Austin Voices for Education and Youth

Program Overview

Austin Voices has an Adult Academy program that provides adult education through various school-based Family Resource Centers in partnership with the Austin Independent School District and community partners. We offer ESL, GED, computer, parenting and adult basic education classes in Spanish. We also offer topical workshops presented by community parter agencies.

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

An administrator at the Graduation Preparatory Academy (GPA) at Lanier High School recently referred an 18-year-old female student to the Austin Voices Lanier Family Resource Center (FRC) for services. Our bilingual social worker/case-manager immediately met with the student to assess how she could help.

This student was formerly a foster child, and was continuing to receive Child Protective Services (CPS) case-management support, however she had suddenly become homeless when her grandmother kicked her out of her home. When we first met this young woman, she was full of anger, which she expressed openly. But as we listened to her personal story and frustrations with the child-welfare system, she quickly opened up about abuse she had escaped in her past, and needs that were not currently being met. Providing this client with a non-judgmental and safe space to express herself was the first step in building rapport with someone who had become distrustful of systems.

The young woman revealed that she was hungry, had only the clothes she was wearing, no stable home to go to, no supportive family nearby and very little money to support herself. We immediately provided her with snacks from the FRC, and then we brought her clothing from the Burnet FRC clothing closet and gave her a clothing voucher to the Hope Family Thrift Store. We also provided personal hygiene items, an HEB gift card, and the case-manager took her to run some necessary errands.

Our staff coordinated with the GPA administrator to ensure that each night the student found somewhere safe to stay and had transportation to continue to come to school. For several days in a row, our case-manager met the client to explore shelter and housing options, which included hours of researching and calling different programs. As the student spent more time at the FRC, she met everyone who worked here and became comfortable stopping by on her own accord.

The young woman successfully interviewed and was accepted into a transitional housing program for foster-care youth aging out of the system. This exceptional student has maintained a job and continued to attend school throughout her housing crisis. She plans to attend college at ACC after she graduates in May. We will continue to monitor her academic progress, provided concrete resources, and offer supportive listening throughout the final weeks of the semester so that this young woman can complete her studies at Lanier and be prepared to enter college.