Peer Learning Cohorts

Select nonprofits work together for 36 months to become more efficient and effective leaders so their organizations operate at peak performance.

How Do Cohorts Work?

Each year, our Capacity Building Program forms a Peer Learning Cohort consisting of select nonprofits that agree to work together for 36 months at becoming more efficient, effective, and cooperative. They dig deep on leadership development, continuous learning processes, managing, planning, oversight, and generating resources. The goal: to help vital nonprofits operate at peak performance.

The organizations involved represent a breadth of services being offered in San Antonio, from after-school activities to distressed housing restoration to mental health support and more. Each nonprofit is provided with an external assessment using the Impact Capacity Assessment Tool (iCAT), which helps orient them to the work ahead. In the first year, cohort members meet on five occasions, connecting through peer learning opportunities, and creating the potential for lasting collaborations that can benefit communities for years to come. A list of all the partners can be found here.

2022-2023 Cohort

 

Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio | Website

Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio provides a life changing club experience that assures success is within reach of every young person who enters our doors, with all Club members on track to graduate from high school with a plan for the future, demonstrating good character and citizenship, and living a healthy lifestyle. At our six Clubhouses and 24 school-sites, we provide high-quality programs with caring staff and volunteers dedicated to serving as positive role models and champions of our Club members’ success. This past year, ninety-seven percent of youth improved or maintained their grades in basic skills courses including math, science, and reading. Ninety-nine percent of youth attending our clubs were promoted to the next grade level, with one hundred percent of seniors graduating on time. Ninety-six percent of youth demonstrated improvement or growth in age-specific social emotional learning activities.

Culturingua | Website

The mission of Culturingua is to cultivate, promote, and preserve Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) cultural, linguistic, and artistic heritage to invest in human, community, and economic development. Culturingua believes in heritage assets as a paradigm-shifting call to action. Since 2018, Culturingua’s innovative programming has been fostering human development and civic engagement. The programs are focused on three main areas: Youth Development, Community Development, and Economic Development. Culturingua offers multiple services within each of the programs, all with a focus on building bridges through cultural heritage assets.

Gardopia Gardens | Website

Gardopia Gardens is a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency based in the Near Eastside of San Antonio. The mission of Gardopia Gardens is to grow healthy communities through garden-based learning. We envision a sustainable society, empowered, and educated to lead healthy lifestyles through gardening. Gardopia Gardens has proudly serviced the community for 7 years, promoting health and environmental stewardship by implementing garden-based learning programming in schools, businesses, and community organizations – offering tools, materials, and best practices to ensure their gardens’ sustainability. Gardopia Gardens provides five programs: Garden-Based Learning, Build-A-Garden & Optimization, Garden Volunteer, Garden Media, and Farmers’ Market. These programmatic efforts strategically align with ten of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Musical Bridges Around the World | Website

Musical Bridges Around the World is a multicultural arts organization focused on education and creating one-of-a-kind performances by internationally renowned artists for the benefit of the general public, underserved youth, and elderly communities, while fostering San Antonio’s reputation as a cosmopolitan cultural center. All the public performances are free. The organization was founded in 1998 by Russian-born concert pianist Dr. Anya Grokhovski, along with a group of music lovers, to promote cultural understanding through innovative programming. MBAW envisions San Antonio as a vibrant epicenter that embraces her rich heritage and increasingly diverse cultural make-up through performances of international repute for all residents and visitors, regardless of socioeconomic standing.

San Antonio Education Partnership | Website

For more than 30 years, the San Antonio Education Partnership has been a pillar in the San Antonio community. Originally founded in 1989, SAEP’s mission is to create college opportunities, access, and success for our community. We provide students, youth, and adults alike, the opportunity to access higher education. Our services include goal setting, career planning, college entry and enrollment, college affordability and financial aid, and college transition. These services are provided at local high schools as well as at the City of San Antonio’s supported Café College, centrally located in downtown San Antonio. Annually, we provide services to over 12,000 youth and adult learners and award scholarships to nearly 2,000 college students in San Antonio.

YWCA | Website

In our community, YWCA San Antonio works to achieve its mission to empower women and eliminate racism by providing multiple services to remove barriers to overcoming poverty, which disproportionately affects women and individuals of color. These programs focus on early childhood care & education, youth & teen, health & wellness, racial justice & gender equality, and economic empowerment. Annually, YWCA San Antonio serves on average 10,000 individuals ages zero to 99 through direct services, emergency assistance, education and training for long-term sustainability, and partnerships with other nonprofits to maximize our impact. Each year, the YWVA celebrates San Antonio women who have upheld the mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all through the Women of Achievement event.

Previous Cohorts

Cohort 5 (2021-2022)
Cohort 4 (2020-2021)
Cohort 3 (2019-2020)
Cohort 2 (2018-2019)
Cohort 1 (2017-2018)

Cohort Spotlights

Contact

Capacity Building is based out of our San Antonio office at 140 West Sunset Road, San Antonio, TX 78209. For inquiries, please reach out to Perri Rosheger through our contact form.

 

Mission Matters Cohort

The Foundation Capacity Building partners have mostly been built on relationships and referrals from within the partner network. We realize that others might be a perfect fit and we would like to know about you. While we don’t have an application, here are some filters for the type of organizations that are asked to be a part of a cohort:

  1. A mission to support under resourced youth and families in San Antonio
  2. An annual operating budget between $500K to $5M
  3. Based in San Antonio
  4. Ability to participate in a 3-year program
  5. Prevention based mission versus crisis support

Please leave us your information here if you would like more information.

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