Investment of $10 million made to organizations advancing Dallas education

Photo courtesy Communities Foundation of Texas

Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) recently awarded more than $10 million in support of education initiatives through grants to local nonprofits, CFT’s Educate Texas initiative Educate Texas, and scholarships for students.

Funding will help improve student outcomes by addressing issues such as reducing absenteeism, reconnecting disconnected youth to opportunities and support, and strengthening access to high-quality education and workforce pathways.

The following organizations benefited: Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region($600,000), For Oak Cliff($1 million), The Dallas Foundation($500,000), Texas 2036($500,000), United to Learn($250,000), and CFT's Educate Texas.

CFT went more in depth over the investments during a panel moderated by Educate Texas Executive Director Kerri Briggs on June 24. Panelists featured Byron Sanders, Arete Health CEO and Dallas ISD trustee, Jason Green, Senior Director of AI Strategy for Educate Texas, and Taylor Toynes, CEO/Co-Founder of For Oak Cliff.

I asked each of the panelists about modern shifts in education and teaching approaches to ensure students don't fall behind in their learning. Here's what each of them said:

RWDFW: What approach is best or most efficient for ushering students into AI skills and using it to fit their learning style, educational success rather than for cheating on assignments?

Jason Green:

"The best starting point for students is what I consider multimodal instruction and bring that to them. Most classrooms are a teacher delivering content to students and asking students to remember or regurgitate that content.

If you put AI into that environment, then it makes that learning almost obsolete if we can redesign our classrooms around hands on learning, more engaging lessons, collaborative lesson planning or creativity in the lesson. Now students are engaging with higher-order learning.

The best way we can incorporate AI is by rethinking our classrooms then having students responsibly engage with AI, not to offload the work but to extend what they're already trying to learn—"How can I use this to do deeper research? How do I actually get to my specific skill level and help me move forward?"— that's a different way of thinking about AI than just "I'm gonna go write this paper with it.'"

RWDFW: How can you better support working children and help them establish a balance between education and working to support their families and what are some effective tools or resources?

Byron Sanders:

"Learning and earning opportunities are, I think, the future of education. It's not just being able to go and get career and technical education credit, but to actually be able to work and get credit at the same time.

You can't do it with every career path, but there are more and more career paths every day where someone who is 16-18 years old would be able to go work in a place and learn by doing.

Through the Career Institute, the kids are going to learn about automotive and HVAC and working toward getting their certificates and then go into a career. We had a whole crew of guys who were going to work at Oncor as soon as they walked off the stage with their diploma because of the career and technical certification that they got going to high school. More and more of that is becoming possible.

Leaning into strategies like that is how we can address the very real issue of kids feeling like they need money now, I can't be talking about 10 years from now and the debt I feel like I might have to take on if I pursue a degree.' We're trying to make sure that the time that we have with them we're creating a direct pathway into that opportunity."

RWDFW: When you mention the cradle- to- prison pipeline, how can you shift children away from that path; and how do you cultivate the soils of their education for their success?

Taylor Toynes:

"We've gotta change the environment, we've gotta invest in our schools, parks, and have full wrap around support. The cradle- to- prison pipeline didn't just happen overnight.

It's going to take some deep investment and culture change, because one of the things I hate to hear is a generational story of incarceration. We have to break that cycle, but when we disrupt it, we have to replace it. I say cradle- to- career, but I really believe it's embryo-to-success.

We want to start in the womb telling moms to encourage their child while they're in the womb what do you need to get yourself where you need to be. It's going to take an individual success plan of all of our young people."

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The mission of  Communities Foundation of Texas is to improve the lives of people in the community by investing in their health, wealth, living, and learning. With a vision of building thriving communities for all, CFT works locally and across the state with many individuals, families, companies, foundations, and nonprofits through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grant-making initiatives. The foundation has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since 1953.  

An initiative of Communities Foundation of Texas, Educate Texas has been a leader in addressing the biggest challenges in public education for over 20 years.