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.
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.
Second Lady Barbara Bush reacts while touring AVANCE Child Development Center in Lincoln Courts in 1988. San Antonio Express-News file photo.
First Lady Barbara Bush watches children work while touring the AVANCE Child Development Center on Sept. 19, 1989. San Antonio Light file photoAVANCE receives one of the first nationwide Even Start Program Grants
Carnegie, Ford, Hasbro, W.K. Kellogg, Rockefeller, Hilton and Mott Foundations establish an AVANCE funding consortium
Featured as National Model in Prevention of Crime and Delinquency on McNeil Lehrer NewsHour.
Lisa Oglesby Rocha establishes AVANCE-Dallas with five employees, three sites, and a budget of $300,000.
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