Our Community Impact

2019
Health & Well-Being Grant Recipient:

half Helen Foundation

Project:

Optical Prime: transforming vision services for children in poverty

 half Helen Foundation (hH) has provided over 45,000 vision screenings for children in low-income schools. Vision impairment is the single most prevalent disabling condition among children. It’s not enough to identify a vision problem; 40% of children who fail a vision screening never see an eye doctor due to unmanageable cost or lack of transportation. In Austin alone, over 19,000 children are at risk of not receiving the appropriate follow up care after failing a vision screening. Uncorrected vision issues are associated with reading problems, poor attention, lower grades, lower test scores in reading and math, and can impact a child’s social, cognitive, and emotional development. Poor vision, education, and poverty are inextricably linked. hH is expanding its vision screening program to serve 10,000 children. Children that fail their vision screening will be offered a free eye exam and glasses at their school this fall, eliminating the two most common barriers to care. Impact Austin funds will help pay for the cost of a state-of-the-art grinder to allow hH to operate this portable, school based optometry clinic (not just screenings) and provide free eyeglasses on site. It will also fund the hiring of a part-time optician. 

2019
Catalyst Grant Recipient:

American Gateways

Project:

Capacity Building

For 32 years, American Gateways has been empowering low-income immigrants and their families to navigate the U.S. immigration legal system. Given this complex and ever-evolving system, and the decreasing stability of government funding for services that support the immigrant community, this work is especially critical today. Research shows that immigrants with legal representation are ten times more likely to win relief from deportation than those without a lawyer, but few can afford one. With Impact Austin’s support, American Gateways will build a development team that will implement a strategy to reduce their reliance on government funding and better leverage the tremendous support for immigrant rights within the Austin community. Specifically, the grant will help fund a Development Coordinator, Grants and Operations Manager, and a Communications and Pro Bono Coordinator. With this team in place, American Gateways will increase their capacity to engage more pro bono attorneys, assisting even more immigrants in Central Texas.  

2019
Community Grant Recipient:

Con Mi MADRE

Project:

Lifting Latinos out of Poverty through Education

Con Mi MADRE is a two-generation organization that empowers young Latinas and their mothers through education and support services that increase preparedness, participation, and success in post-secondary education. Con Mi MADRE translates to ‘with my mother,’ which exemplifies a unique programming element -- the organization intentionally engages mothers in their daughter's educational journey from 6th grade through college graduation. Con Mi MADRE contributes to increasing college completion rates among Latina youth and decreasing the cycle of poverty. With support from Impact Austin, Con Mi MADRE will reach an additional 180 mother-daughter teams in Central Texas.

2019
Education Grant Recipient:

Austin Bat Cave

Project:

ABC Bat Mobile: A Classroom on Wheels

Since 2007, Austin Bat Cave (ABC) has partnered with nonprofit organizations and Title 1 schools all over Austin to provide free writing workshops and summer camps for students ages 6 through 18, serving over 1,000 students each year. ABC’s trained volunteer teachers are novelists, poets, educators and other professionals, all passionate about writing and empowering young people to find their voices. Each year, ABC publishes a collection of students’ stories, and helps them pitch their writing to local and national publications. ABC will use the Impact Austin Education grant to expand free programming in Del Valle by converting a city bus into a mobile classroom. The Bat Mobile will be outfitted with a book-making station, library, study nook, internet access, Chromebooks, and desks, and will provide programming that directly responds to educational needs voiced by educators and parents in the Del Valle community.

2018
Catalyst Grant Recipient:

CASA of Travis County

Project:

Increasing Volunteer Diversity through Targeted Marketing and Recruitment

CASA of Travis County speaks up for children who have been abused or neglected by empowering the community to volunteer as advocates for them in the court system. When the state steps in to protect a child’s safety, a judge appoints a trained CASA volunteer to make independent and informed recommendations in the child’s best interest. CASA of Travis County will use the Impact Austin grant to help address the critical challenge of diversifying CASA’s base of volunteers to better represent the community and the children CASA serves. They will create a dedicated staff position focused on this need, and will launch an intensive marketing and outreach campaign to recruit more African-American and Latino community members to serve as CASA volunteers.

For more information, visit https://www.casatravis.org/