After8toEducate Receives $100,000 Gift from Anonymous Donor
Contribution Counts Towards Match Gift Campaign Already in Progress
DALLAS (September 13, 2018) – After8toEducate (“After8”) has announced a $100,000 contribution made by an anonymous donor in anticipation of North Texas Giving Day on September 20th. This gift brings After8 within $40,000 of reaching its match fund goal of $500,000. The organization previously announced in July receipt of a $500,000 matching gift from the Rainwater Charitable Foundation. Since that announcement, the organization has received contributions totaling $460,000 including this anonymous donation, Hoblitzelle and Kozmetsky foundations and from the international law firm Jones Day Dallas Office.
The grant is a tremendous boost to After8toEducate, which is a first-of-its-kind, public-private collaborative to provide shelter and social services at one location to unsheltered Dallas ISD high school students and other homeless youth ages 14-21. The organization, powered through Social Venture Partners Dallas, is managing the collaborative which includes the Dallas Independent School District and two prominent local nonprofits, Promise House and CitySquare.
Last year, After8toEducate received unanimous support from the DISD school board to repurpose the former Fannie C. Harris Elementary School, a vacant school building in South Dallas as the center for these services.
This facility, being renovated and opening in phases, will initially provide immediate assistance to homeless youth ages 14-21 through a drop-in center slated to begin operating later this fall. Planned services will range from personal development assistance, such as academic tutoring and job training, to offering basic daily life needs, such as a place to shower and eat. In spring 2019, the facility will operate 24/7, opening the shelter component that will provide shelter and social services to Dallas ISD unsheltered high school students. The after-hours aspect is needed since most social service providers close their doors after regular business hours, leaving thousands of youth without a place to go after 8 p.m.
With North Texas Giving Day around the corner, this recent anonymous contribution hopes to spur similar contributions. All donations, no matter the size, go to support this $500,000 match campaign, that will result in After8 raising a total of $1,000,000, if match funds are raised.
Donations to After8’s North Texas Giving Day fund drive can be made directly online at: https://www.northtexasgivingday.org/after8toeducate.
About After8toEducate
After8toEducate is the first-of-its-kind, public-private collaborative to support and provide essential services to unsheltered Dallas ISD high school students and other homeless youth ages 14-21. Founded by Texas businessman and philanthropist Jorge Baldor in May 2017, the organization launched in response to the growing number of homeless students in the Dallas Independent School District, currently estimated to be more than 3,500, and alarmingly still increasing. Its mission is to create a comprehensive solution that assists DISD high school students and other homeless youth to develop academically, emotionally, and socially. Formed through the Social Venture Partners Dallas and harnessing the strengths of DISD and nonprofit agencies Promise House and CitySquare, the organization will open and operate an after-hours drop-in center this fall in South Dallas, where homeless youth can find refuge and a place to study, eat, shower, and access other immediate support services. The shelter component will open next providing sleeping rooms and other social services for DISD unsheltered high school youth. For more information or to donate, go to https://after8toeducate.com.