A New Look for a New Decade

For sixteen years, Austin Partners in Education has been connecting the community and the classroom to help transform students’ lives. As we’ve evolved over the past decade, we felt it was time to update our online presence to better illustrate our work and impact. We worked with an amazing volunteer team at IBM last summer to develop an improved logo and branding strategy. HMG Creative has helped us make our vision a reality through refining our logo and creating a new website. We’re excited that we’ll begin the new school year with a new look!

Understanding APIE

APIE works in partnership with Austin ISD to best meet the needs of students, and because of that, we wear a lot of hats! We recognize that can make us challenging to understand, so we’ve added more information about the variety of work we do. You’re likely familiar with many of our programs, like College Readiness, Math Classroom Coaching, and Mentoring, but we also process background checks for everyone who volunteers with Austin ISD—even if they’re not working with an APIE program—to keep schools safe (From 2014 to 2019, we conducted over 42,000 criminal background checks!). We hope that our newly designed website will help you better understand our work and see the real impact it has on Austin ISD students.

Increasing Accessibility

A key goal for the new website is to make it easier for users to navigate. We want you to be able to quickly find the information you need to get involved, whether you’re interested in serving with an APIE program, as an Austin ISD school-based volunteer, or making a donation. We’ve created a frequently asked questions page organized by topic, and you can use our contact form if you have additional questions. We’re also proud to share that our website has 11 translations, accessible in the bottom left corner.

Focusing on Austin

One of the biggest changes we’ve made is to our logo, which for a number of years included a pencil. In modernizing our logo, we wanted to shift the focus to the community we serve. We see ourselves as uniquely Austin, establishing programs and strategies tailored specifically for Austin ISD students. By working alongside the district, we work to meet the needs of all students, especially those who face barriers. The success of all Austin ISD students benefits families, local businesses, and the greater Austin community.

Our community has experienced many challenges this year, and as the pandemic continues, Austin students continue to be impacted. It has widened already significant opportunity gaps, making APIE’s resources for students more important than ever. Austin is at the heart of everything we do, and we’ll continue to adapt and shift to ensure Austin ISD students succeed as we move forward together.

Post by: Ashley Yeaman, Communications & Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator