Year 8

Village Giving Circle Grant

In 2023, we began writing grants to fully fund our programming, and we experienced remarkable success—especially for our first year applying. We received a total of $20,000 from the Village Giving Circle and the Communities Foundation of Texas,  all on our first attempt.  The grant-writing process also revealed an opportunity to strengthen our data-gathering and analysis systems to better measure and communicate our impact.

That year, we also embarked on developing a strategic plan, which led us to adopt a more localized approach to serving students. We realized it was challenging to effectively implement our wraparound service model across the entire Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Referrals to resources—such as food pantries, job assistance, and most of our teaching staff—were concentrated in southwestern Dallas. Serving students as far away as Garland made it difficult to provide consistent, accessible support. By narrowing our focus to the southwestern Dallas area, we could maximize the time students spent with us and better prepare them for long-term success.

Most of our students were three to four grade levels behind, and one year of tutoring was not enough to close that gap. Our goal is to work with them continuously, leveling the playing field so they can compete with their peers and have every opportunity available to them.

We also began working with Social Venture Partners Dallas.  SVP is an organization that partners with nonprofits to help them achieve their goals. Through the Dana Jewitt Program—an initiative pairing young professionals with nonprofits—we spent over eight months refining our board recruitment process, creating a grant-vetting system, and organizing opportunities to ensure we pursue those that are the best fit.  Participation in that program provided grant funding from the Addy Foundation, the Sapphire Foundation, and SVP and established meaningful relationships with individuals within those organizations.  

This year in Lubbock, Texas, we expanded our one-day coding and robotics event into a full week of immersive learning. The extended format allowed students to gain more hands-on experience with robotics and explore coding in fun, creative ways. Over the course of the week, participants built a deeper understanding of how the robots function and developed practical skills they can use in the future. They learned to write algorithms and conditional statements, gaining an engaging introduction to the world of robotics.

One of the highlights of the year was when we were nominated by D CEO Magazine for their Innovation in Education Award. While we did not win, the nomination itself—given to only a select number of organizations from a large applicant pool—was a meaningful recognition of our work in education.

2023 Timeline

January- Communities Foundation of Texas grant awarded

May- D CEO Nomination- Innovation in Education

Expanded robotics to a week-long camp

June- Addy Foundation grant awarded

Social Venture Partners grant awarded

July- First coding camp

November- Sapphire Foundation grant awarded

Village Giving Circle grant awarded