Better Block Foundation 2020

Better Block Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that educates, equips, and empowers communities and their leaders to reshape and reactivate built environments to promote the growth of healthy and vibrant neighborhoods.

We work with neighbors all over the world to make their communities just a little better block by block through temporary demonstrations that lead to permanent changes. According to the National Skills Coalition, in 2015, 42 percent of Texas’ workforce was to the level of middle-skill jobs even though those jobs accounted for 56 percent of the labor market. Dallas-Fort Worth is facing a mounting opportunity gap in that not only are our children not college-level ready, they’re not job-level ready. And, yet, there are middle-income jobs that need to be filled. We aim to address this with a workforce development program that teaches high school students how to use digital fabrication to remake their neighborhoods and earn a living wage.

Carson’s Village 2020

Carson’s Village helps families navigate the challenging decisions they face after the sudden death of a loved one.

A first-of-its-kind service that fills a significant gap in services, Carson’s Village supports the more than 8 million people who suffer the death of a loved one each year. With the support of a compassionate live advocate, families get informed guidance to plan a funeral, make financial decisions and manage their anxiety during a very stressful time. Carson’s Village also offers a timeline of key milestones for that week as well as online resources and fundraising tools to help families prepare for what is often an unexpected, costly and stressful event. More information can be found at www.carsonsvillage.org or 877-789-0722.

EdCor Health 2020

EdCor Health is a newly launched nonprofit, focused on providing access to health and hope over decades of handcuffs that often plague disinvested communities of color.

First, we are seeking support for operational modeling for how major medical tenants colocate while using the same measurements & technology and providing high quality of care. Second, we are seeking support for legal support to ensure all Letter of Intents are drafted into final agreements. Finally, we are seeking financial support for our design team to program and complete all phases necessary to get EdCor to construction, with a groundbreaking goal of December 2019.

Habitat for Humanity of Collin County 2020

Habitat for Humanity of Collin County has purchased a 2.78-acre lot in McKinney where they plan to build a 35-unit community of townhomes for low-to-moderate income (LMI) families called “The Cotton Groves”.

This community will provide homes for approximately 160 individuals in a cost-effective, sustainable, and eco-friendly community. The homes will be made from shipping containers. The Cotton Groves is the first community of its kind in the United States. Cotton Groves will address the need for affordable, environmentally-conscious housing. Shipping containers became a core component of the project because they are cost-effective, durable, sustainable, and eco-friendly and will reduce our construction schedule allowing Habitat to serve more families.

Heart House 2020

In Dallas, there are easily hundreds of nonprofit organizations providing for the basic needs or families in crisis, whether they are experiencing it related to domestic violence, food insecurity, unexpected major health issue, or financial crisis.

At the same time, there also exists a gap in basic mental health support and access for the same population. With trauma as a barrier to so many children and families struggling to survive, much less thrive, there is an opportunity to provide a new approach without replicating current services, nor incurring the tremendous start-up costs of a new program. Heart House’s Calm Ambassadors Training & Consultancy, armed with more than 18 years of experience working with trauma-sensitive refugee children in Vickery Meadow, will provide the framework, curricula and on-the-ground support to partners who seek to employ our unique, culturally-relevant approach to their current work with families in crisis. Through the Calm Ambassador Training project, Heart House has the opportunity to impact far more children in the Dallas area and beyond. By going deep with our training and consultancy partners and customizing our training to the specific needs of our partners who have been hand-selected for greatest potential, we will help them reach greater impact based on their respective definitions.

Kids-U 2020

Kids-U, a 16 year veteran serving low income students, is positioned to offer a solution to support poor children ages 4 and 5 who need FREE high-quality early childhood programs to be successful academically.

Desiring to join those effectively shaping the pipeline of students entering public schools; Kids-U has space readily available for use during the hours of 9am – 2pm at no additional cost. Kids-U has a positive reputation of being a trustworthy and stable organization with the families in low income DFW apartment communities. Kids-U also partners with local businesses and organizations that benefit the whole child including their family and community. Kids-U’s offering of this Pre-k program will expand the access to a particular group of poor kids in need of such an opportunity for success in school and life.

Southern Dallas Link 2020 Southern Dallas Link strives to be the link to a better way of life for the people of Dallas. We do that by helping them transform their lives in multiple ways such as transportation, job readiness, parenting programs, etc. We got our start by getting people livable wage income and then transporting them to that live able wage income. Through that we found that some need more then just a job, they needed a total life transformation. That’s when we decided that we need to expand and offer things that would help people not only change their job status but change their life status.

The Home Visit Project 2020

The Home Visit Project trains teachers to engage and partner with families through relationship-building home visits.

Because we know no significant learning can take place in the absence of a relationship, we see relationships as the foundation upon which all other academic strategies must be built. Our work is focused on results at the campus level, teacher by teacher, student by student, family by family, helping educators build supportive, trusting relationships with families to ensure every student is socially, emotionally, and academically successful. To date, the project has impacted more than 7,500 North Texas families.

The Walls Project 2020

The Walls Project is a 501c3 community reactivation organization fueling the industry of creativity.

Since 2012, Walls Project has generated over $1.5 million dollars in direct economic development by training and employing hundreds of creative professionals annually. Walls Project plans to build on this success in Dallas by bringing The Futures Fund youth workforce development and STEAM education program in 2020. To date, over 1000 minority students have trained for the jobs of the future and are now equipped with employable hard and 21st century soft skills including critical thinking, financial literacy, how to work in teams, and introduction to the fine art of entrepreneurial hustle. The Walls enters into North Texas with a bold goal for teens to generate $1M in revenues through The Futures Fund paid apprentice program, placement into entry-level technology jobs, and launching innovative startups.

Trey Athletes 2020

Trey’s mission is to empower athletes to become lifelong leaders.

By providing high school athletes with the tools to make informed college decisions, succeed as collegiate student-athletes, and successfully transfer sport-based leadership skills into life, Trey empowers student-athletes to become leaders off the court or field, amplifying Trey’s impact to benefit the communities they represent and the kids who emulate their every move. By helping an individually-vulnerable but collectively-powerful group, Trey builds diverse leaders and role models, gives a voice to underrepresented communities, and improves the culture of college sports.

Bold Idea 2019

Bold Idea is an education non-profit organization that helps Dallas area students discover computer science and prepare for 21st century careers in technology and engineering.

Through its partnerships with technology companies, engineers and community organizations, Bold Idea creates more equitable access to computer science education and provides the supportive mentors and hands-on experience that students need to succeed. The organization is expanding its computer science mentoring program in the region through a new collaboration with the City of Dallas Parks & Recreation Department.

Hand to Hold 2019

Hand to Hold helps families before, during, and after NICU stays and infant loss by providing powerful resources for the whole family, and most importantly, one-on-one mentoring from someone who has been there.

Hand to Hold is a national nonprofit that was founded in 2010 by a NICU graduate parent who knew first-hand the isolation, trauma and lasting impact of a NICU stay. Our caring social work team uses their personal and professional experiences to ensure all Hand to Hold programs and services work for our NICU families, at every step in the journey. Our resources include in-hospital programs, podcasts, articles and blogs, social networks, and trained peer mentors. All were designed for the emotional, physical, and social needs of the whole NICU family – including siblings and grandparents.

JUST Community 2019

JUST reimagined global microfinance for the United States that is 100%-based on trust and automated to serve hundreds of thousands of low-income entrepreneurs.

Their innovation shifts power from the institution to the community by empowering JUST Entrepreneur Trust Agents (JETAs). Capital – Loans between $500 to $5,000, awarded based on trust, rather than credit scores; Coaching – Introducing new mental models to help entrepreneurs build healthier financial habits, and grow savings and businesses; Community – A network (lending circle) led by trained JETAs that help entrepreneurs reach their business and personal goals.

My Possibilities 2019

My Possibilities is seeking a new path towards sustainability and growth for their organization.

Rather than increase fundraising events and development efforts, they will establish a Texas Public Benefit Corporation to serve as a for-profit conduit to investors who are interested in both a financial return as well as an impact to a social need. MPact Investments will operate a transitional employment retail center to support people with disabilities seeking competitive employment in the community.

NTARUPT 2019

North Texas Alliance to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy in Teens (NTARUPT) plans to implement a cutting-edge public awareness campaign to raise awareness about the realities of teen pregnancy and teen childrearing and encourage parents, teens, and the community at large to effect behavior change by driving teens to seek education and resources, and to access reproductive healthcare.

The campaign will embolden parents to talk to their children about delaying sexual activity, and will move the public to support policies that promote systemic and institutional change (like providing age-appropriate, evidence-based, medically accurate reproductive health education in schools and increasing teens’ access to contraception).

POETIC 2019

POETIC equips girls who have experienced sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation to find their voices, reclaim their narratives and persist forward.

Knit into the heart of downtown Dallas, POETIC provides therapeutic aftercare programming through trauma therapy, art therapy, an on-site school, advocacy and parent to parent support at no cost to youth and families. In partnership with the Dallas County Juvenile Department, POETIC works with pre- and post-adjudicated girls to build self-protective skills avoiding re-victimization and boldly forging a path of success for themselves and generations to come.

Readers 2 Leaders 2019

Readers 2 Leaders brings high-quality reading tutoring and enrichment to hundreds of Dallas kids each year through Team Read after-school and summer programs.

They work with students who are behind in reading with the goal of catching them up to grade level by third grade. Their newest venture, Team Read Coaching, brings literacy expertise to the greater out-of-school time community in Dallas and makes high-quality reading instruction in after-school and summer a reality for more children. Through consulting and training designed especially for each organization, R2L will empower providers across Dallas to implement reading enrichment and tutoring in their own programs. Team Read Coaching makes it possible for so many more kids to receive the extra reading help they need to succeed in school and life.

Rosa es Rojo 2019

Rosa es Rojo was born to help Latino women, particularly survivors of cancer and immigrants, learn and grow from life’s many challenges.

Their mission is the education and training of Latino women and their families in the areas of health, prevention and wellness. They help women improve their lifestyle by promoting nutrition, physical activity, emotional health awareness and positive thinking. They feel that if women tend to their physical and emotional health, they will be actively promoting the formation of strong families and communities through positive influence.

Student Success Agency 2019

Student Success Agency is scaling one-on-one attention in education by allowing students to receive traditional services like, mentoring, tutoring, and advising, anytime anywhere from their cellphones.

They expand access to high quality mentorship for all students by creating a web of value between humans and their engagement software. Institutional research studies show that a high school student’s time with a near-in-age mentor directly correlates to increased college applications, FAFSA completion rate, college enrollment, and self-efficacy. Their innovation is working with the largest federal college readiness grant across eight states in 62 high schools and uniquely positioned to reengineer Student Support Services so students across the country can have quality on-demand support regardless of their zip code.

Tacky Box 2019

Tacky Box® is a for-purpose company dedicated to creating systemic change in the way children treat one another.

The company offers elementary schools an award-winning multi-sensory experience for students paired with an innovative, hands-on tool that teaches children to choose kindness over tacky language and behavior. In just three years, Tacky Box has transformed the school climate for more than 50,000 students in North Texas alone, reducing incidents of bullying and disrupting the process through which children adopt inappropriate behavior often modeled for them. In response to the rapidly increasing number of youth suicides that stem from cyber-bullying, Groundfloor is investing in the development of a virtual Tacky Box to create a kinder online culture and protect North Texas children.

Yoga N Da Hood 2019

Yoga N Da Hood is a non profit organization dedicated to Social Emotional Development of our community, through the power and practice of yoga and mindfulness.

Yoga N Da Hood is out to change the way the education system cultivates our youth socially, emotionally, physically, and mentally. They host free classes throughout the community on a weekly basis and collaborate with schools to host no cost after-school programs and replace ISS and detention with self-regulation skills, yoga, and mindfulness. The Mindful School Bus Project creates a space where our youth and develop socially and emotionally, while gaining self regulation skills to help cope with life’s ups and downs.

Beacon Hill Preparatory Institute 2017

In-School and After School Tutoring

Beacon Hill Preparatory Institute’s belief to ‘Educate Early, Educate All’ and that every student from all socio-economic backgrounds has a chance to succeed has been proven through their State-approved Mastery Curriculum using In-School and After School delivery models with Public, Private and Charter School students as well as Community-based programs.

Using Certified Instructors year-round at a 3:1 ratio for student’s Pre-K thru 12th, Beacon Hill has provided individualized personal development plans that are tailored to each student’s pre-and- post assessment scores and their weekly progress in the program. Beacon Hill will also be implementing an application that will help them evaluate students more efficiently and more effectively by tracking and measuring their progress in Real Time and sharing this data with other partners, platforms and stakeholders. Beacon Hill is honored to have local, national and global partners on-board to lend their time, talent and resources to this very important project for our Community.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25k in seed funding and mentoring focused on developing a digital application to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in student tracking. Technology experts helped them to write a technical action plan for their new application and United Way staff helped them to create a strategic growth plan and sustainable funding model.

Bonton Farms 2016, 2017

The Market at Bonton Farms

Bonton Farms is a non-profit organization focused on transforming impoverished urban neighborhoods through a scalable model of social enterprise and an integrated set of programs that nourish the individual.

Since launching in 2014, Bonton Farms has helped dozens of local residents and received substantial press and numerous awards for its innovative, impactful and sustainable approach.

Bonton Farms began as an urban farm providing more healthful foods to its neighbors and offering programs to provide economic advancement. In only three years, Bonton Farms has expanded to a 40-acre farm and begun distributing its products online and directly to restaurants and grocery stores. In early 2018, it will open the Market at Bonton Farms, a neighborhood center that will offer fresh produce, prepared foods and other essential items. The Market will also provide educational and health programs to improve the lives of local residents, while expanding employment opportunities.

OUR WORK: Through two investments, GroundFloor invested a total of $135k in seed funding and mentoring support focused on the sustainability of Bonton Farms through expanding their amount of farmable land and creating the new The Market at Bonton Farms. With project management expertise, mentoring focused around developing a project schedule for the construction of The Market and developing a partnership platform for its health & wellness programming. Additionally, marketing experts helped Bonton Farms with a rebranding and messaging strategy to more effectively talk about all that Bonton Farms does. Through Bonton Farms’ participation in 2016’s OneUp the Vote, they received an additional $43,500 for winning two weekly prizes and the grand prize for most overall votes throughout the campaign.

Center for Employment Opportunities 2017

Dallas Launch

Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) is an evidence-based prison re-entry program designed to help recently released, formerly incarcerated men and women successfully rejoin the workforce. CEO’s model centers on immediate transitional work, enabling participants to regain the habits and stability of a full-time job, while working with CEO staff to position themselves for a permanent, unsubsidized job. In recent evaluations, CEO’s employment model proved to both reduce prison recidivism and save taxpayer dollars through decreased criminal justice spending. CEO currently has sites in 13 cities across four states serving 4,500 people each year.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $100k in seed funding and mentoring focused on launching CEO in the Dallas market. Mentoring support from an organizational development expert helped CEO to develop a growth capital strategy, transitional work partner prospects, and local staff hiring strategy.

Education Opens Doors 2017

2017 United Way Social Innovation Competition Winner – Audience Favorite

Virtual Roadmap

Education Opens Doors uniquely equips middle and high school students with the Roadmap to Success Program, delivered by teachers during in-school hours, to increase their college expectations and attainability. They primarily target middle schools in an effort to address the lack of college readiness programs for this age group. Their newest program model and innovation is the Virtual Roadmap learning management system, which digitizes their highly impactful training and curriculum. Students, parents, and teachers will now be able to engage with the Roadmap to Success during, after, and/or in place of the year-long program they receive in the classroom. Through a self-guided digital learning platform designed to support a student through middle school and high school, Virtual Roadmap will make a life-changing program accessible to those that cannot currently utilize it and enhance the experience of those who do.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $75k in seed funding and mentoring focused on developing Virtual Roadmap to scale their impact. Mentoring from a sales and marketing expert helped to develop the customer segmentation, pricing and revenue strategic plan, and evaluate platforms to launch Virtual Roadmap and reach 78,000 students by 2021.

First3Years 2017

Safe Babies

Safe Babies is a public/private collaboration that seeks to lessen the impact of abuse and neglect, increase the likelihood of reunification, and ensure policies that guide the movement of infants and toddlers in the child welfare system are developmentally informed. Babies in child welfare have long been ignored, passed around like a baby doll, rather than a young infant in the midst of developing critical cognitive, self-regulation, and health systems. Safe Babies Dallas County (Safe Babies), an initiative of First 3 Years, works to change that reality. Together we can build a better system for maltreated infants and toddlers by addressing service protocols and making visitation better for all involved.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $125k in seed funding and mentoring. Working with a business development expert, Safe Babies analyzed the potential return on investment of their program and developed a pipeline of Dallas County judges to grow their impact work. First3Years earned an additional $12,500 for winning a weekly prize in 2017’s OneUp the Vote.

Project Phoenix 2017

Project Phoenix, an initiative of Texas New Era Center, is a comprehensive, second-chance program founded to assist in securing middle-wage, middle-skill jobs via Union apprenticeship training for young, first-time, non-violent, felony probationers in areas with a strong union presence.

Running concurrent to their probationary term, qualified candidates are offered the opportunity to commit to a multi-year training program in a skilled trade that provides the experience, education, and skills required to become building trade workers. By combining classroom studies, on-the-job training, and living-wage pay, Project Phoenix is looking to help the candidates follow a pathway to genuine rehabilitation. Project Phoenix believes candidates should follow a probation-to-vocation pathway – NOT a school-to-prison pipeline.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25k in seed funding and mentoring focused on growing Project Phoenix’s impact. Mentoring from a sales strategy and sales coach expert helped to develop a marketing and branding strategy to increase awareness, a fundraising plan, and increasing key stakeholder relationships to scale their impact.

ScholarShot 2017

DegreeDallas

ScholarShot’s DegreeDallas Campaign will produce 500 first generation college degrees for Dallas County over the next 7 – 10 years.

A high school diploma is no longer enough to fulfill our market or the potential of our youth, 86% of whom are from low income households. A career-ready college degree is the true tipping point to make good on our K-12 investments and our future. ScholarShot’s unique combination of success mapping, one on one mentoring and academic management provide much more than financial aid, they provide the tools needed to secure a degree – and a future.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25k in seed funding and mentoring focused on developing an external communications strategy to increase awareness and validating corporate community support and foundation prospecting to increase funding. Mentoring from a business services and consulting expert helped to develop a comprehensive project plan to scale their impact. ScholarShot earned an additional $12,500 for winning a weekly prize during 2017’s OneUp the Vote.

Skratch 2017

Skratch is a mobile app demand platform and neighborhood marketplace that addresses the teen departure from the workforce.

With the Skratch mobile application, teens will be able to connect with people in their neighborhoods to get varying types of work, on their time schedule. The Skratch solution is both relevant and scalable, allowing teens to earn money, develop an early resume, embrace the benefits from interactions through work. Skratch is delivered in a language (immediacy of mobile connection) that all users expect and understand today. In this program users will benefit as Skratch will bring this opportunity to below median income neighborhoods. In the process, bringing neighborhoods together, empowering teenagers and impacting the serious decline in teen workforce development.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25k in seed funding and mentoring by an operations management and technology utilization expert focused on adapting their for-profit business to a non-profit context, which included leading focus groups, revising their financial model, and securing a non-profit partner for their pilot.

Youth With Faces 2017

MadSkills Kitchen

Youth With Faces gives youth in the juvenile justice system a second chance to become more than a faceless statistic. Serving our community’s most at-risk youth, Youth With Faces provides learning experiences across educational, vocational, and life-skills platforms. Their pre-release Culinary Arts, Horticulture, Career & Finance, Dog Training and Computer programs build the skills and talents needed for their youth to break the cycle of incarceration and launch positive futures. Youth With Faces’ MadSkills Kitchen project provides intensive food service and hospitality training and paid internships to their youth. The catering enterprise transforms the futures of their youth through high standards Food & Beverage training with a focus on life skills, employability and educational opportunities to help them achieve their full potential.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $35k in seed funding and mentoring focused on developing their new enterprise. Mentoring by a management consulting expert helped to develop a comprehensive strategic plan, program logistics, and fundraising strategy for launching MadSkills Kitchen. Youth With Faces won the grand prize and two weekly prizes during 2017’s OneUp the Vote, earning them an additional $75,000.

Adaptive Training Foundation 2016

Adaptive Training Foundation (ATF) is an organization that seeks to restore hope through movement to those with physical impairment, with a focus on veterans, by offering optimization and empowering adaptive athletes to REDEFINE the best version of themselves.

ATF has identified a void – people living with physical impairment struggle to find a way to advance their mental and physical capacity post rehabilitation. ATF was created to fill the void by offering individuals customized adaptive training based around their performance goals.

The goal is to RESTORE by empowering through training, RECALIBRATE by helping them to reach their performance goals, and REDEPLOY by providing opportunities for adaptive athletes to compete. ATF’s REDEFINE program features a 9-week training program designed to improve athletes in the gym, but more importantly the empowered athlete awakens to redefine his or her life.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $70k in seed funding and mentoring support focused on developing Adaptive Training Foundation’s governance model and strategic growth planning. Additionally, United Way impact staff advised ATF on tracking and measuring their impact on the athletes. Through ATF’s participation in 2016’s OneUp the Vote, they received $5,500 for winning a weekly prize.

Akola Project 2016

Akola Dallas

Akola Project, ‘she works,’ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission-driven enterprise that empowers women in poverty to become agents of transformation in their families and communities through economic development.

Akola combines the best practices of social business and nonprofit wrap around services in order to operate sustainably and create a ripple effect that impacts generations to come.

100% of sales revenues are reinvested in their social mission to pay the women they employ, cover their operations and expand their impact. This allows for 100% of donations to fund  wrap around services that provide women with the skills and support they need to thrive.

After 10 years of successfully developing and implementing Akola’s hybrid model in Uganda, Akola has expanded to Dallas in order to create a pathway out of poverty for local women seeking financial stability and independence.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $95k in seed funding and mentoring by a retail industry expert that focused on strategic planning and capacity building to support Akola’s overall growth and expansion into the luxury retail space. Key connections to local non-profit partners and mobilizing volunteers supported the launch of Akola Dallas. Additionally, United Way impact staff guided the Akola team in the translation of their international impact model in Uganda to a domestic impact model that changes lives in Dallas.

Bonton Farms 2016, 2017

The Market at Bonton Farms

Bonton Farms is a non-profit organization focused on transforming impoverished urban neighborhoods through a scalable model of social enterprise and an integrated set of programs that nourish the individual.

Since launching in 2014, Bonton Farms has helped dozens of local residents and received substantial press and numerous awards for its innovative, impactful and sustainable approach.

Bonton Farms began as an urban farm providing more healthful foods to its neighbors and offering programs to provide economic advancement. In only three years, Bonton Farms has expanded to a 40-acre farm and begun distributing its products online and directly to restaurants and grocery stores. In early 2018, it will open the Market at Bonton Farms, a neighborhood center that will offer fresh produce, prepared foods and other essential items. The Market will also provide educational and health programs to improve the lives of local residents, while expanding employment opportunities.

OUR WORK: Through two investments, GroundFloor invested a total of $135k in seed funding and mentoring support focused on the sustainability of Bonton Farms through expanding their amount of farmable land and creating the new The Market at Bonton Farms. With project management expertise, mentoring focused around developing a project schedule for the construction of The Market and developing a partnership platform for its health & wellness programming. Additionally, marketing experts helped Bonton Farms with a rebranding and messaging strategy to more effectively talk about all that Bonton Farms does. Through Bonton Farms’ participation in 2016’s OneUp the Vote, they received an additional $43,500 for winning two weekly prizes and the grand prize for most overall votes throughout the campaign.

Dallas Teacher Residency 2014, 2016

Dallas Teacher Residency (DTR) serves as a strategic response to local urban school districts’ need to recruit, prepare, and retain effective classroom teachers to serve urban students in urban classrooms.

Research demonstrates that the classroom teacher serves as the single greatest catalyst in increasing levels of student achievement.

With that said, nearly 50% of all urban school teachers leave the profession within their first three years – creating long term economic consequences for urban school districts,’ and more importantly, academic consequences for children in urban schools. Through a rigorous and purposeful year-long apprenticeship program patterned after a medical residency model, DTR is a district-based teacher education program that pairs master’s level education content with a rigorous full-year classroom apprenticeship with trained mentor teachers in urban classrooms. DTR prepares and supports teachers to successfully serve students in urban schools, ensuring that prior to having a classroom of their own, program residents are provided with the training, skillset, and on-going support necessary to best meet the needs of students in urban schools.

Through this innovative approach to teacher training, DTR aims to create both high-quality educators, in addition to creating support systems which ensure educators have the opportunity to impact levels of student academic achievement through teaching.

OUR WORK: Through two investments, GroundFloor invested $120,000 in seed funding and mentoring focused on building Dallas ISD and university partner relationships and coaching to improve their fundraising strategy. DTR came to GroundFloor as a “back of the napkin” idea, and a few short years later they are impacting thousands of DISD students each year.

Equal Heart 2016

Mobile Food Access Network

Equal Heart is focused on alleviating childhood and family hunger through innovative community programming made more efficient by the targeted use of technology.

They currently operate four key programs that seek to alleviate hunger with the auxiliary benefit of reducing food waste and increasing community employment.

The Summer/After-School Nutrition Program provides daily meals to 8,000 children in Dallas, Austin, Houston and Denver. Direct-to-Door, a mobile food pantry, delivers bi-weekly groceries to 1,500 families in Dallas County. Plate It Forward reclaims potential food waste from food establishments including restaurants, grocers, and produce suppliers to be distributed to families and community centers.

The AmeriCorps Relief and Opportunity Corps supports 58 disenfranchised young adults to serve throughout all programs and provides employment readiness training to transition them to permanent employment once their service ends. Equal Heart is developing a Mobile Food Access Network (MFAN) to put in place a synergistic model of food assistance that has overlapping outcomes of increasing food supply to low-income families, decreasing food waste, and increasing economic opportunity by filling program positions with the hard to employ.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $60k in seed funding and mentoring focused on launching and growing the program operations of the Mobile Food Access Network and fundraising. Mentoring from a leadership coach and charitable giving expert helped to increase capacity and resources for the program expansion.

Farmers Assisting Returning Military (FARM) 2016

FARM’s goal is to provide immediate assistance for veterans relative to their re-integration into society after service with a goal of providing therapeutic rehabilitation via several avenues of approach.

These avenues include, but are not limited to, agricultural stewardship, agrarianism, animal husbandry, recreational activities and employment opportunities with an emphasis on promoting the transference and application of veterans’ leadership skills and work ethic into civilian life through farm life.

FARM has developed and is building an educational farm park in downtown Dallas near the Farmers Market to show the importance of healthy foods and the impact they can have on the community. The educational farm park will also be a place to provide meaningful work for veterans by allowing them to work and to teach.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $165k in seed funding and mentoring that focused on developing a comprehensive plan to launch the educational urban farm park in Downtown Dallas. Mentoring from a management consulting expert helped to develop a comprehensive strategic business plan for the construction of the farm park. Through FARM’s participation in 2016’s OneUp the Vote, they received an additional $8,500 for winning a weekly prize.

Principal Impact Collaborative 2016

The Principal Impact Collaborative (PIC) addresses the national and collective local challenge of urban principal turnover (average tenure 2.5 years).

The constant change in leadership, particularly at some of our community’s most challenging schools, makes it difficult to get traction on long-term academic improvements and for all students to be on a path to college and career readiness.

PIC is a unique professional growth and learning opportunity for principals from local public school districts and charter networks to work together on small teams in developing and executing a transformative idea for their school. Over the two-year program, principals in the cohort have dedicated time each month away from their campus to work on their idea with the help of relevant experts and their peers in the cohort. At the end of the program, principals will have the opportunity to share their projects and findings with the broader North Texas educational community and to mentor another local principal who would like to implement a similar idea at their school.

PIC creates a “ripple effect” by not only improving the school of the participating principal, but also those other principals who would like to replicate their transformative idea. The target outcomes for the program are higher retention for the principals in the cohort, higher self-reported job satisfaction, and increased school performance.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25k in seed funding and mentoring support focused on developing a fundraising strategy and recruiting participants for the inaugural cohort.

SafeNight 2015, 2016

SafeNight is a mobile service that assists domestic violence organizations and engages individual donors in paying for hotel rooms when it is an appropriate option.

SafeNight leverages the capacity that exists within our community to meet a desperate need, and do so sustainably and at scale. The Solution coalesces mature technologies – discounted reservations systems, a web-based fund-raising/financial management system and a smartphone app – to find and fund Sanctuary Rooms (private places – hotel rooms, etc.) on a real-time basis for people who are in danger of violence.

OUR WORK: Through two investments, GroundFloor invested $100k in seed funding and mentoring support focused on service provider relations, stakeholder meetings, and outreach strategies.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul 2016

Mini Loan Program

The Mini Loan Program (MLP) provides relief to people in our community who are financially trapped in high interest payday and auto title loans, which speaks to the vision of the Society of ending the cycle of poverty through systemic change.

People financially trapped in predatory loans are increasingly unable to take care of their families and are spiraling into unending debt. The MLP breaks this cycle of debt. The Society partners with participants to convert a predatory loan into a low-interest loan. Working one-on-one, the Society empowers participants towards upward mobility and moving out of poverty by offering financial education, establishing a savings account and discussing other programs and services.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a non-profit community-based volunteer organization that offers direct aid, service and programs to those in need. To accomplish their core goal of ending poverty, the Society takes a holistic and systemic change approach by first addressing basic needs through short-term financial aid, food, material goods or transportation assistance. Additional programs and services reach beyond these charitable acts and address the underlying root cause of the basic need —offering hope that will lead to a path of self-sufficiency.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $50k in seed funding and mentoring by a non-profit executive focused on scaling their impact work, including developing a strategic plan, building partner relationships, and fundraising.

2nd Saturday 2015

2S Industries

2ndSaturday is a non-profit/sustainable-business hybrid that seeks to address the lack of long-term employment and opportunity available to the numerous at-risk men of Dallas’ poorest neighborhoods, while simultaneously helping to restore the homes and dignity of disadvantaged senior, limited-income and disabled residents of the city.

What began as a volunteer opportunity with nine people at a West Dallas home in 2009 has become a monthly service event for hundreds of volunteers from across the metroplex, and a business that intentionally employs and invests in former felons, gang-members and drug-dealers in order to provide a pathway out of poverty. “2S” employees are helping build sustainable small businesses in lawncare, construction and more while working alongside city partners to serve their community.

Through 2S Industries, 2^nd Saturday employs ex-felons in fair-wage jobs and engages them to work alongside volunteers to revitalize their neighborhoods. By providing a job, meaningful long-term relationships and purpose, not just a program, 2ndSaturday believes the inner-city’s at-risk men can not only contribute, but become emerging leaders in neighborhoods they once exploited.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25,000 in seed funding and mentoring focused on leadership coaching, strategic growth planning, compliance and sustainability, and CRM donor stewardship.

Café Momentum 2014, 2015

Café Momentum is a restaurant training platform that provides post-release paid internships for juvenile offenders through which they will receive intensive culinary, job, and life-skill training as well as continued mentoring and support to foster successful re-entry into the community.

In addition to significantly reducing recidivism, Café Momentum creates opportunities for long-term, sustainable (legal) employment for a demographic that would otherwise continue to burden the justice system and taxpayers.

OUR WORK: After months of meetings, vetting, and planning, Café Momentum became the first GroundFloor Fellow in 2013 and received an investment of $175k in cash, rent-free office space for nearly two years and hands-on mentoring from community leaders, including real estate experts to help them navigate the opening of a permanent restaurant location. In the winter of 2015, Café Momentum opened the doors of their permanent home in Thanksgiving Square, and GroundFloor made a second investment in their future – $70k in cash and mentoring focused on impact and sustainability. Business growth experts helped them to instill strong business processes and controls to ensure sustainability, and United Way impact staff coached them through refining their program. In 2016, Café Momentum successfully competed in the United Way Community Impact Grants process, receiving $100k annually for three years.

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) 2015

Pieces Catalyst

Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI) is a non-profit technology and analytics company that develops complex real-time predictive analytics’ solutions to help care providers deliver safe, effective and timely patient care.

PCCI is developing Pieces Catalyst, a novel financial model that will realign incentives across social and clinical services sectors to enhance care provision to the Dallas community. Pieces Catalyst is the sustainability arm of the Dallas IEP, also known as Pieces Plexus™, which is supported by a generous grant from the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Foundation at Communities Foundation of Texas. Pieces Plexus™ is an interface of shared patient/client information between clinical settings and social organizations, and takes on an unprecedented financial model of supporting community services that are foundational to the wellbeing of its citizens.

By encouraging utilization of existing social resources to holistically address patient health, Pieces Catalyst will revolutionize collaborative care, reinforce capacity building within community organizations, and drive collective community impact.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $50k in seed funding and coaching to execute a pilot that demonstrated the benefit of healthcare and social services working in partnership. This unique proof of concept linked Parkland Hospital with The Bridge shelter and allowed homeless hospital patients to be discharged directly to the shelter. The coordinated care resulted in a reduction in hospital re-admissions and was the foundation for a first-of-its-kind “shared savings” payment to be made to The Bridge.

Per Scholas 2015

Dallas Launch

Per Scholas is a national nonprofit organization offering free, high quality technology education, job training, placement, and career development opportunities to people in underserved communities.

Since 1998, more than 5,000 unemployed and underemployed adults (18+ years old) have enrolled in its job training programs. Per Scholas offers a free 8-week job training course (IT-Ready) providing high quality, hands-on technical skills training and professional soft skills development to unemployed and underemployed adults. The course teaches to the CompTIA A+ certification, which prepares candidates for specific entry-level help desk and technical support roles that are available in our community.

The Per Scholas model has been twice recognized by the White House for its effectiveness serving the unemployed and proven successful through independent studies, launching its growth into new regions. In 2015, Per Scholas launched services in Dallas.

Nationally, 85 percent of Per Scholas participants graduate and obtain industry certification and 75 percent of graduates land jobs.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor, in partnership with Pathways to Work, invested $150k in seed funding and provided mentoring support for recruiting, employer and workforce development relations, and fundraising.

SafeNight 2015, 2016

SafeNight is a mobile service that assists domestic violence organizations and engages individual donors in paying for hotel rooms when it is an appropriate option.

SafeNight leverages the capacity that exists within our community to meet a desperate need, and do so sustainably and at scale. The Solution coalesces mature technologies – discounted reservations systems, a web-based fund-raising/financial management system and a smartphone app – to find and fund Sanctuary Rooms (private places – hotel rooms, etc.) on a real-time basis for people who are in danger of violence.

OUR WORK: Through two investments, GroundFloor invested $100k in seed funding and mentoring support focused on service provider relations, stakeholder meetings, and outreach strategies.

Upswing 2015

Upswing is an organization focused on partnering with colleges to improve student success and retention through retention planning, online collaboration technology, and predictive data analytics.

Before beginning the partnership, a retention officer works with each college to help identify a plan that will best suit the college’s needs in order to build awareness and assess impact over the course of the partnership. By modernizing traditional academic support methods, colleges are able to provide a college experience that aligns with the schedules and lifestyles of students. Additionally, college administrators can access real-time student performance data and reports in order to prevent student attrition before it occurs.

The result is higher student retention rates and a better overall experience for every student. Upswing is on a mission to help end attrition.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor invested $25k in seed funding and mentoring focused on Dallas market entry strategy and instrumental introductions to area colleges.

Café Momentum 2014, 2015

Café Momentum is a restaurant training platform that provides post-release paid internships for juvenile offenders through which they will receive intensive culinary, job, and life-skill training as well as continued mentoring and support to foster successful re-entry into the community.

In addition to significantly reducing recidivism, Café Momentum creates opportunities for long-term, sustainable (legal) employment for a demographic that would otherwise continue to burden the justice system and taxpayers.

OUR WORK: After months of meetings, vetting, and planning, Café Momentum became the first GroundFloor Fellow in 2013 and received an investment of $175k in cash, rent-free office space for nearly two years and hands-on mentoring from community leaders, including real estate experts to help them navigate the opening of a permanent restaurant location. In the winter of 2015, Café Momentum opened the doors of their permanent home in Thanksgiving Square, and GroundFloor made a second investment in their future – $70k in cash and mentoring focused on impact and sustainability. Business growth experts helped them to instill strong business processes and controls to ensure sustainability, and United Way impact staff coached them through refining their program. In 2016, Café Momentum successfully competed in the United Way Community Impact Grants process, receiving $100k annually for three years.

Dallas Teacher Residency 2014, 2016

Dallas Teacher Residency (DTR) serves as a strategic response to local urban school districts’ need to recruit, prepare, and retain effective classroom teachers to serve urban students in urban classrooms.

Research demonstrates that the classroom teacher serves as the single greatest catalyst in increasing levels of student achievement.

With that said, nearly 50% of all urban school teachers leave the profession within their first three years – creating long term economic consequences for urban school districts,’ and more importantly, academic consequences for children in urban schools. Through a rigorous and purposeful year-long apprenticeship program patterned after a medical residency model, DTR is a district-based teacher education program that pairs master’s level education content with a rigorous full-year classroom apprenticeship with trained mentor teachers in urban classrooms. DTR prepares and supports teachers to successfully serve students in urban schools, ensuring that prior to having a classroom of their own, program residents are provided with the training, skillset, and on-going support necessary to best meet the needs of students in urban schools.

Through this innovative approach to teacher training, DTR aims to create both high-quality educators, in addition to creating support systems which ensure educators have the opportunity to impact levels of student academic achievement through teaching.

OUR WORK: Through two investments, GroundFloor invested $120,000 in seed funding and mentoring focused on building Dallas ISD and university partner relationships and coaching to improve their fundraising strategy. DTR came to GroundFloor as a “back of the napkin” idea, and a few short years later they are impacting thousands of DISD students each year.

LiftFund 2014

Through GroundFloor, LiftFund finalized a new and innovative product, the Promise Loan, which uses qualitative measures such as business skills, integrity and perseverance, and basic cash flow knowledge to access a loan of up to $5,000.

Through this new program, LiftFund has been able to provide capital to almost a third of applicants that would have otherwise been denied a more traditional loan.

LiftFund, formerly known as Accion Texas Inc, is a nonprofit that provides micro and small business loans to aspiring and established business owners who are not able to access capital through traditional financial institutions.

Microfinance was founded internationally and has been part of the solution for self-employed and small business owners in accessing capital in the U.S. since 1994. LiftFund’s mission is to provide credit and support to entrepreneurs and to be an innovator in their industry; they are considered the largest microlending institution in the nation and are committed to helping more through new product design.

This new loan product is an example of LiftFund’s commitment to combating poverty through entrepreneurship and asset building.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor provided $35k in seed funding and mentoring to support translating the Promise Loan from an spreadsheet to a digital tool that could be launched across their networked and licensed to Community Development Centers around the country.

Spark 101 2014

Spark101 is a free resource to help educators ignite student interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Educators use Spark 101’s interactive industry videos and instructional resources to engage students in inquiry-based learning to build key 21st century skills like critical-thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration. The short, scenario-based videos are directly aligned to national curriculum programs, such as the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP), Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and National Academy Foundation (NAF) programs. Local industry professionals—from business, academic, non-profit and government sectors—develop project-based videos that highlight real-world STEM challenges, inspiring and preparing future problem solvers. North Texas was the first community to maximize the use of Spark 101 to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world applications, which aligns with the United 2020 community goal to prepare 60 percent of graduates to succeed in education after high school.

Spark101 partnered with the Perot Museum of Nature and Science as the local affiliate who helped build the adoption of Spark101 in the region, as well as supported outreach and training to local educators and industry content contributors. Spark101 identified demand for STEM teacher training which led to the development of The Kosmos Energy STEM Teacher Institute at the Perot.

OUR WORK: GroundFloor provided $50k in seed funding and mentoring centered around coaching program staff on teacher engagement and impact tracking.