An ambitious plan to improve the lives and futures of Bexar County youth launched last year is now backed by nearly $114 million in grant funding, officials announced Tuesday.
The funding will support the Future Ready Bexar County plan, which was organized by the UP Partnership and a host of local agency and nonprofit partners. The plan guides foundation spending across the county to programs that enhance education and economic mobility for youth while UP Partnership provides technical support for program expansion and coordination.
“This is a monumental investment in Bexar County’s children and youth, which will, no doubt, have a positive impact on our region’s future,” UP Partnership board Chair Elaine Mendoza stated in a news release.
There are nearly 785,000 young people age 24 and younger in Bexar County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s about 39% of the total population.
“Even though [$114 million] is a big number, it’s still not nearly enough,” Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, CEO of UP Partnership, told the San Antonio Report. “We can’t wait for the next pandemic to keep innovating. Our young people need that now. We have to keep that urgency, we have to keep that creativity and spirit of innovation.”
The money will be allocated over seven years through foundations to more than 90 institutional partners that have committed to the goals of the plan, including Communities in Schools San Antonio, Project Quest, Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio, the Alamo Colleges District and several independent school districts.
Of the $113.85 million, New York-based philanthropic investor Blue Meridian Partners, which invests in programs that target poverty, contributed $50 million to the Future Ready plan. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Area Foundation and United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County have each committed to direct $25 million toward the plan. Additional funding comes from the Charles Butt Foundation, the H. E. Butt Foundation, USAA, the Greater Texas Foundation and Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas Inc.
That’s a yearly average investment of more than $16 million over seven years.
The Future Ready’s “North Star” goal is to increase enrollment of recent high school graduates in postsecondary degree or credential programs from about half of Bexar County youth to 70% by 2030.
The goals of the plan are centered around ensuring that young people have “healing, access and voice,” including increasing high school completion, reducing suspensions and expulsions, increasing access to affordable broadband and technology and the number of young people contributing to policy making or problem solving in their communities.
“Part of our goal is to get our government … and our community at large to really focus on that 39% [of the population] because that’s the next generation,” Lugalia-Hollon said. “That’s not just the future of our workforce, but the future of our leadership. We know they’re going to face incredible challenges and we have to equip them with everything we’ve got.”
The youth population, at least those under 18, also can’t vote, he noted. They are unable to influence change in government themselves.
“So our partners in the Future Ready plan have showed up to drive change together,” he said.
The plan is also aligned with the multitude of other current city, county and community plans and initiatives, Lugalia-Hollon said, including the Strategic Housing Implementation Plan, the Alliance to House Everyone, the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence, SA2020’s community vision for 2030 and the Violence Prevention Strategic Plan that was unveiled Monday.
Future Ready is essentially a “deeper dive” plan for youth issues, Lugalia-Hollon said.
Youth-on-youth violence is a focus area of the violence prevention plan, which was led by the city’s Metropolitan Health District but is intended to be a community-wide plan that takes a public health approach to public safety.
Metro Health is also a signed partner in the Future Ready plan.
“In many ways, the public health approach to safety and violence prevention and how it’s represented in their plan is a fulfillment of their [commitment to Future Ready],” Lugalia-Hollon said. “They’re making commitments to scale trauma-informed ways of violence reduction for young people.”
UP Partnership estimates that about 335,000 young people are reached through Future Ready partners every year. The nonprofit’s role is to coordinate those programs and help facilitate their growth to serve more youth, he said.
“We certainly intend to maximize these dollars … and to be a big advocate for public and private growth of investment in children,” he said.
The Charles Butt Foundation, the San Antonio Area Foundation, Methodist Healthcare Ministries and USAA are financial supporters of the San Antonio Report. For a full list of business members and supporting foundations, click here. UP Partnership CEO Ryan Lugalia-Hollon’s wife, Michelle Lugalia-Hollon, sits on the San Antonio Report’s board of directors.
