Restore Education connects students with no-cost, flexible pathways so they can advance their education and launch in-demand careers. The seed was planted in 1997 when the founding staff began working with inner-city high school students to create unique pathways to college. Restore Education officially began in 2008 as the educational outreach branch of a local church, through a partnership grant with the Texas Education Agency and became an independent nonprofit in 2012. We’re delighted that Restore Education will provide an in-person update on their 2023 High Impact Grant at our May 2 Spring Fling event.
Q&A with Chris Crane, Director of Development, Restore Education:
Congratulations on your recent Grand Opening at the East Side Learning
Center! Please tell our members more about the event.
Restore Education celebrated our ribbon cutting at the Eastside Center for Excellence on May 3. It was a great day of celebration! We honored Impact San Antonio with a plaque that will be displayed at the entrance to the Learning Lab to show all our guests and students the support we received. The Learning Lab will be a first step for many of our students as they begin their studies at Restore Education. We will welcome the community-at-large to use the computers and access the technology as we meet more neighborhood groups and share our desire to be great neighbors. We also hosted a Fiesta party in conjunction with the ribbon cutting. We invited students and their families and many of our community partners to come see our new home and learn about the services to come and to celebrate the opening.
Any other news from Restore Education that you would like to share with Impact members?
We are very busy at Restore Education! Restore Education was recently awarded a three-year grant from Methodist Healthcare Ministries to help as a partner in addressing and solving digital inequities on the Eastside of San Antonio. Over the next three years, Restore will work to provide technology access and programming to support our neighbors as they pursue better educational, economic, health and wellness needs and information.
Restore has been hosting a series of coffee and conversations and listening sessions and tours to better understand what our Eastside neighbors and employers need to build better workforce opportunities for all. We welcome all Impact San Antonio members that would like to take a tour of the facility and discuss how they might be able to impact student success by bringing their companies and resources to the Eastside. We welcome them to use Restore as a conduit and partner. Recently AT&T donated 100 laptops to our students which will enrich their studies and job searches and employment support. We hope to create more of these partnerships.
As a prime partner with the City’s Ready to Work program, we are front-and-center supporting the Mayor and the City’s efforts to grow and educate our local workforce and provide more employment opportunities that pay a livable wage and can sustain families and generations to come. In the coming weeks, the Ready to Work program will be highlighting some of our students and their success stories for all of San Antonio to learn about our programs and how we are supporting the community.
On May 16 we will be hosting a large career fair. We welcome Impact San Antonio members that may want to have a table and meet our students. We are looking for job opportunities, internships and externships, plus volunteers to aid with resume writing and reviews, interviewing skills and soft-skills break-out sessions. We are also looking for event day sponsors too for student snacks and resume printing. We expect 200+ attendees. Please feel free to contact Chris Crane directly (ccrane@restoreeducation.org).
In addition to the Community Learning Lab which was the focus of your 2023 High Impact Grant, tell us more about the variety of educational programs that you provide for the community.
Since 2008, our programs have made a positive community impact. Over 2,200 students came through our doors at our northside facility in 2023. We have strong outcomes in terms of record academic achievement, GED completion, workforce training completion, and college degree attainment. Based on data from our growth during the pandemic and the increased need due to longstanding inequities and resource gaps, we expanded our services to the east side. The new Eastside campus will enable us to serve more than 25,000 students, over the next eight to ten years in neighborhoods with the highest needs. The Learning Lab will be a huge part of this overall plan. We currently offer ten career training pathways in high-demand fields such as healthcare, education, finance, and business industries that provide living wages and benefits. We are currently exploring adding trades and manufacturing certifications in partnership with local councils and manufacturers. These are in addition to our strong ESL and GED programs, and our unique college preparation and support program that ensures first generation college graduates have the mentorship needed to complete a two-and four-year degree.
How many volunteers are involved with Restore Education and what roles do they play in your mission?
We have a small group of dedicated volunteers who provide support as tutors and mentors to students in our classes. And we are currently re-launching our volunteer program due to our recent expansion.
We are looking to add more volunteers and companies to help with career skill development skills -including resume writing and editing, tutoring, interviewing skills, internships and externships, and job-shadowing. We are also looking for volunteers to support with events.
An immediate need are volunteers for our annual and very uplifting Graduation on July 20th. We are searching for volunteers to help with a myriad of tasks to make the day special for the students and their families.
In addition to volunteers, we have developed a large and supportive network of community partners- a mix of 120+ businesses, non-profit and governmental agencies, church-affiliated groups, private funders, and foundations to help deliver holistic wraparound services, funding, and support for our students.
How do you feel about Impact San Antonio and the work they do in the community?
We are very grateful for the support and involvement of Impact San Antonio in our mission and for this project. Just as the name states- the impact they have made for Restore is direct and substantial. The support from the Impact team that is assigned to help us has been continuous and heart-felt. The association with Impact San Antonio has also helped us use the funds as a springboard for additional supporters to join in our mission. Lastly, the significance of women gathering their individual power as a collective group makes a community statement- especially since the majority of our students are women and are raising families along with raising their expectations and goals to be successful and to give back. They can see themselves because you see them, and you model positivity and success.
Anything else you would like to share?
It has been such a positive experience for Restore Education working with Impact San Antonio. The application process, while rigorous, requires you to look inward and outward and prepares you for more success. The video we made has been a tool that we have continued to use to develop more partnership opportunities. Moreover, the Impact members we have met have been supportive, positive, professional, and, hopefully, will remain as supporters and ambassadors of Restore Education and our mission. We are proud to be a recipient of the Education High Impact award and are here to support your organization, as well.
