The Dallas Foundation, the 92-year-old organization that’s best known as the first community foundation in Texas, has awarded seven local nonprofits its 2021 Community Impact Prize as part of Sept. 23’s North Texas Giving Day. 

The Foundation said that each winner aligns with its strategic priorities: Partnerships that reduce intergenerational poverty, meet today’s most pressing needs, and position the Dallas region for a more equitable future. Its key areas of impact include programs that improve the quality of life for local children, primarily from birth to three years old; advance equity and inclusion; and support Dallas’ civic priorities.

The Well Community, winner of the $5,000 Community Impact Prize for Child and Youth Mental Health (Medium Nonprofit), shown: Elizabeth Schorman, Treasurer, Board of Directors with Drexell Owusu, Chief Impact Officer, The Dallas Foundation [Photo: Jason Janik/The Dallas Foundation]

Established in 1929, the Foundation brings local people, ideas, and investments together so individuals and families can “reach their full potential.” Last year, in collaboration with its more than 400 fundholders, the team invested more than $60 million in community. 

Also in coordination with North Texas Giving Day, the Foundation presented two nonprofits with $5K as winners of the Meet Your Match Prize.

In partnership with Communities Foundation of North Texas, which presents North Texas Giving Day, The Coalition for Aging LBGT and Southern Dallas Link were able to leverage the funds as 1:1 matching. Meet Your Match is randomly drawn and awarded to one small-size nonprofit and one medium-size in Dallas County that attempted to raise their own matching funds but were unsuccessful.

“The Dallas Foundation has been a funding partner of North Texas Giving Day since its inception in 2009, and we have always enjoyed teaming up with Communities Foundation of Texas to support nonprofit organizations most closely aligned with our work,” Drexell Owusu, chief impact officer of The Dallas Foundation, said in a statement.

Meet the Community Impact Prize winners

The nonprofits were presented with the funds at a check presentation ceremony following NTX Giving Day. According to Owusu, the 2021 prizes celebrate just a few of the Foundation’s many partner organizations, which all work to improve the lives of children and families in Dallas County.

The winners are:

Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star won $10K in the Racial Equity category. As the country’s largest donor- and volunteer-supported mentoring network, the nonprofit helps children realize their potential and build their futures.

Withers Elementary PTA, the parent–teacher association for Harry C. Withers Elementary School, won $7.5K as a small nonprofit in the Birth to Three Care category.

For Oak Cliff, which works to “liberate Oak Cliff from systematic oppression,” won $7.5K as a medium nonprofit in the Birth to Three Care category. Each year, the organization hosts a festival to equip students with necessary supplies, resources, and service providers for the school year.

Grief and Loss Center of North Texas won $5K in the Child and Youth Mental Health as a small nonprofit. Located in East Dallas, the org offers grief support and education at no cost to those four-year-old through senior adults.

$5K went to The Well Community as a medium nonprofit in the Child and Youth Mental Health category. The ministry-based org provides adults recovering from mental illnesses with hope and stability through essential services and meaningful activities.

Small nonprofit Family Promise of Irving was awarded $5K in the Family Homelessness category. The faith-based nonprofit provides children and their families facing homelessness with food, shelter, resources, and encouragement to help them return to self-sufficiency. ​

Bridges Safehouse, located in Cedar Hill, won $5K in the Family Homelessness as a medium nonprofit. The team works to transform the lives of women and families by providing them with projects and initiatives that “break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation and discrimination, free the oppressed and cancel debts.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, winner of the $10,000 Community Impact Prize for Racial Equity, shown: Andrew Young, Vice President for Advancement with Drexell Owusu, Chief Impact Officer, The Dallas Foundation [Photo: Jason Janik/The Dallas Foundation]

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