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PUENTE’s mission is stated within its name: People United to Enrich the Neighborhood Through Education. “Puente” is also the Spanish word for “bridge.” Since 1985, the organization has offered a bridge to opportunity by addressing barriers preventing individuals in its at-risk neighborhoods from building strong educational foundations and achieving financial self-sufficiency. PUENTE provides California Standards-aligned classroom instruction to more than 4,100 children, youth, and adults annually. Its tuition-free services address the needs of the entire family – enabling children to develop a life-long love of learning, helping parents to be their children’s first teachers, supporting youth as they move toward high school graduation, and assisting adults in need of English-language competency and workforce skills.

Out Youth promotes the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social well-being of sexual and gender minority youth so that they can openly and safely explore and affirm their identities. We serve Central Texas LGBTQIA+ (lesbian/gay/bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersex, and asexual) youth and their allies with programs and services to ensure these promising young people develop into happy, healthy, successful adults. Founded in 1990, Out Youth has grown and changed over the years, but we’ve always retained our most important facet – providing a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth to come together, receive support, and make friends who understand who they are. We host a variety of programs and services for youth and provide trainings and resources for parents, teachers, and community members.

For over 30 years, NYC Outward Bound Schools has been transforming schools and changing lives by bringing out the best in students, teachers and school leaders throughout the City. We transform schools and change lives by bringing our educational approach to NYC’s young people and their public schools, with a focus on students from educationally underserved communities. Our uniquely powerful approach joins together demanding and engaging learning with an emphasis on community and character. We prepare students for success in college, careers, and citizenship, while simultaneously working to redefine what educational excellence looks like in New York City’s public schools. Every day, we are proving that all students, regardless of background or circumstance, are capable of achieving at high levels and that transformation and innovation can happen within the public school system.  

The Eliot School inspires lifelong learning in craftsmanship and creativity for all. Core Values: Learning and Enjoyment We provide opportunities to imagine, create and build with head, hands and heart. We help students learn for personal fulfillment and enjoyment. We embrace students of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Integrity and Excellence We hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of excellence. We conduct ourselves with honesty, fairness and integrity. Community and Inclusion We value and promote inclusivity, diversity and equity. We maintain an open and welcoming environment, where all who enter are treated with dignity and respect. We are interconnected through high regard for each other as colleagues, partners, teachers, learners and neighbors. Continuity and Change We are respectful stewards of our historical role in shaping education. We adapt our mission and programs over time, keeping our work relevant and contemporary.

In 2011 it was the vision of Randy and Jan Morgan to develop a sustainable program that would break the cycle of poverty they so often witnessed while working in the public schools in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. By bringing students and teachers , across multiple grade levels, together to participate in academic, spiritual and practical activities, they have successfully forged many long term, powerful relationships among the students and the adults. These relationships are another avenue of hope and motivation for each child. Since the summer of 2011 BridgesWork has grown in both the number and types of program offerings. Today over 100 students annually, from several schools in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, come together for summer and Saturday activities. During this time students participate in reading, digital literacy, Bible study, challenging games and team sports, music, cooking/nutrition classes, service projects, digital photography, and leadership development.

Founded in 1942, Coro's mission is to strengthen our democratic system of self-governance by training individuals who as citizens and leaders will act constructively and effectively to build up and improve their communities and societies as a whole. Using a proprietary curriculum involving sector placements, group participation, interviews, and seminars, Coro participants learn about leadership across multiple sectors, industries, and issues. Coro's training enhances participants' skills in the following areas: analysis and critical thinking; effective communication; inquiry; and ethical decision-making, among others. In its 68-year history, Coro has graduated thousands of leaders from its many programs. Coro graduates have become teachers, investment bankers, union leaders, corporate directors, activists, lawyers, journalists, and elected officials, among other professions. Coro graduates use the skills and commitment to integrity they developed to guide them throughout their life's journeys, and to strengthen our local and national democracy.

Facing History and Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. At Facing History and Ourselves, we believe the bigotry and hate that we witness today are the legacy of brutal injustices of the past. Facing our collective history and how it informs our attitudes and behaviors allows us to choose a world of equity and justice. Facing History’s resources address racism, antisemitism, and prejudice at pivotal moments in history; we help students connect choices made in the past to those they will confront in their own lives. Through our partnership with educators around the world, Facing History and Ourselves reaches millions of students in thousands of classrooms every year. Independent research studies show that experience in a Facing History classroom motivates students to become upstanders in their communities, whether by challenging negative stereotypes at the dinner table, standing up to a bully in their neighborhood, or registering to vote when they are eligible. Together we are creating the next generation of leaders who will build a world based on knowledge and compassion, the foundation for more democratic, equitable, and just societies.

Genesis School offers creative approaches to learning by adapting to each student's needs. We are committed to fostering a welcoming learning environment for young people to support their efforts and aspirations, while celebrating their value and endless potential. Our core beliefs: * We are committed to academic achievement and excellence in education. * Students deserve a fresh start on their educational journey. * Learning structures should be adaptable to meet individual needs. * Effective education requires a partnership between school and parent. * Effective learning requires appropriate resources and qualified staff. * Caring, qualified teachers and a specialized staff can make all the difference in turning a young person's life around. Our responsibility is vast because Genesis Promise Academy is the only charter school in the Kansas City area serving at-risk and high-risk inner city youth during those vulnerable years, grades kindergarten - 8. We know how to address the special needs of young people and have been doing so for over 30 years. We have a proven track record. And when we are successful keeping young people in school, we help fortify the community's skill base and enhance family cohesiveness.

OUR MISSION: Is to EMPOWER YOUNG MINDS by providing Creative-Holistic Art Integration (C.H.A.I) LIFE ARTS PROGRAMS to youth in need. The mission of Art Studio Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization, is to empower young minds by providing a safe location where youth are inspired and guided by artists, teachers, professionals and mentors who support the student's educational, personal and professional career development through creative-holistic art integration (C.H.A.I.) LIFE ARTS. OUR VISION: Is to HEAL SYSTEMIC POVERTY by INSPIRING PROSPEROUS LIVES with Creative-Holistic Art Integration (C.H.A.I) LIFE ARTS PROGRAMS for youth in need. The Vision of Art Studio Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization, is to collaboratively advance the sponsorship and implementation of Creative-Holistic Art Integration (C.H.A.I) LIFE ARTS PROGRAMS in impoverished communities and schools, and through out the world. By utilizing all arts (creative) mediums & wellness (holistic) modalities we promote solutions that support HUMAN RIGHTS, LIFE SKILLS and PROFESSIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT. With creative thinking tools our youth have the opportunity to be guided out of systemic poverty, onto a path of "Cradle To Career", creating lives of healing and success.

The California School-Based Health Alliance (formerly the California School Health Centers Association) improves the health and academic success of children and youth by advancing health services in schools.  We envision a day when all of California's children and youth are healthy and achieving at their full potential. Since hiring our first paid staff in 2003, the Alliance has successfully grown to have an annual budget of more than $1,500,000 and thirteen staff.  We conduct policy work, promote the school based health center (SBHC) model, and assist SBHCs with program development to expand and strengthen school health services.  Our large network of collaborating partners includes 231 SBHCs, numerous school districts, federally qualified health centers and other providers, dozens of state and local policy organizations, and an e-communications network of more than 3,200 individuals. Our goal is to make school health centers an integral and sustainable part of the health care and educational systems. By putting health care where kids are – in schools – school health centers increase access to care and take health problems out of the classroom so that teachers can teach and students can learn.

CORRAL pairs at-risk girls with rescued horses to promote healing, transformational growth and ultimately, lasting life-change. The CORRAL Riding Academy is a youth-serving nonprofit operating out of Cary, North Carolina. This program’s mission pairs at-risk girls between the ages of eleven and eighteen with rescued horses to promote healing, transformational growth, and ultimately, lasting life change. CORRAL is intended as a long-term intervention for the youth, requiring a minimum of one year’s commitment from each participant, and anticipating a four to seven year commitment for each student with reapplication every year. The intention of CORRAL is to shepherd youth through their difficult teenage years and into college. The structure of CORRAL is based on five components: horseback riding, vocational training, tutoring, equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP), and mentorship. These components are designed to allow participants to gain equine knowledge and skills, and also develop the behaviors, attitudes, and skills necessary for success in life beyond horses. CORRAL accepts participants from referring agencies within the community including Human Services, local law enforcement, Juvenile Justice, Teen Court, school teachers and administrators, and other sources. Candidates are selected through an application and interview process. This process measures and compares level of risk and level of commitment with the end goal being that selected participants will demonstrate both a high level or risk and a high level of commitment.

The Foundation was founded in 1998 by then Miami Dolphin linebacker, Twan Russell, and his mother, Corliss. Corliss was a middle-school teacher with a huge heart for helping struggling children. Called the Russell Life Skills and Reading Foundation, the after school program focused solely on reading as a means to equip children for academic success. Twan grew up in the inner-city and believed that a mastery of reading played a large part in overcoming his circumstances. He received a communications and criminology degree from the University of Miami that has helped him to achieve his goals long after his football career has ended. Twan and Corliss started the first center at a local church and neighborhood children immediately began to take advantage of the opportunity to overcome their challenges with reading and to reinforce important life skills. Community partners stepped in along the way and now the foundation serves hundreds of children. New centers are being added every year. Starting in 2010, the program began to add math and science, dance and other activities. The foundation was renamed in 2015 to reflect this broader focus. In 2008, Dragonfly Darlings was added as an auxiliary organization for the mothers of the children in the program. Through periodic events and an annual conference, it helps the parents to encourage their children academically and to improve their own literacy skills. Today, Twan Russell is the Senior Director of Community Programs for the Miami Dolphins. He remains active in the foundation as Chairman of the board of directors. Sadly, Corliss Russell’s early death in 2006 prevented her from seeing the life-changing resource that the Russell Education Foundation has become. Her memory continues to inspire everything that the foundation does in the community.