Cotton Bowl Foundation Names its Yearly Grant Recipients

Young leaders of tomorrow and the educators who inspire them daily in underserved neighborhoods across North Texas will receive a lift, thanks to $250,000 in support from the Cotton Bowl Foundation and matching grants of $100,000 by the College Football Playoff Foundation.

At today’s Goodyear Big Play Luncheon, the Foundation announced the $375,000 in total grants have been awarded to After School All Stars North Texas, Trinity River Mission, Cristo Rey Dallas, Young Women’s Preparatory Network, Momentous Institute and Principal Impact Collaborative.

The Cotton Bowl Foundation’s mission is to serve the communities associated with the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic by supporting programs that improve opportunities for undeserved youth. The Foundation’s vision, channeled through the great sport of football, is to make an impact on those who play the game, attend the game and support the game. Since forming in 2016, the Foundation has generated more than $750,000 for organizations across North Texas and beyond.

“The Cotton Bowl Foundation is committed to bolstering philanthropic work in our community in the spirit of the grand tradition of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic,” said Cotton Bowl Chairman Carl Ice. “All of this year’s six grant recipients foster educational growth while making a sustaining impact on youth across North Texas. We are proud to support their difference-making work to create opportunity and brighter futures for our young people.”

The Cotton Bowl Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to After School All Stars (ASAS) North Texas, which provides comprehensive after-school programs to underserved middle school students in some of Dallas’ highest need neighborhoods. Programs include Sports as a Hook, a sports-based leadership development program, and CampUs College Immersion Camp, which provides rising ninth-graders with a week-long summer camp focused on high school readiness. ASAS also received a matching $25,000 grant from the College Football Playoff Foundation.

“Thanks to the incredible contribution from the Cotton Bowl Foundation, ASAS programming can continue to help over 900 students be safe and healthy, graduate high school and go on to college, find careers they love, and give back to their communities,” said ASAS Executive Director Marissa Castro Mikoy. “We are so grateful for the support.”

The Trinity River Mission (TRM) was also the recipient of a $25,000 grant. TRM is an out-of-school-time community learning center that promotes literacy, encourages academic success, and develops life skills among disadvantaged youth K-12 in West Dallas. The grant will impact 550 students K-12 via homework help, tutoring, mentoring, access to STEM curricula and youth development. The funding will also support TRM’s Family Connection program that uplifts more than 250 families through parenting classes, healthy relationship classes, access to counseling and civic engagement opportunities.

“Trinity River Mission is extremely grateful to the Cotton Bowl Foundation for choosing our West Dallas afterschool program as a 2019 grantee recipient,” said Interim CEO Jazmine Lewis. “This grant allows Trinity River Mission to continue to provide educational and social opportunities that inspire students and their families to dream, believe, and achieve.”

Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep, whose mission is to transform urban American one student at a time, received a $50,000 grant that will fuel the organization’s belief that young men and women from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds can thrive in a college prep environment designed exclusively for them. Funds will also support the organization’s Corporate Work Study Program.

“We are grateful to the Cotton Bowl Foundation for supporting the students and the mission of Cristo Rey Dallas,” said Kelby Woodard, President, Cristo Rey Dallas. “These students are willing to work hard and can excel and thrive with this extraordinary opportunity.”

Young Women’s Preparatory Network (YWPN) is another recipient of a $50,000 grant. The Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School in Dallas is a member of the YWPN, a nonprofit organization that partners with public school districts to operate the largest network of all-girls, public, college-preparatory schools in the nation. All YWPN schools feature a STEM-focused curriculum, and a majority of students are economically disadvantaged. The core values are college readiness, leadership and wellness life skills.

“The grant from the Cotton Bowl Foundation will provide crucial college-readiness programs for students enrolled in our North Texas all-girls, college-preparatory, public schools,” said Lynn McBee, CEO of YWPN. Through these programs, we ensure our girls graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college. We are honored to work hand-in-hand with the Cotton Bowl Foundation to provide a college-preparatory education for low-income students in North Texas.”

Momentous Institute also received a $50,000 grant. The school is a leading provider of therapeutic services and social emotional health education for at-risk, low-income youth in North Texas. It is pioneering a social emotional health curriculum to better equip teachers and administrators to provide adequate support to disadvantaged youth. The Cotton Bowl Foundation partnered with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation to support this initiative. The CFP Foundation matched the Cotton Bowl Foundation grant, for a total $100,000 to support the program.

“On behalf of Momentous Institute, we are grateful to the Cotton Bowl Foundation for its support of our professional training and research efforts,” said Jessica Trudeau, Executive Director. “At Momentous Institute, we know a child’s social emotional health is a strong predictor of long-term success. This grant allows us to disseminate our training practices to thousands of education and mental health professionals across the nation to create equitable opportunities for children to achieve their full potential.”

The final $50,000 grant was awarded to Principal Impact Collaborative. The two-year fellowship program allows up to 24 North Texas area principals (representing over 16,000 students) to incubate and execute a “big idea” action project to drive impact on their campus. The program also helps principals develop greater leadership skills that support idea development, effective project management and sustained impact, all while giving participants a unique opportunity to network and share best practices with like-minded peers. The CFP Foundation again matched the Cotton Bowl Foundation grant, for a total $100,000 to support the program.

“We greatly appreciate the support of the Cotton Bowl Foundation, as it allows UNT Dallas to further build our investment in the Principal Impact Collaborative,” said Bob Mong, President UNT Dallas, which oversees the implementation of the program. “At UNT Dallas, we believe that differentiation plus relevancy equals value. One without the other is useless. PIC is a program that allows us to differentiate learning opportunities while providing relevant and high-quality professional development to our local school leaders.”