Announcements

Run for Team APIE in the 2024 Austin Marathon

Austin Partners in Education is honored to be an official Austin Marathon Gives Charity for the 2024 Austin Marathon. This year, the Marathon will take place on Sunday, February 18, 2024. In 2023, we raised over $32,000 through our team of runners, fundraisers, sponsors, and volunteers! We’re looking forward to surpassing that goal this year with your help on our GivenGain fundraising page.

If you plan on running in the upcoming Austin Marathon, we’d love to have you on Team APIE. Put your hard-earned miles to work by supporting Austin ISD students. As a bonus, the first 10 runners to raise $250 will receive free race registration, on us! Learn how to sign up on our Austin Marathon events page. If you have any runners in your life, please help spread the word about this opportunity.

In addition to running on Team APIE, here are some other ways you can support APIE and the 2,500+ students we serve each year!

FUNDRAISE: You don’t have to be a runner to join our fundraising team! We’re looking for 25 members this year. There’s no minimum to raise; every dollar counts!

To register: Set up your fundraising page on GivenGain. Find more detailed registration instructions on our Austin Marathon events page.

GIVE: You can make a gift to our GivenGain fundraising page or support a specific runner and/or fundraiser’s campaign!

VOLUNTEER: Join us at our aid station on race day! This is a great one-time volunteer opportunity for individuals and groups to cheer on the runners and provide water. We will need at least 80+ volunteers this year. More information and a registration link are coming soon, so stay tuned.

SPONSOR: We are looking for businesses and organizations to sponsor Team APIE! There are several sponsorship levels with different benefits. This is a great opportunity to get involved in the community and get your company name in front of 80,000+ runners, volunteers, and spectators on race day. Download our sponsorship packet to learn more.

2023-24 Mentoring and Math Classroom Coaching Registration is Now Open

Registration for APIE Mentoring and Math Classroom Coaching (MCC) is now open. Mentoring is available at most Austin ISD middle and high schools, with the highest needs for bilignual and more male mentors. Math Classroom Coaching is being offered at four middle schools: Covington, Dobie, Martin, and Webb. Currently, our highest need for volunteers is at Covington Middle School.

Thank you for choosing to volunteer with APIE to support Austin ISD students! If you have any questions about volunteering with APIE, please email volunteer@austinpartners.org.

Note: Registration for School-Based Volunteer opportunities (not affiliated with APIE) is also open. Schools that are not listed are not offering volunteer opportunities at this time. Please contact campuses directly with any questions you have about School-Based volunteer opportunities.

APIE Stands with Uvalde, Texas

We are heartbroken over the loss of innocent lives at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24. Austin Partners in Education stands in solidarity with the students, families, and entire community as they face this devastating tragedy. Children are a community’s most precious resource, and schools should be safe, welcoming spaces where they can learn and grow without fear.

As educators and parents, it can be difficult to speak with our students about tragic events. Our friends at Communities in Schools have compiled resources online to help children, families, and communities as they cope together at: ciscentraltexas.org/talkingtostudents. #UvaldeStrong

2022 APIE Champions Announced

We are pleased to share the winners of the 2022 APIE Champion awards. These individuals and groups have gone above and beyond to support Austin ISD students. Our honorees embody what it means to serve with heart, and they inspire both students and the Greater Austin community. Congratulations to our APIE Champions!

APIE Volunteer Champion: Nigel Gombakomba

APIE Volunteer Champion: The University of Texas Pre-Dental Society

APIE Mentor Champion: Bianca Xoyamayagua-Galvan

MCC Above and Beyond Award: Joan Quenan

MCC Above and Beyond Award: Niles Seldon

APIE Support Champion: Nahum Pacheco

APIE Business Champion: A+ Federal Credit Union

APIE Secondary Coordinator of the Year: Sandra Zachary, Gus Garcia YMLA

APIE Elementary Coordinator of the Year: Bernardo Martinez, Wooten Elementary

APIE's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Austin Partners in Education is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion to ensure that as an antiracist organization we are moving our mission forward in an equitable way. We are continuously reminded of the deep inequities that persist in our society and we recognize the importance of educating ourselves and examining our programs is crucial to being able to best serve our students. To that end, we have partnered with The Inclusion Practice to engage in this important work in a sustainable way. Our goal through these efforts is to support more positive and equitable outcomes in the workplace and for our students.

APIE Wins Austin Chamber's 2020 Greater Austin Business Award in the Nonprofit Category

We are honored to be an award recipient for the Austin Chamber’s Greater Austin Business Awards in the Nonprofit category. 2020 marked the 20^th year the Austin Chamber has presented the Greater Austin Business Awards. These awards are given to businesses and organizations that have demonstrated a unique vision, innovation, and best business practices. To watch the December 8 video awards ceremony, click here.

COVID - 19’s Impact on APIE and Our Students

Last updated August 17, 2020

In these uncertain times, APIE continues to work closely with Austin ISD on how we can best support students during the 2020-21 school year. The current start date for the new school year is Tuesday, September 8. The calendar begins with four weeks of remote learning and an opportunity for on-campus instruction during the first four weeks for students who do not have access to reliable technology or internet connectivity. To learn more about these changes, visit Austin ISD’s website.

Like the district, we recognize that plans for the upcoming school year must prioritize the health and safety of students, educators, and staff. We will follow Austin ISD’s precautions to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 to create the safest learning environment possible for our students. We still don’t know how our programming will be impacted by the hybrid learning model, but we continue to plan for a variety of scenarios. We will keep our community informed as we learn more from Austin ISD.

Recent findings from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) show that a “COVID slide,” or a loss in knowledge retained from the previous academic year, will adversely impact students in all subjects, particularly math. Students are likely to return with less than 50% of learning gains in math, equating to nearly a full year behind what would be observed during normal conditions from the summer break. Along with academic gaps, students will also face emotional and social challenges, as many of them have experienced trauma caused by the pandemic. When school resumes, students will need individualized attention, and with more than 15 years of tutoring and mentoring experience, APIE is well-positioned to provide that much-needed support.

Throughout our history, APIE has quickly adjusted to support Austin ISD, adapting our programming to target identified needs. When schools closed and virtual learning was adopted, APIE staff shifted focus to provide online support to students in our College Readiness program and those participating in GEAR UP. Like many nonprofits, APIE has been impacted financially by COVID-19. We anticipate that this financial hardship will continue throughout the remainder of the year and beyond, as many of our business partners and individual supporters are facing their own financial challenges. We need your help to ensure our programs remain in place for students this fall, when they will need our support more than ever.

Austin Partners in Education receives $450,000 from the Greater Texas Foundation to support AISD Career Launch/P-TECH expansion

“Building Pathways for Texas Student Success” Project will prepare more high school students for living-wage careers upon graduation

A $450,000 grant from the Greater Texas Foundation (GTF) will support Austin Partners in Education’s (APIE) efforts to create a model to establish and expand Career Launch/P-TECH initiatives at Austin ISD over the next three years. Career Launch/P-TECH programs equip high school students with the knowledge, skills, and credentials needed to obtain living-wage careers upon graduation. Investing in Career Launch/P-TECH programs ensures that more students are able to compete for rewarding jobs in their community.

Through the Building Pathways for Texas Student Success Project, APIE plans to conduct research and develop a model framework to meet needs, identify resource gaps and create customized strategizes to strengthen academic support beginning at the middle school level. This will help build a pipeline of students who can then successfully take college-level coursework in high school and emerge from a Career Launch/P-TECH program with an associate’s degree and/or an industry-specific credential.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming school year due to COVID-19, the program will move forward as planned this fall. APIE is working closing with the school district and project business partners to adapt teaching methods for in-person, hybrid, and online instruction scenarios.

APIE will be focusing their project research at Akins Early College High School (ECHS), which will launch two new Career Launch/P-TECH programs this fall: a real estate program in partnership with the Austin Board of Realtors and a teaching program in partnership with Austin ISD and three local universities. APIE has an established partnership with Akins ECHS and has offered their College Readiness program on that campus for the past ten years.

“We have seen proven results year after year for our students in APIE’s College Readiness program and consider it to be a big factor in our campus’ success,” said Tina Salazar, principal of Akins Early College High School. “As the next phase of our Career Launch/P-TECH programs begin at Akins this fall, help from APIE is more important than ever and will allow us to take our partnership to a new level.”

The project reflects APIE’s commitment to supporting students who face significant systemic barriers. At Akins ECHS, the second largest high school in Austin ISD with over 2,700 students, 77.7 percent of the student body is Hispanic and 5.7 percent are Black. Additionally, 61.2 percent are economically disadvantaged, 19 percent are English language learners, and 12.8 percent participate in special education.

“Two-thirds of jobs in Central Texas require postsecondary credentials, yet only 42 percent of young adults have completed these requirements, often because of the significant barriers they face,” Cathy Jones, Ph.D. and Executive Director of Austin Partners in Education, said. “Through participation in Career Launch/P-TECH programs, students will have the opportunity to earn high school and college credit while engaging in work-based learning experiences that will prepare them for postsecondary pursuits. The development of a detailed program model means that our work has the potential to impact students not only throughout Austin ISD, but also across the State of Texas. We are grateful to the Greater Texas Foundation for supporting our work and their long-term commitment to the students we serve.”

APIE Stands with Austin ISD in Support of Black Students

#BlackLivesMatter

The disturbing events that have taken place in our country and in our community remind us of the deep inequities that continue to persist in our society. We remain steadfast in our support of Black students, who face systemic barriers each day, and we know we must do more. We recognize the importance of actively educating ourselves and our communities and elevating Black voices in these conversations. As a partner of Austin ISD, we join with them in pledging to ensure students are respected, supported, and guaranteed equity and justice.

Austin ISD’s Statement