2024 Grantee Selection Board Alumnae
ImmSchools CEO: Viridiana Carrizales
1349 Empire Central Dr # 400
Dallas, TX 75247
www.immschools.org
www.bridgebreast.org
Grant Impact
A $40,000 grant will support ImmSchools to scale the impact of their Family-led Community Workshops which are codesigned and co-led with BIPOC undocumented and immigrant mothers in the DFW area. Workshops are held both virtually and in-person to build a powerful community of support, facilitate critical conversations, and provide resources on immigration, education, and needs identified by the mothers.
Immigrant mothers are dedicated caregivers, fierce advocates, and active leaders in their child’s life and broader community. However, their indispensable role is frequently unrecognized and overlooked. As a BIPOC immigrantwomen-led organization with deep relationships within the undocumented community, ImmSchools centers the comprehensive needs of these women. They deeply believe that change can only occur when it is dreamed, developed, and delivered by the impacted communities themselves
North Texas is home to over 1.4 million immigrants (Vera Institute of Justice). They specifically face daily psychological stressors such as the persistent, paralyzing fear of deportation and immigration enforcement, economic insecurity, and language challenges, among other oppressive structural barriers due to their immigration status (Lopez, 2018). Additionally, they cannot rely on federal and state streams of emergency relief or social services compared to their counterparts due to their immigration status.
ImmSchools defines success when 90%+ of BIPOC mothers indicate having a better understanding of their power, rights, and greater access to resources, as well as mothers’ increased participation and leadership in school and community spaces and leveraging educational and legal resources.
Mission of the Organization
ImmSchools’ mission is to create safe and inclusive schools for all students regardless of immigration status. We are the only BIPOC immigrant women-led organization in the US working at the intersection of K-12 education and immigration. Founded and led by formerly undocumented, Dallas ISD alumni, and Latina women educators, we harness the inherent power of immigrant families and utilize the educational system as a platform for change.
We provide the entire K-12 school community – students, families, their teachers and administrators – with programs and resources to build safe and welcoming environments for immigrant and mixed-status students and families, benefitting the whole school community. One hundred percent of our North Texas families attending our programs identify as BIPOC and from neighborhoods with limited socioeconomic opportunity. Over 85% identify as women, a majority of whom are mothers.
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Design Connect Create
CEO: Dr. Denise Strickland
2580 W. Camp Wisdom Rd. Ste. 100 –
PMB 203
Grand Prairie, TX 75052
www.designconnectcreate.org
Grant Impact
In 2014, Wanda Gass initiated Design Connect Create (DCC) after her active involvement in organizing physics summer enrichment camps specifically for high school girls within Dallas ISD. The primary vision behind Design Connect Create was to broaden the program's scope beyond Dallas ISD to encompass various school districts. From 2015 to 2020, Design Connect Create experienced substantial growth, extending support to school districts across Dallas County, Tarrant County, and Harris County.
A $30,000 grant will bolster STEM Summer Camps curated specifically for girls in Dallas, Collin, and Tarrant Counties. DCC blends STEM proficiency with a distinct emphasis on nurturing emotional intelligence for middle and high school girls, providing immersive experiences in physics, web development, JavaScript, Python coding, and hands-on biotech lab experiments. Funding will be allocated towards procuring essential classroom supplies and equipment, providing daily meals, and providing incentives to encourage participation.
Each camp session, spanning five days with six-hour daily sessions (Monday through Friday), is designed to provide hands-on learning experiences, applying STEM principles to real-life scenarios while nurturing problem-solving skills. The agenda includes critical discussions on gender equity, implicit bias, and the importance of resilience and problem-solving skills in achieving professional success. Throughout the week, campers engage in group projects and individual assignments that reinforce their learning, supported by a diverse range of activities. Camps culminate in a field trip hosted by local technology companies, offering girls exposure to various STEM career avenues. Additionally, female STEM professionals join campers to share their impactfullife stories and career journeys, providing invaluable insights into the diverse opportunities within the STEM domain.
DCC concentrates their efforts on partnering with under-resourced school districts and marginalized communities, aiming to empower girls from diverse backgrounds. They surpassed their 2023 goal with 350 girls, and in 2024 they aspire to extend that impact by reaching 450 girls.
The underrepresentation of women in STEM, particularly women of color, remains concerning. Disturbingly low figurespersist: women make up a mere fraction of high school AP Computer Science exam takers and bachelor's degree recipients in computer and information sciences (Rebooting Representation in Technology fields, 2018). This stark disparity underscores the pressingneed to widen opportunities and ignite a passion in young women, empowering them to confidently pursue careers in STEM.
Mission of the Organization
To help girls realize the potential in STEM and themselves. Because women are underrepresented in critical STEM careers, we believe that for women to lead in these roles tomorrow, girls need equitable opportunities today.
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Lone Star Justice Alliance
CEO: Elizabeth Henneke
624 N Good Latimer Expressway
Dallas, TX 75204
www.lonestarjusticealliance.org
Grant Impact
Founded in 2017, Lone Star Justice Alliance (LSJA) serves as a catalyst for systemic change in the criminal legal system through advocacy and innovative, evidence-based programs that improve life outcomes for youth and young adults. With offices in both Dallas and Austin, LSJA offers responsive services to opportunity youth and emerging adults involved in the justice system. Opportunity youth (aka disconnected youth) are individuals ages 16-24 who are neither working nor in school and have a high risk of involvement in the criminal legal system (American Youth Policy Forum, 2015).
A $ 40,000 grant supports LSJA’s Just Sentencing Initiative which uses strategic litigation and policy advocacy to challenge systemic failures affecting young people involved in the justice system such as over-incarceration, wrongful conviction, inappropriate punishment, inadequate representation, and harmful criminal records. By extending constitutional protections to individuals, LSJA intends to ensure that every person sentenced as a child has the chance to receive parole or be released.
LSJA’s pro-bono legal services provide appropriate representation to children and youth who are subjected to disproportionate sentencing, abuse by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, and victims of trafficking accused of the crimes of their abusers. This includes working with survivors of abuse and human trafficking to achieve clemency or a reduced sentence. LSJA brings litigation on behalf of its clients to local, state, and federal courts to ensure their constitutional rights are upheld in trial, sentencing and conditions of confinement.
The success of the initiative will be realized when justice-involved individuals in North Texas (Dallas and Tarrant Counties), eighty-three percent of whom are women and girls, are released from detention, see their sentences commuted or have their records sealed so they may live unencumbered by weighty juvenile records.
The south-central and southeast areas of Dallas had the highest percentages of opportunity youth within the Metropolitan Area with 20 and 23 percent respectively. More than 83 percent of these youth were Black or Hispanic/Latino. The high rates of opportunity youth in the southern sector of the city correlates with the two zip codes (75216 and 75217) producing the highest incarceration rates within Texas (The Commit Partnership, 2021).
Mission of the Organization
To boldly address systemic failures in the criminal legal system through advocacy and innovative evidence-based programs that improve life outcomes for youth and emerging adults.
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Fiscal Year 2016 Open Arms DBA Bryan’s House
Fiscal Year 2017 Housing Crisis Center
Fiscal Year 2018 Kid Net Foundation/Jonathan’s Place
Fiscal Year 2019 Trinity River Mission
Fiscal Year 2020 Traffick 911
Fiscal Year 2021 COVID – No Community Grant Cycle
Fiscal Year 2022 Poetic
Fiscal Year 2023 Ignite
XIX SOCIETY GRANTING
HISTORY
STRONG WOMEN.
