The Rio Grande Valley-Texas Association for Bilingual Education (RGV-TABE) recognized the founders of RGV PUEDE, Dr. Alexander Stehn & Dr. Mariana Alessandri, as 2019 Distinguished Community Advocate Honorees for their work in advancing bilingual education in the RGV.
Read more at the UTRGV Newsroom or in The Rider.
Since being founded in late 2016, RGV PUEDE's accomplishments include:
- Educating parents across the RGV about dual language education and its benefits
- Co-hosting an annual dual language parent conference with UTRGV’s Center for Bilingual Studies (see news story about the 2019 conference HERE)
- Participating in a mesa comunitaria dedicated to dual language hosted by the Equal Voice Network
- Working closely with LUPE and ARISE to support Dual Language Programs in PSJA ISD and Donna ISD
- Working with the Equal Voice Network’s Comité de Educación Working Group to convince PSJA's School Board to pass formal policies that ensure "equitable access to an effective, sequential dual language curriculum, preschool through grade 12" at "all District campuses" (see news story HERE).
- Working with McAllen ISD to extend dual language into middle school and high school
- Worked with McAllen ISD to establish a Dual Language Parent Support Committee
- Working with parents to build a Harlingen PUEDE chapter
- Organizing parents in Edinburg and Brownsville who want dual language opportunities for their children