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ABC, 123 & Everything In Between

Literacy is often at the intersection of many issues affecting the well-being of our community, so it’s vital to place a big focus on improving literacy. The Literacy Coalition of Central Texas is building stronger communities by ensuring that individuals and families have the skills they need to thrive. Their clients are often the hardest to reach – adults with below third-grade reading level, parents whose busy schedules render them unable to participate in other programs, recent immigrants with low English proficiency, and survivors of trauma. A,B,C,1,2,3 and everything in between is all in a day’s work for the folks at the Literacy Coalition. Through work with partner agencies, they are lifting up the sector as a whole by training instructors, providing more capacity for their work, and responding to network-identified needs. Through its programs, the LCCT leads and manages multiple levels of skill-building efforts to positively impact underserved individuals who are strengthening their language and workplace skills. Literacy Coalition programs include: AmeriCorps direct service English at Work Integrated Education and Training Literacy Forward PALS (Playing and Learning Strategies) Social Services The Learning Center AmeriCorps VISTA   When people think about literacy, they often think about kids learning to read, but literacy is so much more than that. At the LCCT, there is a strong focus on literacy outside the K-12 arena, working side by side with young children and adults on early childhood literacy, adult education, vocational training, digital literacy, and English language skills. Their programs empower people to […]

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Any Baby Can – And It Takes A Village

Parenting is hard (said every new parent, ever). It can be hard in the absolute best of circumstances.  There are creeping doubts, fears and obstacles that you could never imagine until you are faced with them. All parents harbor concern about their children’s futures. The Any Baby Can staff also know that parenting is even harder without the things that many of us take for granted: resources for our children, access to information and education, heating in cold months, stable housing, and food on the table every night. That is why they are proudly committed to their mission of Strengthening Families so Children Succeed. With a 40–year history in Central Texas, Any Baby Can is a go-to resource for parents and families with unique challenges. From first-time parents, families whose children have developmental or medical needs, Any Baby Can is there to support parents and help them overcome obstacles to set their family up for success. They guide parents in building confidence, nurturing relationships, and planning for the future so their children—and the entire family—can reach their full potential. Throughout Any Baby Can’s 40 years, they have built up their wrap-around support to make success accessible for families. Caring for their client’s immediate needs is of utmost importance as they ensure families have the resources, time and skills they need to succeed. Through caring for the community, Any Baby Can establishes strong relationships with clients, providing a truly stable force in their lives. The wraparound services offered by Any Baby […]

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It’s Fun To Stay At The YMCA

Yes, it’s fun to stay at the YMCA, but what else do you know about this nonprofit that has its own signature dance moves? YMCA is a nation-wide nonprofit that works to build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.  Here in our own backyard YMCA of Austin (the Y) identifies and solves Central Texas’ most critical needs across three pillars: -Youth Development -Healthy Living -Social Responsibility   Here at United Way for Greater Austin, that is our favorite kind of fun! We are proud to fund YMCA in support of their Early Learning Readiness program (ELR), which is making a tangible difference in our community every single day.     YMCA of Austin is serving more than 65,000 members (and an additional 60,000 program participants) through their eight branches in Travis, Hays and Bastrop Counties. They also provide Afterschool Child Care at 16 licensed sites in three school districts, and at five YMCA Learning Centers in affordable housing developments.   In Austin, across the nation and around the world, the accomplishments of the Y over the years reveal a mission to constantly search for innovative ways to meet community needs.   We all know the Y is a great place to expend energy and build community, but many people might not know how their programmatic work impacts our at-risk community. The Community Investment Grant YMCA has received from United Way will help them bring their ESL program to 60 additional at-risk children and caregivers in East Austin and Manor, so they can […]

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Community Partner Spotlight: Child Inc.

Forging the way for families in Austin, TX since the 1960’s, Child Inc is making a real impact for families in our community.  Child Inc’s  Project Head Start was one of the first initiatives to be funded through President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. This was an important moment for funding in the nonprofit world and helped spotlight the need to break the cycle of poverty for families across the United States. In 1972 Child IncInc was officially established as a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, and has been the Head Start grantee for Travis County since then. They enhanced our strategic community focus on making quality early childhood education accessible for more low-income families. The Child Inc mission is to provide high-quality education and comprehensive support services for children and their families while promoting personal and social responsibility in the communities [they] serve. Actively Involved Living and breathing their mission for decades, Child Inc has proudly prepared approximately 40,000 preschool children and their parents to succeed in school and in life. They are currently employing a diverse workforce of more than 230 staff positioned throughout their offices, in more than 80 classrooms, serving more than 2,000 children and families. Their work follows established evidenced-based approaches to serving families in the most need. According to their website two-thirds of [the families served] in [their] center-based program has single, female head-of-households, and at least 90 percent of them live at or below the federal poverty threshold. To better serve these families, Child Inc […]

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Community Partner Spotlight: Mainspring Schools

Since opening its doors in 1941, Mainspring Schools has been a best-in-class nonprofit preschool that works to eliminate the early childhood school readiness gap. Their mission is “to deliver the highest quality early education and care to Austin’s most economically disadvantaged children – along with services so each child and parent have tools for success in school and life.” With a mission like that and its dedication to providing high-quality, innovative, and researched based services to all children, Mainspring serves as a model for early childhood centers in Austin and beyond. As the backbone organization for early childhood in Austin/Travis County, United Way supports more than 20 childcare centers serving children from low-income families. Mainspring envisions a future in Austin in which all students have an equal opportunity to start school with the skills, support and wellness to compete and succeed in school and life. “We firmly believe that you have to start early to build a strong foundation for at-risk kids. If you get the first years right, the path to success is clearer for our children,” says Jason Gindele, Executive Director for Mainspring. Gindele’s says of his team that they “often say, facetiously, that [their] mission is to get rid of all other charities. That’s obviously not true, but [they] do believe that if you get the first years of a child’s life right, it can prevent so many issues down the road that require the attention of our society.” In Travis County, 42 percent of children under […]

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Community Partner Spotlight: Todos Juntos, Everyone is Family

Nestled on the East Side of Austin, Texas, Todos Juntos has been changing lives one family at a time for 10 years. Founder and Executive Director, Christina Collazo, has been a “Catalyst for Change” long before she was nominated for this year’s Mission Capital Award. Collazo began implementing a 2Gen (also known as Dual Gen) approach in her work a decade ago before it became the buzz-word it is today. She saw the value in raising families out of poverty through an intergenerational approach. Her vision took her out of the classroom, and into the non-profit sector where she has built an organization from the ground up. Amidst many hardships she faced along the way, she never balked in the face of adversity. “Christina Collazo is a pioneer who understood [the complex problem of intergenerational poverty] and saw its solution. She intuitively saw the link between outcomes for children and outcomes for their parents,” Sue Carpenter, Chief Programs Officer for United Way for Greater Austin said. “Many of the students at the predominately Latino high school in Austin where she worked were reading below grade level, and their parents, eager to engage and support their children, struggled to overcome language barriers and low-education levels themselves. For Christina, it was the stereotypical light bulb moment. If only she could reach the entire family earlier when the return on investment was so much greater and pair language and skills training for parents with high-high quality early education for their children.” Collazo’s solution […]

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