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Forefront Austin partners are the top thinkers and doers from Central Texas nonprofit, civic and corporate sectors.   Each month, Forefront Austin partners offer their answers to key questions facing Central Texas, providing their vision for a robust, engaged and vibrant community.  Contact Jill Weir to learn how to become a Forefront Austin partner.

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( Forefront partners in bold red )
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Austin Community College

The Austin Community College District enrolls more than 44,000 credit students, with an additional 15,000 students enrolled in noncredit classes. ACC is the open door to higher education and training for Central Texas, offering 235 degrees and certificates plus a wide range of other educational choices that meet the needs of residents and employers in an eight-county service area. ACC is the leading source of transfer students to the University of Texas-Austin and Texas State University-San Marcos, and the No. 1 choice for high school graduates and adults who enter college.

Education & Literacy
Austin Children's Shelter

Austin Children's Shelter protects and heals children, young adults and families in need. Since 1984, the Austin Children's Shelter has offered a safe haven for children and youth who are in crisis. Our goal is to reduce the emotional trauma by providing services and quality care in a safe and nurturing environment where each child and young adult can begin to heal.

Housing & Poverty
Austin Children's Museum

Austin Children's Museum creates innovative learning experiences for children and families that equip and inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers. Austin Children's Museum is an essential catalyst and trusted advisor in a community that works together to become more creative, more inventive, and more competent. We elevate and cherish the child-adult learning relationship. We cultivate a community that embraces the love of learning, the thirst for knowledge and a respect for questions. In doing so, we play a vital role in equipping future generations and our society for growth, innovation and collaborative problem solving.

Children & Youth
Austin Child Guidance Center

Austin Child Guidance Center was established in 1951 as Austin’s first nonprofit organization dedicated to affordable children’s mental health care. Our multidisciplinary team includes a psychiatrist, psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, and family therapists who work with families through therapy, parent education, psychological assessments, and psychiatric evaluations to ensure that children receive the high-quality, comprehensive mental health care, in one centralized location and at a price they can afford, that they each deserve. Seventy to eighty percent of our clients are low-income or working poor; our sliding fee scale ensures that all families who walk through our doors are able to receive the help they need.

Health & Wellness
Austin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen For The Cure®

One out of eight women will have to fight breast cancer in her lifetime. That's why, since 1999, the Austin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been hard at work here in the Austin area raising money to provide breast cancer screening, education and medical services as well as financial and emotional support. In fact, up to 75 percent of the money we raise each year is put to work right here in Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties to improve the lives of those affected by this deadly disease. The remaining funds go to national research to find a cure for breast cancer once and for all.
We live here. We race here. We save lives here.

Follow Komen Austin on FaceBook Follow Komen Austin on Twitter  View Komen Austin Videos on YouTube

Health & Wellness
Audubon Texas

Audubon Texas is the state program of the National Audubon Society, whose mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity. Through Audubon Centers and in partnership with local chapters, we connect people of all ages and backgrounds to nature through our conservation and education programs. We are committed to ensuring that every child in Texas participates in a natural resource education program that will improve critical thinking skills while connecting students to nature. Audubon Texas is working to restore over 1 million acres of grasslands, oversee 13,000 acres of critical coastal habitat and educate 50,000 students on an annual basis.

Environment
AT&T

AT&T is bringing it all together for our customers, from revolutionary smartphones to next-generation TV services and sophisticated solutions for multi-national businesses.

For more than a century, we have consistently provided innovative, reliable, high-quality products and services and excellent customer care. Today, our mission is to connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else. We're fulfilling this vision by creating new solutions for consumers and businesses and by driving innovation in the communications and entertainment industry.

Corporate Partner
Assistance League of Austin

Assistance League of Austin (ALA), a chapter of National Assistance League®, is a nonprofit organization of volunteers dedicated to addressing specific needs through practical and innovative programs. ALA has been serving the Austin community since 1973. An all-volunteer, "hands-on" organization of 386 dedicated members (as of June 2010), it has no paid staff. These volunteers cheerfully gave more than 58,000 hours to serve and fund our seven philanthropic programs.

Social Services
ArtHouse at the Jones Center

Arthouse at the Jones Center creates meaningful opportunities to investigate and experience the art of our time through exhibitions, programs and commissions of new work.

Arts & Culture
Art Alliance Austin

Art Alliance Austin (est. 1956) is a non-profit 501(c)(3), member-powered organization that promotes and funds visual art by supporting local art institutions and artists. It also commissions public art, hosts an annual international architecture competition, and produces a myriad of events that bring artists and collectors together while generating economic benefit for the entire city. Art Alliance Austin 2010 events include Art Night Austin, Art City Austin, Art Week Austin, co-production of Pecha Kucha Night Austin and Art Night Austin EAST.

Arts & Culture
Any Baby Can

Any Baby Can's mission is to improve the lives of children by strengthening them and their families through education, therapy and family support services. Each year, Any Baby Can brings help and hope to more than 6,000 of the youngest, sickest, and poorest children in our community and their families.

Children & Youth
Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders

The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders is a unique all-girls public school founded to educate young women and give them the confidence and skills necessary to succeed in college, in their careers, and in their communities. Our vision is to focus on the whole girl, providing academic and enrichment opportunities that engage our students, expand their horizons, and give them the tools to achieve their dreams.

Education & Literacy
Animal Trustees of Austin

Animal Trustees of Austin, Inc. (ATA) is a non-profit animal welfare organization. ATA was founded by concerned citizens desiring to help lost, abused and abandoned animals in Austin and surrounding counties. ATA is made up of staff and volunteers united by one common interest - the welfare of the animals.

Animal Welfare
American YouthWorks

American YouthWorks is dedicated to transforming the lives of at-risk youth through education, service and green jobs training.

Education & Literacy
American Red Cross of Central Texas

The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

American Red Cross of Central Texas serves residents in 9 counties, teaching lifesaving skills, assisting military families and helping families get back on their feet after a house fire turns their lives upside down. (Did you know that the American Red Cross of Central Texas has volunteer Disaster Action Teams that respond to a hour fire an average of every 48 hours?) We also help families and communities prepare for unexpected emergencies. We reunite families torn apart by war. We train people in first aid so that they can give the gift of life to others. We travel throughout the country to help those whose lives are threatened by fire, flood and other natural disasters.

Organization Links:

Follow Red Cross on FaceBook Follow Red Cross on Twitter View Red Cross Videos on YouTube

Health & Wellness
American Lung Association, Central States

The American Lung Association is dedicated to the prevention, control and cure of lung disease, the third leading cause of death in the United States.

Health & Wellness
American Heart Association

The mission of the American Heart Association is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. That single purpose drives all we do. The need for our work is beyond question.

Health & Wellness
American Gateways

American Gateways offers safety and hope for a new life to hundreds of men, women and children every year, from approximately 75 countries around the world. Today, immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers continue to benefit from legal representation—and so much more. American Gateways empowers immigrants to advocate for themselves and their families and keeps them informed about their rights and responsibilities. American Gateways educates law enforcement, the legal community, and other advocates on how to use social and legal resources to uphold the law and make Central Texas a safe place to build a new life.

American Gateways has grown from only two employees in 1987 to more than a dozen employees in 2011, including several attorneys. The high quality legal work provided by the staff, the board, and the volunteers of American Gateways was recognized in 2002 when the Austin Chronicle name us Best Legal Services in Austin.

Legal Services
American Cancer Society Central Texas Region

The American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the ACS has 12 chartered Divisions, more than 900 local offices nationwide, and a presence in more than 5,100 communities.

Health & Wellness
America's Charities

Since 1980, America's Charities has brought the nation's best-known and most-loved charities to workplace giving campaigns in the workplace. In that time, America’s Charities has distributed more than $400 million to over 4,000 charities.

Philanthropy Resources
AIDS Services of Austin Inc.

Founded in 1987, AIDS Services of Austin is the region’s oldest and largest community-based organization addressing the local AIDS crisis. Annually, we provide direct care services to over 1,500 people and HIV prevention education to over 10,000 people.

Health & Wellness
Advocacy Inc.

Advocacy Inc. is the federally designated legal protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities in Texas. Our mission is to help people with disabilities understand and exercise their rights under the law, ensuring their full and equal participation in society.

Social Services
Active Life

ACTIVE Life’s mission is to make healthy the norm by generating a persistent demand for healthy living among all sectors of society. We envision and are committed to creating an American culture which values, demands and supports healthy for all. To accomplish this goal, we are organizing the movement for healthy change by enlisting and equipping people and places to build and sustain healthy communities.

Health & Wellness
Accenture
Mission
High Performance. Delivered.
Company Overview
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 246,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.
Corporate Partner
ABBA- Austin Bridge Builders Alliance

ABBA (Austin Bridge Builders Alliance) is a non-profit organization whose Mission is to connect the Church Community and its resources to the needs of our city/region so that every man, woman and child may SEE and HEAR the compelling message of Christ’s love for them.

ABBA takes seriously the challenge to "…seek the peace and prosperity of the city…" (Jeremiah 29:7). As followers of Christ, we are to love and serve our city and the people who live in the Austin area. ABBA acts as a communication link between the Church and areas of need.

We envision a united Body of Christ, throughout Greater Austin, serving the needs of our city, and its people, in such a way that the city is experiencing the transformational love of God – culturally, socially, and spiritually. 

Follow ABBA on FaceBook Follow ABBA on Twitter View ABBA Videos on YouTube

Associations
A World for Children

A World For Children (AWFC) is a faith based, non-profit 501 (c) (3) child placing agency licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS) to provide foster care for abused and neglected children, ages birth to 18 years. A World For Children is also licensed and has a contract with TDFPS to provide adoption services.

Social Services