AT LAST!
North Texas Giving Day 2026, you’ve literally watched AT LAST! (“AL!”) grow up. What happens when pure innovation in idea form gets stood up, and actually creates strong outcomes? Does it lose its status as “innovation” because it’s now known to work? Does it gain status as a “proven” solution?
Does it matter? Perhaps, but this question interests AL! more: After 10 semesters in existence and strong results, isn’t it time to create the capacity to offer AL!’s program services to more children? AL! will leave it to others to continue to ponder the question, but—internally—it has been resolved.
Stay tuned for an announcement in the not-too-distant future on AL!’s plans in that regard. In the interim, AL! asks for your support in this North Texas Giving Day season for the Scholars-in-Residence that we are serving today!
AL!’s results remain strong. AL! remains committed to improving the academic performance of impoverished elementary school-aged children during the 7 hours a day they are at school by focusing on the educational resources available to them during the 17 hours per day that they are not. We are proud of our results, and ask you to avoid becoming bored with their being consistently strong:
> Since opening its doors, AL! has held four (4) Commencement Ceremonies honoring its “Proficiets” (it’s a person who “successfully completes” the in-residence portion of AL!’s program…think “graduate” but from an organization that is not a school). In that time, six (6) AL! Scholars have completed their tenure in the “in-residence” part of AL!’s program. Four (4) of them—or eighty percent (80%)—have received their college scholarship commitment during their AL! Commencement Ceremonies! It is possible that the other two (2) may receive such an honor prior to graduating high school during their out-of-residence tenure with AL!. We could not be more proud of them, and appreciate our partnership with Paul Quinn College on this! The progress this represents on the pathway out of poverty for these children is tangible.
> In the last three (3) years, entertained discussions with other cities around the US (including some in Texas) to bring AL! to their residents and help improve educational outcomes for their impoverished elementary school-aged children.
> In the last six (6) months, agreed to cooperate with Texas Monthly Presents—the documentary production arm for Texas Monthly magazine—in its production of a mini-documentary featuring AL!. The mini-documentary is in the can now, and will air on PBS stations around the country in mid-to-late September. Click here to read the feature Texas Monthly magazine, proper, ran on AL! two years ago:Of all of the educational efforts designed to help the poor in Texas, AL! is honored that the Texas Monthly media family has found AL! to be compelling in ways they have found unique.
Against that backdrop of what’s described in the last few paragraphs (and other omitted newsworthy items), AL! never forgets why it exists: To increase economic mobility among impoverished children. Poverty creates an extreme disparity of educational resources during the entirety of a child’s home life experiences. Research reveals a critical link between familial socioeconomic circumstance and educational attainment.
AL!’s foundational belief that an impoverished child will perform well academically if given proper educational resources at school and at home has been proven true. How? By introducing a unique and immersive solution. The results are not an accident. AL! provides each Scholar up to 2,800 hours of added educational resources each school year. With your support, AL! can continue to do so.
AL! refers to participating children as "Scholars-in-Residence." For each of them, their family home remains the primary residence. AL! serves as a supplemental residence…a “delivery device” for the many additional educational resources that AL! provides as paving stones leading into a better adult life.
During the school year, the Scholars-in-Residence come to the AL! residence on Sunday afternoons, receive considerable educational resources, and remain with AL! overnight. Monday morning, they awaken within the AL! residence and go to the school of the parent’s choosing. After school, they return to the AL! residence, benefit from its substantial additional educational resources, and this process repeats daily until Friday when the Scholars-in-Residence return to their respective primary homes after school. They are in their primary residences on weekends, holidays, and summers (spending more days with their families during the year than in the AL! residence, by design). Please help us continue to get the results we get, powered by the support you provide. Thank you.
AT LAST! will become a premier provider of scalable and pragmatic solutions that improve the educational outcomes of students living in poverty by eliminating the disparity of educational resources during the home life portion of the school day.
AT LAST! (“AL!”) currently needs your support in the following areas:
1. Capital – As AL! serves more children, it needs more transportation capacity than its current 8-passenger mini-van provides. With multiple children attending multiple schools, having doctors & dentists appointments at different locations, participating in varying types of extracurricular activities at different locations, etc., a single vehicle limited to—at best—50% of enrollment dictates that we will have inefficient transportation plans. That results in less “program delivery” time. Please help AL! close the gap in its efforts to acquire a new mini-van for $55,000. This will recapture, collectively across the children served by AL!, @1.5 hours per day of program time, and will reduce AL!’s reliance on expensive supplemental rideshare and hired solutions by almost 100%.
2. Program - Program dollars are essential for AL!. We exist to eradicate poverty (and create upward mobility) for impoverished elementary school children. How? AL! improves the educational outcomes for its Scholars-in-Residence during the 7 hours they are in school by providing them better educational resources during the 17 hours they are not. AL! accomplishes this with a model that consists of (a) an "Optimized Developmental Ecosystem" ("ODE") program that replicates a home life with middle-class educational resources, and (b) neighborhood-based supplemental residences (serving as delivery devices for the ODE). AL!’s premise? An impoverished child will perform well academically if given the same educational resources during the home life hours of a school day that are enjoyed by their more fortunate peers. AL! has proven that premise true over its first five (5) years. AL! cannot succeed without being able to fully and effectively apply its ODE program. Your program dollars enable AL! to provide the ODE to a group of Scholars-In-Residence who know that something very different is happening in their lives by virtue of their participation in AT LAST!, and we are all grateful!
AT LAST! (“AL!”) is an organization made up of people dedicated to serving their community. We have diverse backgrounds and life experiences, but the same passion for working with children to improve their academic performance and plight in life. We respect and appreciate how our differences improve our team and lead to better outcomes for AL!’s Scholars.
Organization name
AT LAST!
Tax id (EIN)
61-1765722
Causes
Education - Early Childhood
Operating Budget
$500,000 - $999,999
Counties Served
Dallas
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx
Address
11700 Preston Rd Ste 660-116