonnie Park and Ann Willig, studying under Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner created the original AVANCE-Mother Infant Program in Dallas with funding from the Zale Corporation. Initially serving 35 families in a 500-unit public housing development, AVANCE has grown with chapters across Texas.

AVANCE National Established
1973

Dr. Gloria Rodriguez establishes the AVANCE San Antonio office and begins offering classes in the Marisol Housing Project. Quickly growing to six sites across Texas.

1988
  • Second Lady Barbara Bush reacts while touring AVANCE Child Development Center in Lincoln Courts in 1988. San Antonio Express-News file photo.
  • The New York Times and ABC WOrld News Tonight features AVANCE's renowned Parent-Child Education Program.
1989
  • First Lady Barbara Bush watches children work while touring the AVANCE Child Development Center on Sept. 19, 1989. San Antonio Light file photo
  • AVANCE receives first federal grant from the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
1990

AVANCE receives one of the first nationwide Even Start Program Grants

1992

AVANCE is invited to be a part of Scared Silent, a documentary about child abuse.

1994

Carnegie, Ford, Hasbro, W.K. Kellogg, Rockefeller, Hilton and Mott Foundations establish an AVANCE funding consortium

1995

Featured as National Model in Prevention of Crime and Delinquency on McNeil Lehrer NewsHour.

1996
  • Lisa Oglesby Rocha establishes AVANCE-Dallas with five employees, three sites, and a budget of $300,000.

  • Featured in First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's book It Takes a Village in which she presents her vision for the children of America