Verizon Grants
Brighter Tomorrows, Inc.
Operating Expenses – Funded: $11,500
e-Literacy / Workforce Development
Funds to be used for computer training for clients. Enhanced computer
skills will greatly increase job opportunities and potential earning power.
Practical hands-on computer training is given by Microsoft –certified
instructors in the four most widely used office software applications.
The training is designed for educational enhancement and job opportunities,
as a part of a program goal of long-term financial indepedence via return
to the workforce.
Mission statement: The purpose of Brighter Tomorrows shall be to provide shelter and services to all people who fear they are in danger of domestic violence and/or sexual abuse.
English Language Ministry (ELM)
Operating Expenses – Funded: $9,000
Literacy / e-Literacy
To provide overall operating support for ELM’s ESL courses (four
mornings as week), English-language Survival Skills classes, and trade
programs. Classes include reading, writing, conversation, and literacy
computer lab. Classes are held on four levels.
Mission statement: To provide quality English as a Second Language instruction to non-English speaking adults, primarily women, living in the East Dallas community and surround areas in order to promote literacy and self-sufficiency.
SER Child Development Center
Project Avanzar – Funded $4,500
Workforce Development
To fund a workforce, self-efficiency child care training program focused
on limited English speaking, low to moderate income Hispanic women. Specifically,
funds will support the cost of the nationally required examination to
acquire Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials after successfully
passing a three semester college-based course.
Mission statement: To reduce the language, cultural, and educational barriers of young children at risk of performing poorly in school through culturally relevant education, child development programs, bilingual workforce training, emergent bi-literacy programs, and parent involvement programs.
Special Care & Career Services
Career Exploration Project – Funded: $10,000
Workforce Development
To fund the female component of the Career Exploration Project, an expansion
of their current Supported Employment Services program. The project will
provide career assessment and planning to women with mental retardation,
traumatic brain injury and other cognitive disabilities, expanding their
opportunities for economic self-sufficiency. Through in-depth observation
and interviews, the project will support women as they develop a career
plan, give them tools to achieve their professional potential, prepare
them for successful employment in the community, and help remove personal
barriers to employment.
Mission Statement: To provide services to children and adults with developmental disabilities so they can lead fulfilling lives in their communities.
Interfaith Housing Coalition
Employment Program
Requested: Funded: $5,000
Workforce Development
To support the Employment Program, a stringent 8-hour per day job search
process, requiring residents to work towards employment until a full-time
permanent position is secured. Interfaith provides instruction and resources,
assistance in setting short and long-term employment goals, resume preparation,
and mentoring in an environment for efficient and effective results.
Mission statement: Interfaith provides transitional housing combined
with education and accountable programming in employment, budgeting, parenting
and living skills for Dallas area homeless families. Utilizing a holistic
approach to address the root issues of homelessness, the program empowers
its residents to obtain permanent employment, to rebuild their lives and
families, and to sustain long-term self-sufficiency.
CREW Grants
Special Care & Career Services
Career Exploration Project
$10,000
To fund the female component of the Career Exploration Project, an expansion
of their current Supported Employment Services program. The project will
provide career assessment and planning to women with mental retardation,
traumatic brain injury and other cognitive disabilities, , giving them
tools to achieve their professional potential, prepare them for successful
employment in the community, and help remove personal barriers to employment.
Mission Statement: To provide services to children and adults with developmental disabilities so they can lead fulfilling lives in their communities.
Children First, Inc.
Female Adolescents Committing Violence
$20,000
To develop and establish a girls-only program to further expand Children
First’s focus, providing targeted intervention for female adolescents
with more serious violence-related offenses. The majority of these young
women have themselves been abused and victimized (which differs from the
male adolescent population), and this grant supports a targeted intervention
approach.
Mission statement: Children First, Inc. is dedicated to the prevention of and recovery from abuse, neglect, and victimization through education, support, and counseling for children and adults.
Wesley-Rankin Community Center
Young Adult Program
$10,000
To support the Young Adult Program, an expansion of WRCC’s (13 year)
Monday night Teen Mom program. In the Young Adult Program, WRCC will recruit
underpriviledged teens and young women in their twenties who have children
and encourage them to complete their High School Equivalency degree, choose
a career or career development path, complete health and safety training
and a parenting essentials course, and participate in a community event
to recruit the next Young Adult class.
Mission statement: Wesley-Rankin Community Center is a non-profit faith-based organization building a stronger multi-generational West Dallas community characterized by more graduates, responsible parents and active empowered, self-determined citizens with advancing economic independence.
Fred Moore Day Nursery School, Inc.
Operating Expenses
Requested: $10,000
8 Votes
Funds to be used for single mothers who have just started a new job or
are in school and need child care, but who are temprorarily unable to
pay for their children's tuition. Funds will also allow much needed extended
coverage in early morning hours (allowing the school to open at 6am rather
than 7am) and in the evening (closing at 6:30pm rather than 6pm).
Mission statement: Fred Moore Day Nursery School, Inc. is a non-profit agency striving to provide the highest quality child care to the families who need it the most, which we consider to be families who are low to moderate income.
Interfaith Housing Coalition
Employment Program
$15,000
To support the Employment Program, a stringent 8-hour per day job search
process, requiring residents to work towards employment until a full-time
permanent position is secured. Interfaith provides instruction and resources,
assistance in setting short and long-term employment goals, resume preparation,
mentoring, professional clothing, bus passes and an environment for efficient
and effective results.
Mission statement: Interfaith provides transitional housing combined
with education and accountable programming in employment, budgeting, parenting
and living skills for Dallas area homeless families, empowering its residents
to obtain permanent employment, to rebuild their lives and families, and
to sustain long-term self-sufficiency.
Texas Instruments Grants
Advanced Placement Strategies
Gender Neutral Teaching Project
$31,000
To pay for a national gender neutral expert to conduct training workshops
for 10 AP Physics, Computer Science, and Chemistry teachers within DISD.
The goal of the program is to encourage more DISD females to enroll in
AP Physics; to assist more DISD females to be successful in AP Physics;
and to share with DISD AP science teachers a more gender neutral teaching
style.
Mission Statement: To maximize the number of students passing Advanced Placement (AP®) exams by planning, implementing, and managing AP and Pre-AP™ incentive programs within the State of Texas.
The Institute for Engineering Education at SMU
Guidance Counselor Training
$9,000
To support the development and implementation continuing education course
for high school guidance counselors to enable them to open doors of opportunity
for women in the field of engineering. The 2-day professional development
workshop will provide hands-on, interactive, engaging instruction on what
is engineering, preparing for college engineering, opportunities in engineering,
and life as an engineer. The proposed workshop’s goals are tied
to guidance counselor goals, as well as key messages and measurable outcomes.
Mission Statement: To enhance the quality, quantity, and diversity of tomorrow’s engineering workforce.
Donor Advised Funds
YMCA Metropolitan Dallas
Sunset Teen Parenting Program
Laura Blocker, M.D. Fund - $17,000
To fund the Sunset Teen Parenting Program, which focuses on teen parents
completing their high school education, while providing child care, tutoring,
parenting education classes and basic life readiness skills. Throughout
the day their children participate in developmentally appropriate lesson
plans where they are challenged mentally and physically while at the center
we provide. Parents spend quality time with their children before and
after school and maintain at least a “C” average with low
school absences.
Mission statement: The mission of the Community Services YMCA is to work with youth and their families to develop problem solving and social skills, build self-esteem, and foster a sense of purpose, hope and direction.
Baylor Family Practice Residency Program at Garland
Maternal-Child Mobile Wellness Program
Patricia Houck Fund - $10,000
To support the Maternal-Child Mobile Wellness Program, funding uninsured
pregnant and parenting teen women and their children for laboratory costs
and medications (including contraception for post-delivery teens). Strengths
of the program include: 1) a team approach to each client, utilizing physicians,
nurses, social workers, and nutrition services; 2) auxilary programs such
as Reading is Fundamental and Teen Dad’s Night Out programs; 3)
decreased time away from school, and increased compliance with pre-natal
visits and care; and 4) significant reductions in unintended second pregnancies.
Mission statement: To improve healthcare system access to pregnant and parenting adolescent women and their children which will result in improved retention and attendance in school and improved pregnancy outcomes.
Youth First Texas
Young Woman's Leadership/Advancement Program (L.E.A.P.)
Patricia Houck Fund - $19,500
To support the Young Women’s Leadership Education/Advancement Program
(LEAP), designed to provide leadership training and introduce leadership
experiences for young women in the GLBTQ youth community. Through participating
in LEAP, young women will not only learn key leadership tools, but also
skills and information about their own abilities outside of the leadership
rolls. They also learn additional skills such as learning about healthy
communications, goal setting, and the struggle it takes to achieve that
goal. Learning these skills leads to personal growth and a stronger sense
of self-esteem. As a part of this grant, 10 young women and 2 adult sponsors
will attend the National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) Youth Summit
in Washington, D.C., bringing back with them cutting-edge information
for the development and enhancement of Youth First Texas’ programs.
Mission Statement: To provide group interaction and individual support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (GLBTQ) youth ages 14-22 by providing age-appropriate activities, programs and resources that facilitate empowerment and self-acceptance.
Our Friend’s Place
Therapeutic Family Reunification Program
The Pat & Harriet Houck Mother-Daughter Fund - $10,000
Our Friends’ Place’s Therapeutic Group Home provides a safe
haven and early intervention for abused, neglected, and abandoned girls,
ages 10-17. This grant will support the component of the program that
addresses the dynamics of each girl’s family relationship, (in particular,
the mother-daughter relationship), working toward healing and supporting
the reunification process. For girls who come from abuse, neglect, and
abandonment, rebuilding this relationship is critical to rehabilitation.
Mission statement: Our Friend's Place is dedicated to providing a foundation for girls and young women to build from adversity by learning a self-reliant approach to their own development.