Yadira Jiménez, mother and leader, does for others what she does for her children

Advocating for your children’s well-being is a given. But being an advocate for the well-being of all the children – as Yadira did – is a different story.

Yadira Jiménez is a mother of three and belongs to the AVANCE family. Because she wanted to be involved in her children’s education, she was elected to serve as a Policy Council member between 2017 and 2019. By serving in the Policy Council, she not only learned about the Head Start Program, but it prepared her to be a leader in her community.

One of her goals during her tenure was to improve the center’s playground. Something that she was able to accomplish along with other parent volunteers.

Yadira’s children – Bethel (9), Khaled (8), and Iyali (6) – completed the Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) programs, reaping the benefits of these two educational programs.

“Bethel, my oldest daughter, suffered from anxiety when she started Head Start. The staff helped her greatly in the adjustment process. She attended half-day sessions, which helped her not to suffer so much from the separation anxiety when she started kindergarten,” Yadira said.

Khaled followed his older sister’s steps and participated in Early Head Start and Head Start. He sees himself as a future “firefighter, policeman, or soldier,” according to his mother. “He adapts to any situation and place in comparison to other children. The AVANCE programs taught him to be independent,” she said.

Because of the family’s active participation, they were selected to participate on the 2019 Inspiring Dreams runway.

Iyali, the youngest of her children, is more advanced in many areas than other children her age. “She has always been around older children since she was in EHS. She adapted better to the school environment than her siblings,” Yadira said.

Seeing the value of being an active parent, Yadira also took the PCEP (Parent-Child Education Program) workshop. She credits the program with teaching her to adapt to her children’s different personalities and be patient with them.

Yadira and her partner strive to provide their children with the best opportunities in life. Despite no longer being involved in the AVANCE programs, she recommends the organization’s services whenever possible.

“I always recommend people to go to Jensen and learn about AVANCE because they offer programs for the whole family.”