About Us

Our History

The work behind Voice Advocacy Center has been in existence for the past 17 years. It started out with Clarice Jackson advocating on behalf of her daughter Latecia Fox who she became the legal guardian of at the age of 8. When she met her, she was in the 2nd grade and unable to read simple two and three-letter words! Prior to Clarice stepping in to advocate on her behalf, she was passed on to the 4th grade still unable to read! Clarice could not stand by and watch this child progress from grade to grade KNOWING she could not do the homework!! Latecia’s biological mother saw the love and passion Clarice was investing in her daughter and knew she could not give her what Clarice could so she asked her to officially become her mother. Clarice became her legal guardian (mother). In her role as parent/advocate, she researched and found that she had failing grades that dated back to pre-kindergarten! She knew without “her voice” speaking on her behalf for academic appropriateness and a requirement for her to make adequate yearly progress that her life trajectory would be grim.

In her research, she heard the word “dyslexia” and KNEW it was the unknown name that had robbed Latecia all these years of reading, writing, and spelling. She enrolled in Latecia in a private school, The Phoenix Academy that offered a multi-sensory reading program that worked for children with dyslexia, and in one year she went from a non-reader to a third-grade reader! Having an appropriate method made ALL the difference!

Clarice knew there were other parents who were probably experiencing the same trials, frustrations, and lack of resources that she had and sure enough there were more parents just like her! She began to attend special education trainings (locally and nationally), became a member of key disability organizations, collaborated and held trainings in the community, volunteered for Special Olympics, and begin to attend Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and Individual Family Service Plans (IFSP) and Transition Planning meetings with parents as a volunteer. She has over 2000 hours of Special Education Advocacy Training and is a Dyslexia Consultant with the ability to screen children for dyslexia.

In 2012, she Incorporated Voice Advocacy Center(VAC) aka Voice Advocacy Reading Center as a nonprofit business because families of children in special education, struggling readers below grade level in reading or illiterate or those struggling with the impact of dyslexia had no available resources in the form of advocacy, structured literacy tutoring or dyslexia tutoring to assist them.