As we kick off 2025, we wanted to take a second to look back on all that happened in our community in 2024!
JANUARY
We kicked off with the unveiling and community meeting of the 25th street mural (Jan 27th)
FEBRUARY
We started our Parent University classes at Alta Vista Elementary School with our partners TRIO EOC at MCC, La Puerta Waco, and UpSkill Waco. These continued through the spring.
MARCH
We started our Brook Avenue Parent and Child Time Together (PACTT) once a month continuing through the spring and Fall. The topics were about the school leadership, SNAP benefits, new gardening skills, mental health with our friends from the Heart of Texas Behavioral Network. Meals were also provided from our local churches.
APRIL
Partnering with neighborhood associations, the city of Waco and over 65 volunteers we were able to serve homeowners with a targeted clean up called Spring Into Action.
We hosted 3 property tax workshops with 150 people attending and learning the process to discuss their property tax values.
MAY
We hosted our annual Banquet called Rooted. Rooted featured a local business owner Rosa, a single mom that we helped become a homeowner, and Christina, a widowed lady who we helped with a roof repair. In addition, we honored the past by capturing the memories of Former Sanger Ave. School students in a film that we made. We thanked them with a brick from the school.
Completed another home in North Waco.
JUNE
We were blessed with a large and extremely active Youth Group from Chapel Wood Methodist Church. They brought 200 volunteers who served over 26 homeowners in Waco with minor repairs and cleanup.
We were very excited to have Lee Scheffe join our team as our East Waco Community Organizer.
AUGUST
We hosted another financial literacy class in Spanish partnering with the Family of Faith Worship Center and many different volunteers who are fluent in Spanish.
We facilitated Grassroots Leadership training with the Sunshine Recovery House.
SEPTEMBER
We kicked off our fall Parent University at the Doris Miller Community Center and Alta Vista Elementary connecting parents with community resources and engaging in their children’s education.
PACTT – Started our Fall Parent and Child Time Together at Carver Middle School.
We facilitated Grassroots Leadership training with a local artist class “A Beautiful Message”.
OCTOBER
We had a great intern Ivy Ritchie join the team for the fall and spring. She has been helpful with all of our work with the schools and she will be working with local churches to go through our Grassroots Leadership Training program.
Hosted our 20th Golf Tournament at Cottonwood. It was our largest ever attended!
We facilitated Grassroots Leadership training with Alta Vista and South Waco Elementary School participants.
NOVEMBER
We had our Double House dedication for two new homeowners we helped on North 13th Street.
We continued in our Roof Repair program. This year we were able to serve 28 families with new roofs!
We hosted our Fall Into Action in East Waco serving 4 homeowners with 65 volunteers coming to help.
DECEMBER
We facilitated Grassroots Leadership training with the participants of the Naomi House.
We are very thankful for the many community projects that we were a part of with Waco Foundations!
- Immediate Impact Grants
- Brook Oaks : Community Support and Honoring our Own
- Oakwood Neighborhood : A new Vision for Community Connections
- Sanger Heights : Block Parties
- North Waco’s – Career Fair
- Eva Soza Dream Center -Farmacy
- Clifton Gardens- new community gardens in East Waco.
We completed another great year of housing counseling with over 1141 counseling sessions and 136 families completing our financial literacy or homebuyer education classes. We helped 7 families buy homes!
We are so excited and expectant to see what 2025 has in store for our community! Thank you for being along for the ride!
