We work with a population of people that most don’t want to work with or simply prefer to avoid. It’s our priority and highest value to stand with and for the excluded.
In 1951, a young woman named Jean Walker Bentley, opened her hands to innovate for children and families who were largely unnoticed and unpopular. She overcame barriers in her cultural context of being thought of as "less than" as a woman and of the people she wanted to serve being thought of as "less than".
U&I was originally the Children's Development Center designed to meet the scholastic and socialization needs of children with special needs. Through partnerships with Southern Methodist University, The University of North Texas, and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Children’s Development Center achieved a worldwide reputation as a leader in the field of educating children with disabilities and was renowned as a pioneer in programming that facilitated the integration of individuals with disabilities into society.
In 1981, we redirected our program focus from the education of children with disabilities, now a federally mandated public school responsibility, to serving all adults with all-types of disabilities. As the Citizens Development Center/Achieve, we grew from a vocational training/placement center to serving and finding employment for veterans then we added vocational adjustment training for special education students preparing to transition out of high school.
Today, as one of the largest workforce development centers in DFW, we continue to meet the ever-increasing needs of the disability population through our programs that last year provided vocational training, job readiness training, paid work opportunities, and community placement to over 1000 youth and adults with severe intellectual, physical, and/or mental health disabilities.
Our mission is to empower individuals with disabilities and those with barriers to work to achieve their highest level of employment and independence.
What started over 70 years ago as a small classroom of children with disabilities being noticed and included, U&I has grown to help youth, adults and Veterans in our city’s most impoverished neighborhoods and from around the world who want to contribute in significant ways in their community.
U&I committed to executing a comprehensive multi-year strategic plan, involving capacity building and organizational development to pursue our core values of inclusion, access, collaboration, and empowerment. As we pursue impact in 2022 & beyond, funding needs center on:
1. CAPACITY BUILDING / COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: A key goal for our team is to help our clients increase awareness of personal capacity to contribute in a meaningful and positive way to family, workplace and community. Help us invest in software, tools and specialized staff to advance our mission within our community while expanding the amount of time our clients are engaging in a variety of spaces and places throughout DFW and beyond.
2. GATEWAY to OPPORTUNITIES/ COMPUTER UPSKILLING & EMPOWERMENT LAB : From impoverished youth, immigrants, veterans and adults with disabilities, we will provide basic and advanced computer/technology educations & tools that will empower participants to explore & increase opportunities to better themselves and their communities.
3. BUSES & BACKPACKS: We provide thousands of free bus passes and backpacks to our most vulnerable, marginalized, homeless & excluded community members. Help us meet these basic and integral needs on a daily basis.
4. GREENHOUSE FOR GOOD: Help us multiply our impact by expanding our current greenhouse programs & produce. Just like seeds, people need the right nutrients to grow to their full potential. That’s why we’ve created programs that holistically lift up our clients/community by addressing health, education, and access challenges through urban gardening/greenhouse.
5. U&I CUSTOMIZE / SCREEN PRINTING: When you customize your merchandise or promotional items with U&I CUSTOMIZE, you support our mission and help ensure that our programs and services remain free. We invite you to join us in giving back to the disability community as we stand alongside our clients whose lives are being transformed through tailor-making your next right fit.
U&I’s goal since 1951 has been to spread the light of inclusion for people with disabilities and barriers to employment, education, housing & transportation in our most marginalized communities. We have a impactful goal for North Texas Giving Day. This year, we need your help raising $50,000 to support our daily work: transforming lives by disrupting systems of exclusion so that ALL people have access to work, wholeness, purpose and opportunity.
How can you help us reach our goal?
1. Participate in Early Giving by visiting (hyperlink here) to schedule your gift today.
2. Give on Thursday, September 22. Click here or simply visit northtexasgivingday.org and search for “U&I”
3. Like, comment, and share about our campaign on social media
Organization name
U&I
Causes
Employment & Workforce Development
Operating Budget
$3,000,000 - $9,999,999
Counties Served
Hood, Wise, Tarrant, Somervell, Rockwall, Parker, Palo Pinto, Navarro, Montague, Kaufman, Johnson, Hunt, Grayson, Fannin, Erath, Ellis, Denton, Dallas, Cooke, Collin
BIPOC Serving
Hispanic or Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black or African American
BIPOC Leadership
Board Chair
Address
8800 AMBASSADOR ROW