SSI Community Partnerships grantees leverage resources to support students in a variety of ways. Learn how past and current grantees accomplish this in their communities.
Miles Ahead Scholars Program: Transforming Futures
In 2019, a collaborative effort between the Houston Independent School District (HISD), Texas Senator Borris Miles, and the Texas Education Agency led to the launch of the Miles Ahead Scholars (MAS) Program. This transformative initiative is dedicated to improving educational outcomes for Black and Latino boys enrolled in three select HISD high schools: Wheatley, Worthing, and Kashmere.
The MAS Program addresses the educational disparities these young men face by focusing on three key areas: academic achievement, college and career advising, and exposure opportunities. Our commitment to empowering scholars has already yielded remarkable results. The recent graduating class of 2023 worked diligently, collectively earning over $2.5 million in scholarships to further their education at universities across Texas, including two recent scholars currently attending The University of Texas at Austin and Trinity University.
Through our program, we are not only transforming the lives of our scholars but also fostering a brighter future for our communities. Join us in celebrating their achievements and supporting the next generation of leaders!
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD (PSJA ISD) is a school district in southern Texas serving nearly 30,000 students. In 2018, PSJA ISD received the SSI Community Partnerships Grant (CPG) through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to support the development and expansion of partnerships between the district and community organizations.
PSJA ISD has a dedicated group of parents who are members of the Parent District Advisory Council (DAC). This council consists of DAC parents, with each campus having its own leadership team led by a Parent President, Vice-President, and Secretary. The DAC seeks to empower parent leaders and strengthen relationships by keeping them informed about district initiatives and inviting their feedback.
To align with each year's agenda and discussion topics, the parental engagement department organized parent-led groups, conducted surveys, and facilitated focused discussions on current programs and district needs. This approach enables the department to continuously gather input from parent leaders, keeping them informed about district initiatives while allowing them to express their ideas and concerns.
PSJA has several grant initiatives and partnerships designed to support families in various ways, including the Health and Human Services Commission, the HEB READ3 Early Literacy Curriculum, the Wraparound Resources Guide for Families, and My Reading and Math Academy.
When we began the grant, PSJA ISD identified and worked to achieve the following goals under the grant by 2022:
- Increase the percentage of 3 and 4-year-old children accessing high-quality Pre-K programs by 10%
- Increase the capacity of new or existing high-quality programs made available by 10%
- Ensure that 75% of children are kinder-ready.
We started by focusing on five elementary schools and have since expanded. We now partner with 16 local childcare facilities by providing curriculum and licensed teachers. We have also opened Building Blocks Academy which serves Pre-K and Kinder. The academy has two model classrooms and an observation room where college students and current teachers can observe high-quality teaching in action and receive training in best practices.
PSJA ISD has become a state leader in creating an early childhood one stop hub. The PSJA ISD values various high-quality school readiness initiatives and a brand of excellence within our community and childcare partners. Due to these remarkable accolades, leaders from across the state of Texas are drawn each year to tour the PSJA ISD Early Childhood Initiatives.
In Pleasant Grove, a neighborhood of Dallas ISD, we seek to empower students and families with economic and educational opportunities, and social and academic development through intentional and connected partnerships. We strive to strengthen our community by providing families with effective schools and access to high-quality coordinated programs for social services, health, and academic support. The SSI Community Partnership Grant has been vital in the development of a resource center to achieve our mission.
The resource center is a hub for our community's social services and academic programs. Our Pleasant Grove Family Resource Center nourishes partnerships with different non-profit mentoring organizations including LACROSSE for Dallas, Texas Soccer Revels, VOX INVICTUS Basketball Program, and Boy Scouts of Texas. Our partnering organizations work hand-in-hand with our schools to offer free afterschool programs. One significant partnership is with Boy Scouts of America who work to build our scholars' social-emotional skills and leadership capacity throughout our vertical team. Our high school Boy Scout Troop mentors our middle school students, who in turn mentor the elementary school students.
In addition, we have designed academic family events focused on presenting our curriculum in a fun way to our families. Our yearly Pumpkin Math & Science Night was held on Halloween, which served over 1,000 participants. The elementary schools harvested the pumpkins for the event and a middle school hosted and organized the event. The middle school and high school teachers designed and ran the academic stations that were open to all schools in our area. Other community academic events include our Young Men's Leadership Academy (YMLA) Lego Masters Reading Night, "Me Enloteces Loteria Night," FAM JAM, and many others.
The aligning of our feeder pattern partnerships and academic events among the grant-partnering schools has also increased our parent involvement. This increase has translated to gains in our state academic scores. This all possible because of the support of the SSI Community and Partnership Grant, which allows us to purchase all the required equipment needed to support our school community engagement and programs. Upcoming in our next cycle are the development and implementation of mental health support through the activation of sensory rooms.