February 19-21, 2015 San Antonio, Texas

February 19-21, 2015
San Antonio, Texas
Dear AVANCE Friends and Staff,
Welcome to the AVANCE 2015 Peer Networking
Summit. On behalf of our Na onal Board of
Directors, I want to thank everyone for your
commitment to par cipate in this event.
The Peer Networking Summit offers you the
opportunity to connect with colleagues and
gain insight from knowledgeable speakers and
staff. Over the next three days, you will be a
Richard J. Noriega
part of breakout sessions that focus on science
and technology in early childhood educa on, professional development,
language building and learning through play.
We are honored to have outstanding speakers and educators join us,
empowering you to apply the best prac ces in parent-child educa on in your
daily opera ons. The staff at AVANCE Na onal thanks you for your passionate
commitment to the families we serve.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Noriega,
President and CEO
Adriana Villa Baird, M.S. - Univeristy of Texas at Dallas
Adriana Villa Baird has been working with the Center for Children and Families
at The University of Texas at Dallas since 2011. In her role as “Juega Conmigo”
(Play with Me) Program Manager and Community Liaison Specialist for the
Resource and Referral Program, she leads, directs, informs, and teaches
hundreds of young children and families in North Texas, serving those with the
highest needs.
A na ve of Colombia, Baird has the incredible ability to connect personally
with the families she works with, many of whom are immigrants. They come to
her classes with stories of hardships but with a deep commitment to helping
their children learn and succeed. She leads weekly “Juega Conmigo” playfullearning classes, facilita ng young children’s play and learning ac vi es and suppor ng the parents’ posi ve,
growth-promo ng engagement with their children. Baird also finds me to serve over 150 families annually
through their Resource and Referral line where she u lizes her counseling skills to connect families to
resources and referrals for a variety of issues.
Adolph Brown III, Ph.D. - The Leadership InsƟtute
Dr. Adolph Brown is the Founder, President and CEO of The Leadership
and Learning Ins tute. Dr. Brown first discovered his passion for personal
development while working as a middle school educator and later as a diversity
and communica on consultant. Relying on more than 25 years of personal
experience, he has developed core competencies for successful business leaders
and educators. He has also served on the Na onal Commission on Diversity and
Economic Development where he facilitated mul ple round-table discussions.
Thanks to his hard work, faith, good a tude, and a caring village like you, Dr.
Brown has overcome an upbringing of extreme poverty and violence, welfare,
fatherlessness, and a single-mother led household to become one of the world’s
most popular speakers with his unique ability to inform as well as entertain.
Famous for his prac cal toolkit and loved for his inspira onal messages, he brings “the content and the
crazy!” Dr. Brown blends humorous stories with truisms, or “real talk,” and research to challenge his
audiences to live and work more posi vely.
Lynda Cavazos, M.E. - Texas A&M University
Lynda Cavazos is an Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M University and an
Educa on Consultant with Pledge2Teach. As a consultant and a researcher,
her areas of exper se are early childhood, bilingual educa on, ESL, teacher
mentoring and support, and pre-service teacher prepara on. She is a Ph.D.
candidate in Organiza onal Leadership at the University of Incarnate Word.
Her honors and awards include: Teacher of the Year, The Teacher to Honor
Award from the University of Texas San Antonio’s Bilingual Educators Student
Organiza on (BESO) and the Norma Ziegler Higher Educa on Professional
of the Year Award from San Antonio Associa on for the Educa on of Young
Children (SAAEYC). She has coauthored scholarly ar cles in the American
Journal of Pharmaceu cal Educa on, the Na onal Associa on of Bilingual
Educa on, the Texas Associa on of Bilingual Educa on Journal and the
Journal of Interdisciplinary Educa on.
Chanell B. Garcia - AVANCE, Inc.
Chanell B. Garcia serves as the Data Evalua on and Research Administrator at AVANCE, Inc. She came
to AVANCE as an undergraduate intern seeking community involvement with the sorority Sigma
Sigma Sigma. A er gradua ng from St. Mary’s University with bachelor’s degrees in both Biology and
Psychology, Garcia began coordina ng research efforts with external en es, developing methods and
protocol for data collec on, and providing data for use in grant applica ons for AVANCE.
With her knowledge in the fields of bivariate and mul variate sta s cs and path modeling methods,
she has been an ac ve part of providing quality research on the AVANCE Parent-Child Educa on
Program. She has also coordinated external resources and nurtured partnerships in order to con nue
to grow research on the AVANCE model and minority popula ons u lizing her background in research
methods and previous research experience in the fields of Educa onal and School Psychology. She
has presented interna onally for the American Psychological Associa on, Southwestern Psychological
Associa on, and the Society for Research in Child Development in the areas of Paren ng, Child
Development, Educa onal and School Psychology, and Minority Communi es.
Melvin Gravely - The Gravely Group
As the CEO of The Gravely Group, Melvin Gravely has over 20 years of experience in training programs
for various local, na onal and state Head Start agencies and associa ons. Gravely brings a unique
combina on of trainer, skill-building authority and results-oriented instructor to the field of family
advocacy.
The success of the Gravely Group developed from his involvement in family and children advocacy
programs. Gravely has had the opportunity to train more than 100 Head Start programs in Head Start
compliance areas that relate to delivery of programming and program governance. Head Start and
foster care teams con nuously ask him to return to educate new groups of parents.
Gravely has held a number of progressively responsible posi ons in the family and child advocacy
field including: former Treasurer and Past President of the Na onal Foster Parent Associa on, former
Educa on Coordinator for the Ohio Associa on of Parliamentarians, and the past President of the
Wirenius Unit in Columbus, Ohio. He is a cer fied trainer with the Ins tute of Human Service and Ohio Human Services Training
System. He is also licensed foster parent with Buckeye Ranch in Columbus, Ohio.
Mary Haggerty - WGBH
As the Director of Media Engagment for WGBH, Mary Haggerty co-manages a department that works
in tandem with WGBH’s television and interac ve produc ons to develop resources and ac vi es for
parents, educators, youth, and lifelong learners in- and out-of-school. She also plays a leadership role in
overseeing the development and implementa on of na onal educa on ini a ves for non-broadcast and
transmedia projects.
Her work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) ini a ves includes developing and
implemen ng local and na onal outreach ac vi es and campaigns for television series such as Curious
George, PEEP and the Big Wide World, Design Squad Na on and now Design Squad Global.
Before coming to WGBH, she served in Mauritania, West Africa as a Peace Corps rural health volunteer.
Haggerty also held various posi ons at Reading Is Fundamental, where she focused on outreach to
underserved audiences, including American Indian and La no popula ons. She is also fluent in Spanish.
Marissa Kaiser - Bezos Family FoundaƟon
Marissa Kaiser specializes in program management and communica ons, and she has long worked
for organiza ons that make a difference in our world. For the past decade, her professional career has
included communica on, advocacy, and strategy work for such organiza ons as PATH, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Founda on, and the Robert Wood Johnson Founda on. Her focus is reaching out to stakeholders,
building partnerships, increasing awareness, and developing effec ve communica ons channels.
At the Bezos Family Founda on, she leads a parent-facing ini a ve called Vroom. Inspired by advances
in neuroscience, Vroom is an effort aimed at empowering parents to play a posi ve and proac ve role in
their children’s early brain development by promo ng posi ve parent-child interac ons. As a parent of
two young boys, she personally understands the message that embedded within everyday moments, we
as caregivers play an incredible role in suppor ng our children’s brain development.
Michael López, Ph.D. - Abt Associates
Michael López, Ph.D., a Principal Associate at Abt Associates, brings over 25 years of extensive
experience conduc ng policy-relevant, early childhood research, with a par cular emphasis on lowincome or culturally and linguis cally diverse popula ons. He currently is Co-Principal Inves gator for the
Na onal Center for Research on Hispanic Children and Families.
Prior to joining Abt, Dr. López was Execu ve Director of the Na onal Center for La no Child and Family
Research, where some of his efforts included: technical research consultant to First 5 LA;
coauthor of a book reviewing the psychometric proper es of language and literacy measures used with
Spanish-speaking, DLL preschoolers; coauthor on a study examining the psychometric characteris cs
of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) used to assess teacher–child interac ons
within preschool classrooms serving dual language learners; and coinves gator for a measurement
development study “Extending the Cultural and Linguis c Validity of the Adjustment Scales for Preschool
Interven on (ASPI) for Low-Income, La no Children.” Before that, he directed the Child Outcomes Research and Evalua on team in
the Administra on for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he developed and
directed large-scale, na onal evalua on studies.
Claudia Macias, M.S. - Discover with Me! EducaƟon SoluƟons
Claudia I. Macias is an educa on consultant, singer, actor, writer and workshop creator and
presenter. Macias, a na ve Texan, has a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University
of Houston Central Campus and master’s degree in Educa on from the University of Houston Clear Lake.
Her life journey includes teaching, founding and leading an elementary school; mentoring teachers; and
leading playgroups. As a teacher mentor with Rice University’s School Literacy and Culture program, she
supported teachers as they implemented a storytelling and dicta on program to jump-start crea ve
wri ng in early childhood classes. Macias created, directed and performs in a healthy habits show
designed for early childhood and lower elementary age students.
As “Lady Veggie” she visits schools where she sings, dances and drama zes the message of healthy
ea ng and living. She does this with the help of life-size dancing fruits and vegetables. Her love of
teaching and suppor ng teachers has no end as she also leads early childhood workshops for The University of Texas Health Science
Center of Houston-Children’s Learning Ins tute and The University of Texas at Aus n Ins tute for Public School Ini a ves. Currently,
she is in the process of adding “writer” to her list of accomplishments.
Christie Melonson, M.A., LPC-S - St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home
Chris e Melonson is the Clinical Director at St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home, part- me Psychology
faculty with Northwest Vista College and a doctoral candidate in Educa on at The University of the
Incarnate Word. Her professional work in counseling and educa on has led her to work in a variety
of educa on, higher educa on, and mental health se ngs with low income and diverse popula ons.
Her research and consulta on areas of exper se include mul culturalism and cultural competence in
leadership and behavioral health.
Cynthia Osborne, Ph.D. - Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
Dr. Cynthia Osborne is an Associate Professor and Director of the Child and Family Research
Partnership at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Aus n.
Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of social policy, poverty and inequality,
family and child well-being and family demography. She has extensive experience in longterm evalua ons of state and na onal programs, including the Texas Health and Human Services
Commission’s Home Visi ng Program and paternity, child support and teen educa on programs of
the Texas Office of the A orney General.
Dr. Osborne joined the faculty of the LBJ School of Public Affairs in 2005 a er comple ng a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at Princeton University,
where she earned her Ph.D. in Demography and Public Affairs. She holds a master’s degree in
Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School.
Charles P. Wilson, M.A. - AVANCE, Inc.
Charles P. Wilson received his master’s degree in Human Resources Management Systems with an
emphasis upon training. He is a re ree from the United States Air Force and the City of San Antonio.
Wilson joined AVANCE with eight years of experience as a corporate trainer for the city San Antonio
where he taught the subjects of SAP enterprise systems, Microso Office products, and other so ware
systems to a popula on of over 1,400 city employees.
In addi on, he is a pastor serving as a family counselor, financial advisor, and family advocate of ethical
and moral values to his church membership. He has managed several church congrega ons over a
period of more than 20 years. He is working toward a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. Wilson ministered to the
homeless and addicts in the Eastside of San Antonio for seven years.
Thursday, February 19
Time
Session
Presenter
Location
7:30 to 8 a.m.
RegistraƟon
AVANCE, Inc.
Salon A
8 to 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Rita Sandoval-Chief Program Officer
Rita Sandoval
Salon A
8:30 to 10 a.m.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Michael López
Salon A
10 to 10:15 a.m.
Break
10:15 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Breakout Session (English)
Mary Haggerty
Why Science is Important and What Parents Need to Do
How to Navigate the New Peep Website
Salon A
12 to 1:30 p.m.
Lunch
Melvin Gravely
Team Building Ac vity: Building Meaningful Rela onships
Salon B
1:30 to 3 p.m.
Breakout Session
Tablets, Apps and Screens ... Oh My!
Claudia Macias
Salon A
3 to 3:15 p.m.
Break
3:15 to 4:30 p.m.
Breakout Session (Spanish)
Mary Haggerty
Why Science is Important and What Parents Need to Do
How to Navigate the New Peep Website
Nacional
4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Breakout Session
Vroom
Marissa Kaiser
AVANCE Mission:
Unlocking America’s poten al by strengthening
families in at-risk communi es through effec ve parent
educa on and support programs.
Salon A
Friday, February 20
Time
Session
Presenter
Location
8 to 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Magda Santos
8:30 to 10 a.m.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Adolph Brown
Professional Excellence: Early Childhood Educa on
10 to 10:15 a.m.
Break
10:15 to 11:45 a.m.
Breakout Session
Claudia Macias
Building Language with the Five Senses, Narra on, Touch and “High Five”
Ques oning
Salon A
11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Lunch:
Dr. Cynthia Osborne
Bringing Evidence-Based Home Visi ng Programs to Scale:
Expecta ons and Challenges
Salon B
1 to 2:30 p.m.
Breakout Session
Adriana Villa Baird
Learning Through Play Strategies
Salon A
2:30 to 2:45 p.m.
Break
2:45 to 4 p.m.
Breakout Session
Father Engagement
Melvin Gravely
Salon A
Salon A
Salon A
Saturday, February 21
Time
Session
Presenter
Location
8 to 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Magda Santos
Salon A
8:15 to 9:45 a.m.
Breakout Session
ARMS Training
Chanell Garcia and Charles Wilson
Salon A
9:45 to 10 a.m.
Break
10 to 11:30 a.m.
Breakout Session
Lynda Cavazos/ChrisƟe Melonson
“Literacy for Life” Community Service Project Results
Salon A
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Lunch
Networking
Salon B
12:30 p.m.
Summit Dismissal
AVANCE, Inc.
118 N. Medina St.
San Antonio, TX
78207
Phone: 210.270.4630
Fax: 210.270.4639
www.avance.org