Two North Texas nonprofits—POETIC and The Artist Outreach—are among 15 new partnerships announced this week by Stand Together Foundation. The social entrepreneur-led organizations chosen to participate will be tasked with working to break the cycle of poverty across America as part of the Foundation’s Catalyst Program.

POETIC says its mission is to “equip girls who have experienced child maltreatment, commercial sexual exploitation, and sex trafficking to find their voices, reclaim, their narratives, and persist forward.” It works as an intensive aftercare model that works directly with the juvenile justice system to engage with girls before traffickers reach them.

In April, POETIC was the winner of the $75,000 Social Innovator of the Year award at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ third-annual social innovation competition, The Pitch. The five local startups that participated in that event were selected from United Way and Accenture’s yearlong Social Innovation Accelerator program.

In POETIC’s pitch, Co-founder and CEO Jennifer Tinker talked about how traffickers prey on the most vulnerable girls, who have been abused, homeless, or involved with CPS. So, she and Dr. HaeSung Han launched POETIC last year.

Last year, POETIC also was among the class of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas’ 2019 GroundFloor Fellows. The program aims to help early-stage social entrepreneurs have a successful regional impact.

The Artist Outreach was founded to change the educational, emotional, and financial futures of the people, schools, and advocacy centers it serves. Through arts programs, The Artist Outreach shows students there’s more to learning, basing a large emphasis on creativity.

The Artistic Outreach was founded by its executive director, Joseph Vincelli, a professional musician who started playing music early in his life. Vincelli believes that art professionals should come forward to help educate young students, especially as fine arts budgets continue to get pinched in schools.

Ultimately, The Artist Outreach wants to get students to “think and respond creatively so that they can innovate.”

About Stand Together Foundation’s Catalyst Program

Stand Together Foundation Executive Director Evan Feinberg said the organizations chosen not only make a difference at the community level, but also have scalable models with capacity for growth.

The selected nonprofits will join a growing national network of organizations dedicated to transforming lives and communities. Counting these 15, Stand Together Foundation said its Catalyst Program makes up more than 150 organizations across 46 states. The newest cohort kicks off Sept. 16.

The Program focuses on supporting creative solutions around the country in order to help “every person rise.” The goal is to provide a business approach to the social sector—through organizational and leadership development, as well as peer networking—ultimately helping social entrepreneurs maximize their impact.

“These incredible organizations are creating and implementing innovative solutions that are transforming individuals, families, and communities in their own ways,” Feinberg said. “We are excited to see how they can greater their good in the fight against poverty.”

Alex Edwards contributed to this report.