Waco-area Communities In Schools group gets surprise $2 million gift

Asurprise $2 million donation from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has a regional nonprofit student support organization thinking big. Communities In Schools of the Heart of Texas, which serves about 4,000 students in nine area school districts, learned about the gift in December, but waited to coordinate its announcement with other Communities in Schools affiliates also receiving donations from Scott.

News of the donation, part of Scott’s $133.5 million gift to the Communities In Schools National Network, was unexpected, said Aaron Mize, CEO of the local affiliate. “This gift kind of dropped out of the blue,” Mize said. “It was shocking and surprising and a little unbelievable.” The Heart of Texas group was one of 40 singled out for a gift in addition to the money going to the national network, and Mize said the collective work done by local personnel was what attracted attention for the $2 million gift, the largest in the organization’s 32-year history. “Somehow our work got noticed on a national scale,” he said. Communities In Schools of the Heart of Texas supplies participating schools with full-time social workers, case workers and others to provide services aimed at keeping students in school, helping them graduate and helping them get established in the workforce after graduation. The regional affiliate employs about 60 full-time staff, 16 Baylor University student interns and about 100 mentors from the community, working with students from kindergarten to high school. Participating districts include Waco, Midway, La Vega, Mexia, Chilton, Mart, Groesbeck and Teague plus Rapoport Academy.