Arlington Tomorrow Foundation ATF Annual Report 2018

Arlington Tomorrow Foundation
annual report fy 2018

The Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, which is The American Dream City’s largest
charitable endowment, provided financial support to programs and projects offered by a
variety of the community’s social service agencies, cultural and recreational organizations
for an 11 th straight year.

In 2018, the foundation contributed nearly $2.3 million through 25 grants to support
projects ranging from increasing access to healthcare, food and affordable housing to
providing school supplies, bicycles, and safe after-school activities for Arlington’s youth.
Since the foundation’s inception in 2007, nearly $21 million has been awarded to support
nearly 400 projects serving the Arlington community. Here are a few highlights from this
year’s work:
25 grants = $2,273,414
COA
Department
Grants
Community
Enrichment
Grants
Large Grants
$1,670,624
$466,500
$136,290
Foundation Awards $1 Million Grant for Green Oaks School Expansion
T
he Green Oaks School plans to open
a life prep academy that helps post-
secondary students learn life and job skills.

In 2000, Green Oaks School in
Arlington opened with a mission to serve
and educate students with Down syndrome
and other intellectual disabilities. It grew
from just four students in its first year to
more than 100 students from 47 zip codes.

Now, the school is poised to expand.
Green Oaks plans to open a life prep
academy that helps post-secondary
students learn life and job skills that will
place them on a path to independence.

The Arlington Tomorrow Foundation
contributed a $1 million grant to the project,
which is scheduled to open in 2020. Green
Oaks is working to raise $5.5 million.

“For so many families, this was the
missing piece,” said Jean Jewell, the
school’s executive director. “People with
intellectual disabilities can have much fuller,
more independent lives than we once
realized. They just need to be taught.”

Research shows that life expectancy
for people with Down syndrome has risen
dramatically, from 25 years of age in 1983
to 60 today. Yet few resources exist in
Texas or the United States to help people
navigate these years.

Green Oaks wants to change that.
Modeled after a program in Wisconsin, Green
Oaks Life Prep will be a three-year intensive
program focused on self-care, independence
and training in one of two professional
tracks, horticulture or culinary arts.

Students will live in a dormitory and
learn about all areas of independent living,
from budgeting and laundry to social skills
and interpersonal relationships. The school
will provide a faith-based education and
help students become engaged citizens,
Jewell said.

In their third year, students will work
in professional internships in their chosen
track, with the goal of eventual full-time
employment.

For 22-year-old Cayti Crook, Green
Oaks Life Prep would fulfill a longtime
dream. Cayti, who plays the piano and
loves to sing, has attended Green Oaks
since she was 7 years old.“

Cayti has wanted to be a college
student forever,” said her father, Chuck
Crook. “This opens up a whole new
chapter in her life and the lives of all of
the students. We are all thrilled by the
possibilities.”

Jewell said the community’s support
has been instrumental in helping Green
Oaks.

“We are so grateful for the help of
Arlington Tomorrow Foundation,” she said.
“Their support made a big statement to the
community, and it means so much to us.”