Achievements
EDUCATION
CHILDREN’S EDUCATION FUND (CEF) awarded over $8 million in scholarships to low- income families to support educational opportunities for over 7000 children to receive a quality education.
ISTATION READING: Donated computer-adaptive reading program(s) to Dallas Independent School District (DISD) schools including Botelo and M.L. Carr elementary schools; Boude Storey Middle School and the Readers 2 Leaders After-School Program.
CHASE BANK and Today Foundation partnership provided computer-adaptive reading program(s) to 16 Texas schools, Head Start Greater Dallas and the Jubilee Community Center in Dallas, Texas.
TACKLE TOMORROW
Partnered with Tackle Tomorrow and NFL Hall of Fame inductee, Charles Haley to provide outstanding reading instruction and character development programs to students in the Dallas area school districts.
ECONOMIC and COMMUNITY IMPACT
SMU ECONOMIC and CIVIC FORUMS
In partnership with Southern Methodist University, The Today Foundation has hosted a variety of forums on diverse topics such as Investment Opportunities, Early Childhood Education and Rural Education Reform, as well Energy Development and Conservation.
LEADERSHIP
CHARACTER COUNTS Project: Beginning in 2001, the foundation provided leadership to implement the ‘Character Counts’ program in all 246 Dallas Independent School District K-12 schools.
THE TEXAS LEADERSHIP FORUM (TLF), a highly effective leadership training, mentorship, and civics program for select Dallas area high school seniors was created by the foundation in collaboration with U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions. The program sponsored the American Leaders Institute (ALI) in Washington, D.C. each summer for 15 Dallas-area college freshmen to visit the nation’s capital to observe the ‘workings of Congress’ and our democratic institutions.
PUBLIC SAFETY
ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN
Recognized by the Dallas Independent School District and Dallas Police Department for developing a powerful and successful communications campaign that ended the Cheese- Heroin epidemic in the community.
Awarded grants to more than 25 schools in Texas in recognition of their effective Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention programs.
PRESERVATION
UNION BAPTIST CHURCH
A tremendously successful capital campaign was launched for the Union Baptist Church in Jefferson, TX to restore one of Texas’ oldest churches used by the African- American community during and after the Civil War. This historic landmark, an anchor in the community, honors the East Texas ‘roots’ of the greater community.
CONSERVATION
COLLINS ACADEMY
Developed and administers the Collins Academy in Jefferson, TX to support rural economic development through an educated workforce and STEM education.
PORT JEFFERSON ART & NATURE CENTER
Partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Jefferson, TX to create the Port Jefferson Art, History & Nature Center, a 50-acre environmental park on the Big Cypress Bayou adjacent to the Jefferson Historic District.
