>> Single mother breaks poverty cycle for daughter
Barbara Ausborne, right, and daughter Quinice Reagor celebrate Barbara’s graduation from the Dallas Police Academy. She now patrols the north- east division in Dallas.   Barbara Ausborne and Quinice Reagor are a mother-daughter team headed for success. It didn’t start out that way, however. Barbara was reared by her grandparents when other family was unable to care for her. “I dealt with it as best I could,” she recounts, “and I knew I didn’t want my daughter to get her life in a jumble.”   Quinice, now 7, was a preschooler at Davids’ Place Head Start and Barbara, a single mother trying to make it on her own. “I worked and attended Eastfield College. Her father wasn’t around to help me, but I could always count on the staff at Davids’ Place. “Many times I could not get to the center in time to pick up Quinice, but they would always wait for me. They were so supportive and always telling me what a good mother I was,” Barbara said.   “I tried to spend as much time there as I could volunteering and being with my daughter.” Quinice, now in second grade, is part of the Talented and Gifted Program and excels at reading, writing and math. In May, Barbara graduated from Dallas Police Academy and has aspirations to be an FBI agent. She majored in criminal justice at Eastfield and is currently in training on patrol in northeast Dallas.   She and her daughter have moved back in with her grandparents, who help with transportation for Quinice and will be indispensable when Barbara works deep nights. Her plan, however, is to find a place of their own. “I am where I wanted to be,” said the confident young woman, “and I don’t want my daughter to repeat the same cycle I had growing up."   Story by Debbie Mormon   >>> Return to Success Stories >>