Blessed Sacrament and Incarnate Word Convent

Since our founding in 1926 and our re-founding in 1989, by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, our mission continues with compassion, respect and acceptance to educate and encourage children, youth and families. Our programs provide a safety net for those who reach out to us daily. Our purpose is to guide them to a life of success, self-efficiency and an attitude of giving back.

Blessed Sacrament Academy serves struggling San Antonio families trapped in generational cycles of poverty. The at-risk children we serve are more likely to fail academically and suffer poor health outcomes. Many are expected to earn disproportionately less as adults. The cost to society is high – from lost productivity and less taxes generated to costly diseases and social ills that strain taxpayer-funded health care, social programs and justice systems.

Our goals are to:
•End generational cycles of poverty by equipping children with the early tools and foundational learning skills they need to succeed in school and in life.
•End generational cycles of child abuse and neglect by equipping parents and children with specialized learning and stress reduction education designed to allow children to grow, learn and thrive in safe, nurturing homes.
•Provide urban children with safe, supervised outdoor learning spaces designed to encourage healthy exercise and learning in nature to improve health outcomes and encourage healthier behaviors.
*Teach children how healthy foods grow with hands-on participation at our Children's Sensory Learning Garden. For low-income urban parents living in San Antonio's food deserts with too little access to affordable, nearby sources for fresh vegetables and fruit, we show them how to grow healthy foods at home.
*Develop a dual generation learning model where every member of the family can learn, grow and thrive.
*Equip parents with a greater understanding of the needs of their children, positive parenting techniques and a quality support system.
*Empower parents as advocates for their children and themselves.
*Strengthen family bonds through enrichment activities that help parents learn the importance of learning-centered play.
*Connect financially struggling parents with free community resources for education, direct assistance and social services.
•Position Blessed Sacrament Academy as a model for how to comprehensively, cost-effectively address the myriad challenges of urban poverty and poor health.

On poverty
Challenges: National studies confirm that impoverished children at risk for academic failure and poor health outcomes are most in need of highest-quality early education intervention to lessen or eliminate those risks. Without access to highest-quality, affordable early childhood education, at-risk children are more likely to fail academically and to earn less as adults, creating generational cycles of poverty.

O

Strategies: Educational equity for at-risk children is achieved by high-quality intervention that begins as early as infancy, since 90% of a child’s brain development happens before age 5. While 94% of low-income Bexar County children lack access to Texas Rising Star-certified childcare, our Child Development Center has highest-quality (4-Star) Texas Rising Star certification. We enjoy 100% measurable improvements in early learning outcomes every year.

We are a national Early Head Start center, which significantly improves teacher training and education outcomes. In 2022, we were awaiting formal NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) to measurably expand high-quality results.

On child abuse and neglect:
Challenges: Even though as many as nine in 10 child abuse and neglect cases go unreported, Bexar County confirmed 5,865 child abuse and neglect cases in 2018 alone. Nine of these San Antonio children suffered brutal deaths in a state that in 2018 reported 211 such deaths – the highest in six years. Yet, few programs offer help for parents at highest risk because of active cases with Child Protective Services (CPS) of Bexar County for suspected child abuse and neglect. Many of these parents were themselves physically abused or neglected as children –trapped in generational cycles of abuse and neglect.

Strategies: Of the low-income at-risk parents we serve at our parenting education program, many have active CPS cases, making them at highest risk. Yet, this program has enjoyed an 80% success rate for parents completing an intensive series of annual courses that take them from crisis to healing. The program equips parents with positive parenting skills. This success has led to the addition of Family Success Academy, which involves families learning together to recognize, avoid and prevent behaviors that can lead to abuse or neglect.

On health outcomes:
The challenge: Urban San Antonio families have less access to nearby, safe and supervised public parks and other affordable outside learning spaces. Many neighborhoods we serve are located in “food deserts,” where healthy, affordable foods are not readily available. Poor health can lead to obesity and other diseases.

Strategies: We provide free, healthy meals every day and safe, fenced, supervised outdoors play/learn spaces, which improves both health and learning outcomes (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Our Outdoor Learning Spaces component includes playgrounds, shaded learning and exercise sites, and sensory learning gardens.

Since 1926, Blessed Sacrament Academy has been a trusted community resource for San Antonio families in need, serving generations of low-income urban families for more than nine decades.

Our Child Development Center, which opened in 1989, enjoys the highest 4-Star Texas Rising Star rating for quality early childhood education. The center is a national Early Head Start center, and currently is pursuing national NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) accreditation. Maintaining these three prestigious affiliations uniquely position us as a highest-quality daycare center in our service area. Every year, we report measurable improvements in age-appropriate earning and behavioral skills for every child from age 6 weeks to 5 years.

For impoverished working parents, quality childcare can exceed annual earnings (State of Texas, “Children at Risk:” 2018). We keep tuition fees low through external grants and other funding, and with daily support from extraordinary volunteers.

Because outside learning can measurably improve learning and health outcomes, the center added new outdoor learning spaces. We grow fruits and vegetables in sensory gardens specially designed for infants and toddlers. National studies of outdoor learning programs for very young children report measurable improvements in learning and general health outcomes.

The Family Success Academy at Blessed Sacrament Academy offers family-together workshops and events. Parents learn how to create safe, nurturing home environments for their children. We focus on dual-generation education activities to encourage lifelong learning as a benefit for all family members.

We benefit from extremely low turnover rates among our key administrators. BExecutive Director Sister Odilia Korenek has been with BSA for 30+ years. Child Development Center Director Carol Silva has been the center’s director for 20+ years. Kathy Lozano, director of our Family Success Academy, has been with BSA for 30+ years.

We are a member of the Mission Road Collaborative, a group of neighboring nonprofit organizations on Mission Road that were labeled the "Corridor of Care" by former Mayor Julian Castro. We are partners with the San Antonio Food Bank, Texas Diaper Bank and Assistance League of San Antonio.

Because our facility, founded in 1926, is located near Mission Concepcion (founded in 1755), we are a member of the UNESCO World Heritage Buffer Zone to San Antonio Missions collectively declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Community partners located on our grounds are Por Vida Academy high school; Mission Reach Wellness & Counseling Center, and Bexar County Ropes Challenge teen mentoring program.

Because hungry children cannot learn, we provide fresh, healthy meals and snacks each day. -To assist financially struggling families, we maintain emergency infant and toddler supplies, and regularly disseminate lists of free community resources.

*The Child Development Center has consistently reported 100% measurable improvements in age-appropriate classroom learning since it opened in 1989.
*The Child Development Center earned the state’s highest 4-Star Texas Rising Star rating for quality early childhood education and is now finalizing national NAEYC accreditation.
*Since 2016, we have maintained strict quality standards as a national Early Head Start education center.
*We added fall-safe surfacing to existing playground areas and purchased new equipment to improve benefits of safer outdoor play-and-learn activities -- immediately increasing healthy exercise opportunities to improve health outcomes.
*We added landscaping, new outdoor learning spaces, an outside dramatic play deck, tricycle track, outdoor rugs and shade canopies to expand outdoor activities to complement in-classroom teaching.
*The Child Development Center introduced online and mail-home learning components during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic that have since become permanent additions to our comprehensive approach to helping youngest children overcome "at-risk" challenges.
*The Child Development Center hired a part-time gardening instructor and created outside sensory learning gardens (with outside reading corner) to allow even the youngest children to improve sensory and other skills, while older toddlers also learn how healthy foods grow.
*Low-income parents who cannot afford expensive, fresh foods learn how to grow healthy foods in pots or small urban garden spaces via our how-to online videos, on-site Family Garden Day events, and mail-home garden kits.
*To make transportation to our programs more affordable, our proactive membership in the Mission Road Collaborative led to San Antonio’s VIA bus service extending its lines to our gates.
*We are a member of the Ready Children Impact Council of United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County to learn and share best practices with other early childhood education programs.
*Through our partnership as a World Heritage Buffer Zone for the City of San Antonio World Heritage Site (San Antonio’s missions), we are stakeholders in preserving the historic importance of a neighborhood that includes Blessed Sacrament Academy.

What’s next:
*We will expand our reach by continually seeking new funding to grow our Child Development Center and Family Success Academy to accommodate more children and families in need.
*We will develop long-term measurement tools to track children’s progress as they grow to adulthood. National research confirms a rate of return to communities of up to $17 for every dollar spent on quality early education for at-risk children
*Our 5-year strategic plan calls for creating a $5 million permanent endowment fund to ensure successful operations and program growth for coming decades. Our first contributions to this endeavor began arriving in 2022.