Building Strong Starts in Bachman Lake

Every child deserves a strong start. 

As the Bachman Lake Together Family Center celebrates 10 years, families, parent leaders, schools and early learning partners continue working together to expand opportunities for children and families in Bachman Lake. Today, we've collectively grown to 980 high-quality early learning seats, up from around 100 in 2016. And over the past decade, 2,305 Bachman Lake children have entered kindergarten ready to learn, grow, and thrive. 

A Collective Effort 

The Bachman Lake Together Family Center (BLTFC) provides a place where parents and community partners come together to help families access high-quality early childhood programs, navigate enrollment, and prepare their children for success in their earliest years. And our work began by listening to families and understanding what was shaping their decisions around early learning. 

“We started looking at the data, and there were no [pre-K] seats in Bachman Lake,” said Monica Ordoñez, Program Director at Bachman Lake Together. “The ultimate goal was to dig deeper on what the root cause of families not applying or entering or registering for pre-K was.”  

Families shared that sending their children to school was often shaped by deeper concerns around uncertainty, trust, and community. Some worried their children were too young or not ready, while others felt uncertain the about enrollment process. 

“I waited until my [oldest] child was three to start looking [for schools], but it was already too late by then because registration had already started, and in that time, there weren’t many school options,” said Denisse Gutierrez, Community Action Network parent leader. “I didn’t know who could help me or where to go, many families also don’t have information.”  

In response, Bachman Lake Together and Dallas ISD worked together to connect families with resources and support. Building on BLT’s trusted relationships with neighborhood families and Dallas ISD’s enrollment infrastructure, the partnership built an pre-K enrollment campaign that included neighborhood canvassing, Ready, Set...Pre-K workshops and registration events at the Family Center. 

Today, more families have access to early learning opportunities that were not available a decade ago. Denisse’s oldest daughter, Emma, now attends a competitive magnet high school, building on the strong start she received through early learning programs at the Family Center, including AVANCE North Texas and Lumin Education, as well as Dallas ISD’s HIPPY program. Her younger siblings also participated in early learning programs at the Family Center, giving the family access to resources and support from an early age. Denisse continues to advocate for her children and families across Bachman Lake, sharing the knowledge and resources. 

“Our collective work continues to show that we’re on the ground, parents are involved, the community is involved,” Monica Ordonez, Program Director at BLT, said. “We are building community, building advocates.” 

This growth in early learning access is one example of what can happen when a community comes together around a shared goal. 

Photos by Martha Rincon, www.shotbythrive.com