Real progress! East Austin doing something about drop-outs

Imagine having no middle school for your child. That’s the situation for many East Austin families. A new middle school not only fills that void, it creates an innovative learning environment that prepares these kids for college – not just high school but college.
Tomorrow night (November 5), Southwest Key will host an open house for the East Austin [...]

You can help get Austin kids to college. Here’s how.

Two new collaborations kicking off this month are determined to get more Austin kids ready for college, and they could use your help.
Mentoring Austin middle school students
The first is a mentoring project called 1 Hour for Kids, which was created by United Way Capital Area to forge the efforts of eight Austin nonprofits that serve children in [...]

Austin African Americans, go get that scholarship money!

Heard about this via the Community Action Network e-newsletter, which actually linked to the Austin Juneteenth Celebration (June 19) website…
If you’re currently mentoring or supporting an African-American or Hispanic student, please let them know about the numerous opportunities for college scholarships.
Below are listed almost 50 scholarship and aid opportunities for African-American and Hispanic students. Please spread [...]

One of the best donation requests I’ve ever received

I don’t know if this is how she was supposed to do it, if it was planned this way, or if she just decided to send a quick and casual email to about 60 people asking for help. But I’m telling you, it made me click on the “donate” link and send them $20. And [...]

FRI MARCH 27: Be a “real world” speaker to Travis High Students

Received this email from Linda Medina. I know there are lots of you out there who could expose a high school student to a career they might have never considered. This is a great opportunity to inspire Austin young people.
Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you well.  Volunteers are needed to participate in the Travis High [...]

Chasing Kerry Tate and the April 10 GENaustin fundraiser

There’s a group in Austin that I simply must know more about: Civic Interest. From what I’ve found out through Google, “…Civic Interest, a group venture for civic entrepreneurs advising clients on local issues and new initiatives. A central focus of the work of Civic Interest is research, including continuing and expanding LeaderTrack, an interactive [...]

Team CIS runs and raises money for Communities in Schools

Monday was overwhelmingly positive and energizing.
I had my first meeting as part of Hands On Central Texas’ Advisory Council. It’s ridiculous how much volunteer manpower the people in that room represent, and it’s also inspiring to imagine how they can push a large number of people into actionwith just a couple of precisely composed e-mails and [...]

MARCH 4: I’m hosting a RISE Conference session: Bootstrapping your publication

Those who can’t, teach, right?
I certainly don’t claim to know all the secrets to publishing a magazine these days, but I’m happy to share with you what I do know. The way I see it, there’s no such thing as too much competition - the best mag wins. And I’m happy to learn from other magazine [...]

SAT FEB 7: Looking for professionals to share their experience

Saw this on the Las Comadres listserv:
Feria Para Aprender is looking for enthusiastic professionals who want to share with the youth attending the event the path you had to take to reach your career goals.
Since the focus of this event is higher learning and the importance of graduating high school and moving on to college, we [...]

Buy a mug, get free coffee for a week! Benefits East Austin elementary school

Do you buy coffee at any of these fine Austin establishments?
Texenza Coffee (10 locations)
JP’s Java
Caffe Medici
Hot Mama’s
Bossa Nova
Genuine Joe
Flipnotics (2 locations)
Sodade
Little City
If so, consider buying a super-cute, holiday-themed mug created by a student from UT’s Elementary School in East Austin.
Coffee for Education benefits The University of Texas Elementary School’s nurse’s office and medical supplies.  The [...]