Programs

 Since 1982, the Nonprofit Service Center has served as the area’s primary source of education and consulting for nonprofits. The NSC provides tools, training and specialized services to challenge and equip nonprofit organizations to be self-sufficient, accountable and sustainable.

During 2014, the Nonprofit Service Center provided consulting services to the following organizations:

No Limits No Excuses is a community initiative with over 20 patron organizations that promotes education beyond high school leading to a living-wage job. We aspire to be a community known for its culture of universal achievement, where everyone’s success matters. Our mission is to create accessible pathways to post-secondary credentials and living-wage employment. Our goal is 10,000 more degrees, zero excuses, by 2025.

“No Limits” refers to the shared belief that all young adults in Amarillo should have access to an education beyond high school that leads to a living wage job with basic benefits and opportunities for advancement. “No Excuses” begins with an understanding that the adults in Amarillo and its institutions have an obligation to its young adults to remove the barriers to getting an education beyond high school that leads to a living wage job with basic benefits and opportunities for advancement. By working together, Amarillo’s prospects for the future are improving by strengthening the kind of community support that will help all individuals in the community.

By the year 2025 we expect to see the following student outcomes:
- 10,000 more credentials for low-income young adults
- 10,000 more low-income young adults earning $17/hour

The mission of this initiative is to increase the financial stability and success of the Texas Panhandle region by cultivating asset building tools and strategies for individuals/families, and facilitating increased capability and sustainable success for our communities. Exploration of low-income and high-wealth households illuminates opportunities to both raise standards of living and grow or retain wealth within the region. The Panhandle
Prosperity initiative seeks to build capacity of the local people, communities and economy.

Through the Prosperity Initiative, AAF convenes and collaborates with a range of nonprofit service providers, public institutions and private businesses to increase awareness of the struggles faced by many in the region, while also building capacity among the agencies and institutions who serve these persons.  In particular, two programs managed by AAF seek to build individual and community capacity; they are:  BankOn Amarillo and the Community Development Philanthropy Affiliate Fund project, described below.

Bank On Amarillo is a collaborative of multiple financial institutions who jointly provide financial literacy training and access to banking products designed for un or under-banked populations. Its aim is to help vulnerable families avoid high cost financial services that erode their spendable income and to foster positive financial behavior. Financial literacy classes are taught, free of charge, at libraries and via various nonprofit programs with the goal of cultivating productive habits and positive relationships with financial institutions.

Even with a troubled banking history, everyone in Amarillo now has an opportunity to get started on the road to financial security with Bank On Amarillo by following these steps:

In 2014, the were seven community banks and credit unions participating in the program with a total of 14 branches found in every sector of the city of Amarillo. Currently, there aren't any locations outiside of Amarillo participating in the program, but inquiries have been made to provide Bank On services to surrounding areas.

Bank On Amarillo financial institutions:

The Donald D. Harrington Fellows Program was established by Sybil Harrington as a tribute to her husband. She envisioned a program that would support gifted and ambitious young scholars at the University of Texas at Austin at a level that would equal or exceed the levels of prestigious longstanding programs at other institutions around the world. These talented researchers and teachers would, in turn, share their knowledge and success with future generations, perpetuating the legacy and memory of Don Harrington for all time. The University of Texas at Austin is privileged to be the home of this preeminent research program.

Harrington Fellowships are awarded annually to the most highly qualified applicants from universities throughout the United States and around the world. Visiting faculty fellows are chosen based on the originality and creativity of their work, the anticipated benefit of the award to their discipline, and the potential to make significant contributions to the global community. Graduate student fellows are selected on the basis of their academic performance, character, and leadership.

All Harrington Faculty and Graduate Fellows become lifetime members of the Harrington Society, which is designed to build a sense of community among the scholars through special events and seminars. Each spring, the Donald D. Harrington Symposium provides an opportunity for the Harrington Fellows to share the results of their research with the academic community and the general public.

2014 Harrington Faculty and Graduate Fellows:

UT President William (Bill) Powers, Jr., with 2014 Harrington Fellows Allan Collard-Wexler, Carl Forsberg, Brittani Needham, Michael Webber, and Gregory Fenves, Executive Vice President and Provost
 

Twenty years ago, the ACE Scholarship Program was born to keep kids in high school. The ACE Scholarship Program provides a full scholarship to WTAMU or AC to students graduating from Palo Duro, Caprock, and Tascosa High Schools. Students must maintain an 85 GPA, 95% attendance, and appropriate behavior to receive the scholarship.

Since 1998, more than 4,000 students have graduated eligible for the ACE Scholarship from Palo Duro and Caprock High Schools. The first Tascosa High School ACE Class will graduate in 2016.

The program started with the Amarillo Area Foundation Board of Directors and a few community leaders concerned about the local high school dropout rate and the need to get high school students a diploma and access to post-secondary training programs and a certificate or degree.

On November 20, 2014, the ACE Scholarship Program celebrated its 20th anniversary with ACE Giving Day. Over $1.2 million in donations were made to help complete the expansion to Tascosa High School.

Community Development Philanthropy (CDP) is a long-term comprehensive strategy aimed at engaging rural communities to build permanent endowed funds for the benefit of their community.  Referred to as “Affiliates,” the relationship between the community and AAF is one of co-steward in that community volunteers function as an extension of AAF rather than a separate entity. For AAF it represents a deeper level of community engagement wherein a community “coach” guides the Affiliate in building an active local advisory group. Together they examine community data, plan for future charitable projects that meet community needs, solicit current and planned gifts, and facilitate local grants from their affiliated fund(s).

We Are is a pilot project to foster community engagement. Begun in 2014, We Are is a photography project conducted in partnership with Amarillo Wesley Community Center (AWCC) and the Boys & Girls Club of Amarillo (BGCA). Hundreds of photos were taken by 120 youth from the two partner agencies.

The project was undertaken as a means to facilitate conversations about the community, as viewed through children’s eyes. In short, the pilot was intended simply to start community conversations about the collective aspirations of people who live here.