AT LAST! in 2024
AT LAST! (“AL!”) enters 2024 North Texas Giving Day as a very different animal than the one that first entered the 2019 North Texas Giving Day, and asks for your support.
In 2019, AL! was simply an innovative and interesting program idea. Its creator had a lot of passion and energy around the notion of standing up an “Urban Boarding Experience” (“UBE”). AL!’s UBE would improve the academic performance of impoverished elementary school-aged children during the 7 hours a day they are at school by focusing on the educational resources available to them during the 17 hours per day that they are not.
Cool idea…really cool idea. But, the dominant questions were could he stand it up and would it work?
Well, AL! opened its doors in March 2021, and is proud to be recognized today as a program that gets results, one child at a time. Now, AL!’s begins its 6th semester of serving impoverished families, and in just the last three months, AL! has…
> Held its first Commencement Ceremony honoring its first “Proficiet” (think “graduate” but from an organization that is not a school). She joined AL! as a 4th-grader on the first date AL! opened (March 7, 2021), and successfully completed 6th grade as an AL! Scholar in May 2023. Remarkably, she received a scholarship and a provisional admission to Paul Quinn College at AL!’s first Commencement Ceremony! She leaves 6th grade knowing that she can attend college even if her family cannot contribute a penny to help her. That—literally—transforms her life, and she and her family were overwhelmed when they learned of it at the Commencement.
> Been asked by the City of Dallas to work with it to open a second AL! location in order to serve more families and transform more lives (and we will).
> Received its license to operate in the State of Texas (enabling it to expand its operating model substantially).
> Entered discussions with a second city in Texas to bring AL! to its residents.
> Received a national teachers’ organization’s highest award “…in recognition of your outstanding contributions to the welfare of mankind in area of education.”
> Achieved its targeted impact with its Scholars each semester since inception.
Finally, in the event you missed it, the good people at Texas Monthly magazine ran a feature on AL! recently. Click here to read it: http://bit.ly/3F1rjEn
Of all of the educational efforts designed to help the poor in Texas, we are honored that they found AL! to be uniquely compelling.
Why does AL! exist? To increase economic mobility among Dallas' impoverished children. Poverty creates an extreme disparity of educational resources during the entirety of a child’s home life experiences. Research reveals a critical link between familial socioeconomic circumstance and educational attainment.
AL! believes that an impoverished child will perform well academically if given proper educational resources at school and at home, and AL! provides those educational resources.
AL! refers to participating children as "Scholars-in-Residence." For each of them, their family home remains the primary residence. AL! serves as a supplemental residence…a “delivery device” for the many additional educational resources that AL! provides.
During the school year, the Scholars-in-Residence come to the AL! residence on Sunday afternoons, and are with AL! overnight. Monday morning, they awaken within the AL! residence and go to the school of the parent’s choosing. After school, they return to the AL! residence, benefit from its substantial additional educational resources, and this process repeats daily until Friday when the Scholars-in-Residence return to their respective primary homes after school. They are in their primary residences on weekends, holidays, and summers (spending more days with their families during the year than in the AL! residence, by design).
AT LAST! will become a premier provider of scalable and pragmatic solutions that improve the educational outcomes of urban students living in poverty by eliminating the disparity of educational resources and tools during the home life portion of the school day.
AT LAST! currently needs your support in the following areas:
1. Capital - Added capital creates the opportunity to serve AT LAST!'s Scholars-In-Residence regardless of their need. Given the depth of the needs and the seriousness of the stakes involved, the ability to serve a Scholar-In-Residence as soon as possible is vital. All other things being equal, most who believe in AT LAST!'s approach would prefer to see an impoverished child begin to make gains as a 3rd-grader than a 4th-grader. Added funding can facilitate that effort.
2. Program - Program dollars are essential for AT LAST!. We exist to eradicate poverty (and create upward mobility) for impoverished elementary school kids by providing them the educational resources during the home life portion of the day necessary to obtain a better education. AT LAST! will improve educational attainment by the poor during the hours they are in school by resourcing them more effectively during the hours they are not in school. AT LAST! accomplishes this by deploying its "Urban Boarding Experience," which consists of (a) an "Optimized Developmental Ecosystem" ("ODE") program that replicates a home life with middle-class educational resources & tools, and (b) neighborhood-based supplemental residences (delivery devices for the ODE). Premise: An impoverished child will perform well academically if given proper educational resources during the home life hours of a school day). AT LAST! cannot succeed without being able to fully and effectively apply its program-the Optimized Developmental Ecosystem. Supporting this program funds the work designed to modify the educational capabilities of each Scholar-In-Residence who participates in AT LAST!, absent from impoverished homes.
AT LAST! is an organization made up of people dedicated to serving their community. We have diverse life experiences, but the same passion for working with the children in our program to improve their academic performance and attain the life skills they will need to achieve future success. We respect and appreciate how our differences improve our team and lead to better outcomes for our scholars. We address problems with energy and creativity. We have a culture of collaboration that fosters personal growth through ongoing investment in the professional development of our staff. We are committed to breaking the cycle of academic underperformance in inner-city schools and helping our scholars achieve their long-term goals.
Organization name
AT LAST!
Causes
Education - K-12
Operating Budget
$500,000 - $999,999
Counties Served
Dallas
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx
BIPOC Leadership
Both the Executive Director/CEO and Board Chair
Address
11700 Preston Rd Ste 660-116