AVANCE-Houston Wins Nonprofit Communications Team of the Year Award

July 13, 2012 - PRLog -- The Public Relations Society of America- (PRSA-Houston) hosted its 27th annual Excalibur Awards dinner on June 28th at the Crystal Ballroom, honoring AVANCE-Houston with the Communications Team of the Year Award in recognition of the agency's highly effective practices and innovative ideas in the communications arena.

"I congratulate AVANCE's magnificent efforts to improve our community and for having one of the most elite communications team in place in order to reach out to the families in need of their services," Vice-President of Public Affairs at Clear Channel Outdoor and award presenter, Lee Vela, said.

Through various marketing efforts AVANCE's mission has been distributed to broad range of audiences, including a successful outreach to corporate level executives who as part of the newly launched C-PALS (Corporate Partners for Adult Literacy Success) program volunteered numerous hours throughout the semester mentoring and preparing GED students for college, resulting in a 100% graduation rate.  

Other notable communications accomplishments include a 66% increase of media presence, and a redesign of the AVANCE-Houston website and the 2011 Annual Report "Reaching New Heights"

"The creativity of our communications team goes beyond collaterals and promotions" Executive Director, Jose Villarreal said, “They also managed to deliver exceptional results despite the budget limitations which is typical for nonprofits," Villarreal added.

AVANCE recently received the HEB Excellence in Education Award due to their passion and historical commitment to offering quality early childhood education and care.  AVANCE-Houston offers Early Childhood Education, Healthy Marriage, Fatherhood, Parenting, ESL, Computer Training, GED, and its signature Parent-Child Education Program.  

Accolades:

Ranked #9 in Houston Business Journal's list of "Top Houston Nonprofits"
Ranked #10 in Hispanic Business Magazine list of Top U.S. Hispanic Serving Nonprofits
Launched GED on the Move designed to transition students toward college
Earned NAEYC Accreditation – now ranking among the top 10% child-care providers in the nation.
Cited as a national literacy model in books written by Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Rosalind Carter