Jubilee Park and Community Center is a nonprofit celebrating a first for the city of Dallas by receiving a grant from the Department of Education.
Jubilee Park and Community Center is a nonprofit celebrating a first for the city of Dallas.
They are the first nonprofit within the city to receive a nearly million-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education as part of their Promise Neighborhoods initiative. However, the news that the Trump Administration wants to dismantle that federal agency to send the authority back to the states has some worried, including the CEO of the nonprofit, Marissa Castro Mikoy .
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WATCH HERE"The worst thing that could happen is we're not able to draw down the remainder of that money," Castro Mikoy said. "We have drawn down some of it, but if we can't get the rest of it, then we have a blueprint of a really high-impact program [without] the rest of it. We would do that through the help of partnerships with Dallas College, Dallas ISD, Child Poverty Action Lab, SMU, and other amazing partners we have.
The $992,000 grant was awarded in December of 2024. For that reason. Castro Mikoy is hoping their grant is safe from any changes or hold ups.
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SIGN UP "Our award came last year and was already earmarked before this conversation started. So we are hoping that we are safe. The grant is really focused on specific neighborhoods that are historically underserved. They only award seven of these across the country each year. This grant will enable us to work with high school kids at Woodrow Wilson High School and provide services for post-secondary education," Castro Mikoy said.
The nearly 30-year-old organization's CEO said that the grant will also help tailor their services to high school students who need it most, guiding them to the next stage of life.
"We are really working to break that cycle of poverty for so many families. 96% of the households that are within the neighborhood are working. But they are earning about $65,000 annually for a family of four. A living wage right now for a family of four is around $104,000. So it's really a lot of juggling and making hard decisions within these households. We believe that everybody deserves the ability to take advantage of opportunities for a successful life," Castro Mikoy said.
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No matter the outcome of the Trump Administration's push to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, Castro Mikoy said her organization will continue to do what they have done for years. Be creative in the way they use their funding and effectively serve.
"We are excited and we are moving forward as if the money will be there. The plan is to get everything kicked off in the fall at Woodrow Wilson. Again, we are having those conversations and understanding that if things change, we will have to work around it, but we are already reaching out to partners asking if they would be on the ready to fill in the gaps," Castro Mikoy said.
Congress would have to agree to break the U.S. Department of Education up leaving a constitutional battle still to be fought in Washington, D.C., even with President Trump's signature on the go-ahead.
