Author: Ricky Deakyne

The Effects of Summer Learning Loss on Low-Income Students

Students and parents alike usually view summer as a time for well-deserved relaxation and a break from learning. However, this break from learning can have consequences that are detrimental to students during the following school year and beyond. More than half of the achievement gap between low- and med/high-income students is due to unequal access to high-quality summer learning opportunities. Low-income students often can’t afford the summer camps, intensive programming or worldly vacations that their more affluent peers attend, and often spend their summers watching TV or babysitting their siblings. Most students lose about two months of mathematical computation skills over the summer. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, while their mid/higher-income peers actually make slight gains. This achievement gap has more and more of an effect on students as they complete more schooling. These summer knowledge losses compound so greatly that it has even been identified as part of the reason that low-income kids are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (SummerLearning.org). Not only do students lose knowledge, many also gain unhealthy amounts of weight during the summer due to a lack of balanced meals at home and lack of exercise they normally get from recess, organized sports or gym class. Students gain weight on average two to three times faster than they do during the school year (Edutopia.org). As you can see, it’s important in many aspects of a child’s life to have access during the summer to programs […]

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Gentrification and Gender: How Austin’s Changing Neighborhoods Affect Women and Children

Austin Community Foundation and United Way for Greater Austin co-hosted a panel on May 12th, “Gentrification & Gender: How Austin’s Changing Neighborhoods Affect Women and Children.” The panel was put on for both organizations’ women’s groups, UWATX’s Women’s Leadership Council and ACF’s Women’s Fund of Central Texas. Panel speakers were Dr. Eric Tang and Dr. Victor Sáenz of the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Tang is an assistant professor in the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at UT. His research revealed that Austin was the only major growing city in the United States to experience an absolute numerical decline in African Americans. Dr. Tang is currently working on a book, East Avenue: African Americans in Austin’s Terrain of Inequality. Dr. Sáenz is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on the educational success of boys and young men of color. Dr. Sáenz has developed a successful mentoring program for Latino boys in Austin ISD schools and created a statewide consortium to share best practices. He sees the educational success of boys as key to creating healthy families and communities. The panel started with a video from an Austin-American Statesman project on economic mobility in Austin. The video does a great job of describing how the history of segregation in Austin has led us to the current state of East Austin today. Dr. Tang elaborated on some troubling statistics from the most recent censuses in Austin. Austin is the only major city in the […]

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AISD 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 […]

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How Does Austin Rank in Charitable Donations?

How charitable is Austin compared to other cities in the U.S.? In 2015, overall charitable giving in the United States increased 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Additionally, online giving grew 9.2% in 2015 as compared to 2014 (Blackbaud “2015 Charitable Giving Report”). How does Austin’s giving trends compare to those nationally? Currently, the giving ratio in the Greater Austin area is 2.71%. This means that the average person living in our community donates 2.71% of their annual income to charity. In comparison, Dallas’s giving ratio is 3.77%, Houston’s is 3.48% and San Antonio’s is 3.29%–making Austin the “least charitable” out of the largest four cities in Texas. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 2012 analysis, Austin ranked 36th out of the largest 50 cities in the U.S. in terms of charitable giving. The amount Austinites give has decreased over time too; from 2006 to 2012, the amount donated to nonprofits dropped by 3.3%. Of course, these studies don’t account for other ways people often contribute to their communities: through volunteer work, serving on nonprofit boards and committees, donations or in-kind gifts from corporations rather than individuals, etc. Still, it seems strange that while people around the country as a whole are giving more of their income to nonprofits, Austinites are giving less–especially when you consider that Austin has the most nonprofits per capita than any other major metro area in Texas and the Southwest United States region. Some say having too many nonprofits is part of the problem. Donors do not know where […]

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10 Easy Ways To Be Environmentally Friendly

Today is Earth Day. It has always been important, but now more than ever is the time to reflect on how your daily rituals are negatively impacting our world. Being “environmentally friendly” is more than making sure to recycle and throw your trash in the proper receptacles. There are many little things that can add up to a large negative impact on the environment you never realize; but on the flip side, this also means that by being conscious of these little habits, you can make changes to your routine that are easy on you and effective for making Austin a bit greener. 10 easy ways to be more environmentally friendly: Stop using straws Like we promised–easy yet impactful! You may not think about straws because they’re so small, but consider this: Straws are one of the top ten items littered into our oceans. In the last 25 years, over six million straws and stirrers were removed from beaches during annual cleaning events (One Green Planet). While Austin may not touch any oceans, consider this same effect relevant for our beloved lake, greenbelt and other areas. Straws are literally made to only be used once, and do they really make much of a difference when it comes to enjoying your drink or not? Pick up your garage sale, lost pet, for sale, etc. signs It’s great to repurpose your old clothing and furniture–one man’s trash is another’s treasure. But one man’s garage sale signs are simply trash if they’re still sitting […]

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Community Needs and Trends Report 2015

Since 1996, our Navigation Center has served as the access point for our community for health and human resources. The 2-1-1 Navigation Center has published its annual report of trends in community needs for social services for 2015. This past year, the Navigation Center received a total of 261,504 calls from residents in need of help. The UWATX Navigation Center partners with 2-1-1 Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to help individuals navigate through 30,000 nonprofit and government resources in the ten counties we serve. The counties served through our Navigation Center include Travis, Llano, Burnet, Williamson, Blanco, Hays, Caldwell, Bastrop, Lee and Fayette County. Here are some of the community needs trends we saw in 2015:   Increase in Housing-Related Calls Our data shows housing-related needs were the top subject 2-1-1 callers asked about in 2015. Previously, food-related needs were consistently the top need. However, they are related; many times when someone is paying a high percentage of income on their housing, they are likely to have a hard time paying for other basic needs as well, like food, clothing, healthcare, prescriptions and more. This year, the Navigation Center made 100,128 housing-related referrals, which made up 31% of total calls. Top needs for 2-1-1 callers Create pie charts   More Calls From Outlying Areas 2-1-1 calls reflect demographic shifts in our community. There has been an increase in calls from people living in Williamson, Caldwell and Hays Counties, which have experienced booming growth in recent years as people who can no longer afford […]

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Volunteer Spotlight: Rina Patel

Rina Patel was first introduced to the United Way of Greater Austin more than 10 years ago through her position as the Wells Fargo area president for Mid-Central Texas. Upon moving to Austin in 2013, UWATX VP of Mission Advancement Dr. Leah Meunier, who then was in charge of managing our Women’s Leadership Council (WLC), met with Rina to introduce her to the giving society. “I have remained a WLC member because I am passionate about helping our youth—particularly through early childhood education— and ensuring they are set up for success,” said Patel. “The program also offers the opportunity for motivated, passionate, community-minded women to network and collaborate for a great cause. In particular, I’ve enjoyed the WLC meetings because the team always comes up with creative ways to educate everyone about important topics that need to be addressed in Austin.” Rina is also a dedicated volunteer and appreciates that Wells Fargo is invested in giving back to our community as a corporation as well. She finds that volunteering with her team members by sharing the expertise they already have is one of the best ways to give back. Wells Fargo’s Austin team has an impressive volunteer track record. More than 495 Wells Fargo Austin team members have volunteered more than 11, 500 hours and supported 695 nonprofit organizations through these projects. This includes 100 team members serving on local nonprofit boards, building three homes for families in need over 13 days and raising more than $325,000 last year to […]

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Volunteer Spotlight: DaMara Alexander

DaMara Alexander has participated in at least 14 volunteer projects with UWATX, adding up to more than 50 hours of service. She works as an underwriter at Farmers Insurance, one of our most dedicated and philanthropic corporate partners, and has lived in Austin her entire life. She has been very involved with our Days of Caring, Family Volunteer Days, and with our Middle School Matters work at all three campuses. DaMara began volunteering as a kid, and now tries to involve her own family in volunteer project as often as possible. “I’ve always tried to help those around me, even if just in my neighborhood. I’m blessed on so many levels and believe in blessing others.” –DaMara Alexander “I first began volunteering in elementary/middle school by going to nursing homes and things like that. I’ve always tried to help those around me, even if just in my neighborhood. I’m blessed on so many levels and believe in blessing others. I’ve been the recipient of kind actions, and I feel kindness and help goes a long, long way. I’m thankful for all that I have and all that I’m able to do. “My favorite volunteer events are the UWATX Family Volunteer events. I try to involve those around me as much as possible, and these events are not only helpful but also so much FUN!” In addition to serving as an individual, DaMara gives back with coworkers as well. Farmers Insurance has its own volunteer committee called Farmers Cares Community Corps (FCCC). […]

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GAVA! Initiatives Involve Residents in Improving Communities

GAVA (Go Austin Vamos Austin!) is a resident-led health initiative working in Austin’s neighborhoods (78744 and 78745) with highest incidence of childhood obesity to promote family wellness, increase physical activity and improve nutrition and access to healthy food. The initiative works in different areas, called sectors, to address the key factors impacting childhood obesity: parks, schools, food service/quality/availability, out-of-school time and early childhood education. The University of Texas School of Public Health and Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living provide support for GAVA through staffing as well as evaluations and analysis of outcomes. A team of nonprofit partners have also dedicated some of their staff members to assist the various sectors in identifying resident leaders and forming neighbor action teams. Laura Olson, Family Support Service Coordinator for United Way for Greater Austin’s Success By 6 team, serves as the Early Childhood Sector Manager for GAVA. She works across the early childhood community to form teams made up of childcare providers and early childhood teachers, nonprofit providers serving families with young children, home daycare providers and parents of young children. Teams meet monthly to develop plans and take action toward improving the health of their families and neighborhoods. There are many resident-led initiatives starting to come together within GAVA and the work could not be done without so many key leaders and partnerships across the communities this is taking place in. Here are only a few of the activities beginning to take shape: A team of providers and parents at […]

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April is Financial Literacy Month

What does financial literacy mean to you? Is it knowing how to do your taxes, budgeting well enough to have extra spending money each month, paying off your loans in a certain time or simply having a bank account? There are many free resources available online on a wide range of financial topics; all you need to do is take the time to look and educate yourself. UWATX has many resources available on our own website including: Bank Locator Tool Answer a few questions to find the perfect bank or credit union for you, complete with locations to help you get started. Financial Toolkits Our toolkit contains tips and worksheets on the following topics: Filing taxes How to repair your credit and manage debt Everything you need to know before you take out a loan How to open a bank account and set up direct deposit Financial Classes Locator Check out free upcoming financial classes near you to improve your skills. Additionally, check out these other great resources to meet your financial literacy goals: 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy 360 Degrees of Financial literacy is a national volunteer effort from America’s Certified Public Accountants to help residents understand their personal finances and develop money management skills. It focuses on financial education as a lifelong endeavor and contains tips dependent on your current situation, whether you’re a college student, young couple, divorced, etc. They have a huge range of topics covered from caring for aging parents, investing basics, sudden wealth, saving for […]

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