Author: United Way of Metropolitan Dallas

Meet our 5 Finalists

• 

  Crystal Dobson

  Founder and CEO of CardiacFITT

  During Crystal’s 17-year career as a cardiac nurse, she has worked closely with countless patients with life-threatening heart disease. As the No. 1 killer of Americans, heart disease hits communities of color particularly hard. Unfortunately, many heart patients don’t get the guidance and support they need to improve their health.

  That’s why Crystal created CardiacFITT, an innovative, technology-forward healthcare management platform that promotes cardiovascular wellness, with a focus on underserved communities. Her team provides virtual and in-person fitness, nutrition, health coaching, medication management support and education services, with a goal of preventing, rather than treating, heart disease.

  The idea for the organization struck Crystal during a late-night shift in the ICU, when she was caring for a patient who was recovering from a heart attack.

  “I looked at his medical history and saw that he had the same attributes as a lot of our other patients: high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, non-compliant on follow-ups with his doctors and inconsistent connections with community resources,” she shares. “I realized we needed to do something about this, because we were implementing care too late. We shouldn’t have to wait until someone gets to the cardiac ICU to help.”

  Now that Crystal has gone through the Social Innovation Accelerator, she looks forward to tapping into the social innovation community across North Texas.
  “I’ve learned so much about collaboration,” she says. “It transformed us from working in a silo to having a community of people to tackle the same issues of access to healthcare and inequality.”

  Learn more about CardiacFITT

• 

  Laura Hayes

  CEO of The Learning Bridge

  Growing up, Laura’s parents worked hard but struggled to escape poverty.

  “They weren’t able to complete their education, but they really believed it was the way up and out. And I adopted that belief myself,” she says. “I graduated very high in my class in high school, a perfect 800 on the SAT, but I was a first-generation college student. My parents didn’t know how to tell me how to do it. So I took some wrong turns. It took me longer and cost me more than it should have.”

  After college, Laura spent 35 years in education. Upon retirement, she poured her decades of experience into her next passion project, The Learning Bridge, which supports North Texans’ educational journeys through professional development and tailored training. Recently, the organization developed an educational video game called ADMITnGO.

  “I found that there was a gap for students who needed to understand how to get to college,” she explains. “We work with young people where they already are—playing video games—and we help them understand how to navigate the road to college.”

  Lauren previously went through the Social Innovation Incubator, and she saw the opportunity to fine-tune her launch of ADMITnGO by applying for the Accelerator.
  “They provided things for me that I could go back and use in my business immediately. It wasn’t just theory,” she says. “It can be very isolating and lonely to be an entrepreneur, but having gone through this program, I have all these partners and I fully intend to make use of it.”

  Learn more about The Learning Bridge

• 

  Jason Hernandez

  Founder and Executive Director of La Tiendita

  When Jason was growing up in McKinney, kids would gather at a rundown store to buy and sell drugs, learn how to shoot a gun and get into trouble.

  Like many of his peers, Jason started selling drugs at the age of 15 and was eventually arrested. While in prison, he set a goal for himself to create an organization that gives back to McKinney’s Latino community. In the very same building where he used to sell drugs, Jason has established a nonprofit grocery store, community resource and empowerment center that connects Latino students with internships and wrap-around services that support their success in school.

  “La Tiendita used to be a place where kids would go to get ‘internships’ on selling drugs, gang banging, how to load a gun. But within the last two years, we’ve turned it into a place of empowerment for our kids where they get internships on how to be leaders in their schools and communities,” he says. “La Tiendita is what I would’ve needed, what my brothers would’ve needed, what my friends would’ve needed.”
  After going through the Social Innovation Incubator, Jason decided to apply for the Accelerator for guidance on how to expand his business and create a model that can be replicated in other cities.

  “The Accelerator has taught me how to use my knowledge from hustling and grinding in the streets to creating a nonprofit that’s not only sustainable and impactful, but one day can be replicated by others in their communities,” he says.

  Learn more about La Tiendita

• 

  Saki Milton

  Founder of The GEMS Camp

  Saki was a first-generation college student from a community that lacked opportunities for young students. She developed a passion for education that led her to become a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education professional.

  “Through my math teaching, I started noticing that the girls started shrinking back and seeming less confident the older they got,” she explains. “I really wanted to do something about it and create positive, uplifting and safe environments for them to be exposed to rigorous content.”

  In 2010, Saki started The GEMS Camp to spark an interest in STEM in underserved and underrepresented girls, providing university sleepaway camps, after-school clubs and enrichment experiences that educate and entertain.

  “In the United States, 2 million STEM jobs go unfilled every year,” she says. “My aim is to prepare women and girls to fill those jobs. We have so much evidence that women can step into those roles and succeed. And at the micro level, we’re helping girls foster an interest that maybe they’ve been talked out of.”

  Now that Saki has gone through the Accelerator, she feels ready to scale The GEMS Camp in a way that may not have been possible before.

  “I didn’t have the talent and the expertise needed,” she says. “Now that I’ve gone through the program, I have a great scalable concept through a licensing model, where universities can host their own gyms camp using our assets, our intellectual property, our templates, our ways of working, and introduce even more girls than we could have reached on our own.”

  Learn more about The GEMS Camp

• 

  Van Parker

  Managing Director, North Texas, Housing Connector

  Growing up, Van had an amazing single mom who did whatever she could to ensure she and her brother had great opportunities. Unfortunately, they often experienced housing instability.

  That experience helped draw Van to her role at Housing Connector, which works to reduce criteria for housing applications, with a goal of filling vacant units and enabling more people to be approved for homes that they would otherwise be denied access to.

  “A lot of folks in our program are teachers, seniors, cashiers, and all of these folks have a job, but they still have some barrier—whether that’s a low credit score, an eviction—that’s preventing them from being approved for affordable housing,” she says. “About 85% of our clients identify as Black, indigenous or people of color. Every day I’m seeing someone that looks just like me who needs our help and I’m happy to be able to help them.”

  As she works to get Housing Connector established in North Texas, Van realized the Social Innovation Accelerator was an opportunity to become more engaged in the community and understand its unique needs. And, she attended The Pitch in 2024 and was inspired to be part of it.

  “It was so impactful for me to be in that audience and see how life-changing this event is and to be in a space where people wanted to collaborate and cheer others on,” she says. “I was really excited to just attend The Pitch, but to now be on the other side is even more amazing.”

  Learn more about Housing Connector

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