Sustainable Food Center cultivates a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. From seed to table, the Sustainable Food Center creates opportunities for individuals to make healthy food choices and to participate in a vibrant local food system. Through organic food gardening, relationships with area farmers, interactive cooking classes and nutrition education, children and adults have increased access to locally grown food and are empowered to improve the long-term health of Central Texans and our environment.

Organization Links:

The First Tee of Greater Austin (TFTGA) is a non-profit youth development organization focused on providing young people with educational programs to build character, instill life-enhancing values, and promote healthy choices through the game of golf. Conveniently located at the Harvey Penick Golf Campus, close to downtown Austin, TX, TFTGA programs are offered both on campus, as well as in area-schools through the National School Program. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, The First Tee of Greater Austin depends on the generous financial support from the Austin community to continue programs, fund scholarships for youth in need, and bring programs to more Austin-area schools through the National School Program. To date, The First Tee of Greater Austin has touched approximately 15,000+ area youth since 1999, and expects to touch at least 5,000 in 2011. Visit www.firstteeaustin.org for more information and to get involved.

Organization Links:

United Way for Greater Austin has a rich and impressive history as a Central Texas nonprofit. The organization has been a part of the Austin community for more than 85 years, raising and contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to worthy causes and engaging Central Texans in activities that positively affect our community.

Our Community Impact agenda focuses on three areas: education, income and health. We work to change community conditions for the long-term by focusing on root causes and preventing problems from happening in the first place.

Within each focus area, UWCA partners with a broad cross-section of community stakeholders to identify proven strategies. UWCA programs like Success By 6, Middle School Matters and Bank on Central Texas leverage resources – financial, volunteer, in-kind and issue area experts – to ensure that all of our investments are strategic, align with community goal and ultimately create long-lasting fundamental change in Central Texas.

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores and more than 12,000 ATMs and the Internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally.
We’re headquartered in San Francisco, but we’re decentralized so every local Wells Fargo store is a headquarters for satisfying all our customers’ financial needs and helping them succeed financially. One in three households in America does business with Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has $1.4 trillion in assets and 273,000 team members in more than 35 countries across our 80+ businesses.
We ranked fourth in assets and first in market value of our stock among our U.S. peers. Among all financial services companies, we ranked first in market value in the U.S. and third in the world, as of September 30, 2012.
Our vision: “We want to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.”

Austin Independent School District (AISD) Mission (What We Do)

In partnership with parents and our community, AISD exists to provide a comprehensive educational experience that is high quality, challenging, and inspires all students to make a positive contribution to society.

Values (What We Believe in)

• • Focus on Children
• • Excellence
• • Integrity
• • Equity
• • Respect
• • Health and Safety

CompassLearning, the leading provider of personalized education technology solutions, helps students achieve success through differentiated instruction, formative assessment, and response to intervention. CompassLearning offers a portfolio of products, including Odyssey, a complete suite of K–12 digital curriculum that engages, educates and inspires thousands of students every day. In 2010, CompassLearning acquired Renzulli Learning, a leader in practical classroom differentiation and high levels of student engagement. 

LifeWorks transitions youth and families from crisis to safety and success. We provide the most comprehensive network of services for youth and families in Austin. We offer a safety net of support to more than 10,000 youth and families every year. LifeWorks’ services to runaway and homeless youth are a national model, providing a pathway from street life to self-sufficiency. We are the largest local provider of free and affordable counseling to youth and families. Our youth development training opportunities prepare youth to become healthy, successful adults. We invite you to learn more about LifeWorks and to become part of the strong network of caring individuals that creates opportunities for success.

Student Showcase: Austin High School  is a collaboration between Austin High School and Forefront Austin to cultivate voices of the next generation.  On a regular basis, students will develop essays that present unique perspectives in response to one of Forefront Austin’s monthly questions.  The students conduct independent research, interview community leaders and author essays for publication on Forefront Austin.  The student-developed essays are edited by Forefront Austin staff.

Essay Contest:

Question: Who are Austin's Pot-stirrers, Problem Solvers and Visionaries?

Pot-stirrers. Problem solvers. Visionaries.  Learning about leadership was a personal experience for 120 Austin High sophomores when they worked in teams to tackle global problems in their Austin backyards. Learn more about the Global Studies program and read about two of the community projects in the students’ own words.

Introduction to the Showcase

Winning Student Essays: 

• Sports Against Poverty by Daniel Laden and Riley Longtain
• Check out our S.W.A.G: Student Working to Act Green by Rachel Escobedo and Brandon Fielder

Student Showcase: St. Michael's Catholic Academy is a collaboration between St. Michael's Catholic Academy and Forefront Austin to cultivate voices of the next generation.  On a regular basis, students will develop essays that present unique perspectives in response to one of Forefront Austin’s monthly questions.  The students conduct independent research, interview community leaders and author essays for publication on Forefront Austin.  The student-developed essays are edited by Forefront Austin staff.

Creativity Essay Contest:

Question: Why should Austin embrace its creative side?

The project kicked-off soon after the Fall 2011 academic semester began, with the students engaged in a lively, far-reaching discussion on the state of the arts in Austin, led by Cliff Redd, formerly of the Long Center, and now with the University of Texas School of Natural Resources. Then, largely under the tutelage of faculty members Stephanie Stewart and Corinne Callahan, the students set-out to help show why the arts in Austin are important. A panel of Forefront judges returned to St. Michael’s six weeks later with the difficult task of trying to select the most creative, informative works.

Winning Feature Perspective: 

• Catch and Release Austin By Blake Ann Seeker

Finalists: 

• Play Me, I'm Yours, by Ellen Smith

• The Individual Identity of Austin, By Cella Mahoney

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.