AUSTIN, Texas —
This fall, Austin Community College (ACC) will start a new program to help remove barriers for parents looking to continue their education.
The new Avance to College program offers parents free resources, including child care. The program creates a community of parents working towards similar goals, and it is specifically targeted toward historically marginalized communities.
Parents get the opportunity to learn new parenting skills and, at the same time, the program gives children an early learning environment – all for free.
The program gives parents a course where they learn about different tools they can use in college and teaches them how they can use ACC amenities and get on the path to a career they want. While they're in the class, their children are also learning.
"Some of the focus will be getting them registered for the class officially in the system. And then, so we help walk them through all of that. So, it's not, again, a barrier because that can be confusing anyway," said Amber Kreischer, ACC's adjunct professor in charge of the new program.
Parents also get a crash course on what it takes to be an ACC student, teaching them how to register for classes, how to get a student ID and other things to be successful.
"Because a lot of people don't see themselves necessarily as a college student. And maybe they have a goal that they really want to reach, but they feel like they can't get to that point because they, you know, they need some sort of classes, or they need some sort of degree, or they need some sort of experience or skill set that they don't have. And it can be really intimidating sometimes for people to find a path to get there," Kreischer said.
There will be a class offered in English and another in Spanish to reach more people. The course also shows parents different resources available for them to get scholarships to take more classes, as well as resources for child care.
The program begins this fall, and anyone interested can reach out to Avance Austin to learn more. For more information, visit the program's website or email program.aus@avance.org.