Tag Archives: Community Partnerships

HISD taps community program to feed Houstonians in need

HISD’s Student Assistance Department knows that students can’t learn on an empty stomach. While Nutrition Services provides students with three nutritious meals a day, Student Assistance strives to provide support for the whole student, and sometimes, that means also supporting their families and communities.

Student Assistance partnered with Second Servings, a local nonprofit that specializes in “food rescue,” the practice of recovering and redirecting edible food from grocery stores and other food retailers that would otherwise go to waste. Second Servings works with these retailers to collect short-dated or unsold food items and redistribute them to people in need.

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HISD partners with community donors for Back-to-School Bonanza

For students, summer vacation is in full swing, but HISD is hard at work preparing for the impending fall semester. Preparing for almost 190,000 students for a new school year isn’t a task that can be done alone, however, this is where the collaboration of community partners is vital.

HISD’s Community Partnerships Department, with the help of local businesses, is working to secure resources for its annual Back-to-School Bonanza, an effort to support multiple back-to-school supply drives throughout the district. 

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HISD partners with the Astros Foundation to encourage student re-enrollment

A quiet meeting room on the third floor of Minute Maid Park became a command center of dialing phones on June 28 and 29 as HISD employee volunteers rallied to contact unenrolled students and encourage them to come back to school in the fall.

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HISD teacher artwork creates a poignant dialogue at CAMH exhibition

The HISD Teacher Advisory Group (TAG) is a group of 14 passionate educators assembled by the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston (CAMH) with the purpose of sharing their knowledge and experiences with CAMH staff in order to guide and inspire future programs within the museum’s Education and Public Programs department.

Photos courtesy of Tasha Gorel

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Student artists to kick off the summer creatively at the Houston Art Bike Festival

Houston is a city built on a foundation of art and a long and storied history of collaborative artistic efforts. With its myriad of museums and as the home of the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, it comes as no surprise that HISD would take every opportunity to expose students to exciting and creative events in their own backyards.

The Houston Art Bike Festival is the little sibling event of the famous Houston Art Car Parade, and has grown into a massive occasion of its own, transforming MacGregor Park into an exciting celebration of human-powered student and community artwork.

The festival will take place Saturday, May 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at MacGregor Park (5225 Calhoun) and will include live music, community activities, food and beverages and, of course, a parade of hundreds of colorful and creative art bikes.

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Art students see through the eyes of Vincent Van Gogh with Heart for Art educational program

HISD’s Fine Arts Department is committed to providing accessible and equitable learning opportunities for all students regardless of their zip code. In keeping with this goal, HISD is constantly on the lookout for partnerships with organizations and programs that share these values.

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HISD alum and health pioneer memorialized in Earth Day tree planting

HISD’s Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy community will be planting 20 trees in one hour on Saturday, April 22, in honor of the late Dr. Polly Sparks Turner. The Earth Day initiative is in partnership with the Astros Foundation and Alpha Kappa Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

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Student artists create mobile masterpieces for annual Art Car Parade

One of the most beloved and well-known events in the city of Houston is the annual Houston Art Car Parade. Started by a commune of local artists in the 1980s, the Art Car Parade has evolved into a city-wide project representative of the creativity and joie de vivre of the Bayou City and has drawn in participants from all walks of life and of all ages.

The 36th Annual Art Car Parade will take place on Saturday, April 15, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The largest celebration of its kind, the parade will feature more than 250 vehicle works of art constructed by HISD students and staff, professional organizations, youth groups, and other creative Houstonian artists. The parade begins at Allen Parkway and Bagby Street and ends at Allen Parkway and Taft Street.

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HISD third graders define success with massive donation of dictionaries

Beginning in 2016 with only five schools, the Rotary Club of Houston’s Dictionary Project has been dedicated to providing reading resources to HISD third graders. The number of recipient schools has grown every year, and this year, thanks to the generosity of individual donor Kandy Kaye Horn, every third grader in every HISD elementary school was given their own dictionary.

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Celebrity chef Carla Hall visits Mandarin Immersion School to celebrate cafeteria staff

HISD’s Mandarin Immersion Magnet School (MIMS) was chosen as one of only four schools in the nation to be showcased in vendor Jennie-O’s School Cafeteria Takeover, an event that celebrates and honors school cafeteria staff.

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