At Trellis Foundation, we believe in making the promise of higher education a reality for all students. We also recognize the over-representation of Black and Hispanic students in the justice system, and supporting educational opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals is critical to our equity goals. Higher ed in prison is a space that many [...]
When I was learning to knit during the pandemic, it took me about two months to finish my first scarf. As part of an innovative strategy to improve enrollment and retention, students at several Texas community colleges completed courses in 2022 and 2023 in about the same amount of time it took me to [...]
Joining Trellis Foundation: A New Chapter in My Commitment to Education and Equity I am excited to share that I am joining Trellis Foundation as a Program Officer. This new role is a significant milestone in my career, and I am eager to bring my passion for post-secondary education and equity to an organization [...]
School comes first. It is a phrase we often hear from our parents and teachers from a young age, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing your focus on schoolwork. Even in graduate school, while pursuing my Ph.D., my advisor alludes to this concept in our sometimes-heated one-on-one meetings discussing my performance as a doctoral student. [...]
It is a pleasure to join the Trellis Foundation as Program Officer. As an immigrant and first-generation college graduate, increasing higher education attainment for under-resourced communities is a deeply personal mission. My parents, who unfortunately had to pause their higher education journey, instilled in me the importance of a college degree from a young [...]
It is an honor to join the high-functioning team of Trellis Foundation as Chief of Staff. As a fourth-generation Mexican-American from a family of hard-working migrant farm and ranch workers and a first-generation college graduate, I’ve personally been a beneficiary of education-based opportunities, and I’ve dedicated my career to supporting funders who are committed [...]
As a higher education program officer without a background in the criminal justice or justice reform spaces, I have faced a steep learning curve as the Trellis Foundation expands our work in prison education programs and re-entry education supports. I imagine you may share my need for guidance. Even if your foundation doesn’t focus [...]
Texas has a young and diverse population of working-age adults, but are we ready for the jobs of tomorrow? Over the past few years, we’ve seen how quickly the job market can evolve. Expanding opportunities for Texans to update and build their skills is critical to filling employer demand for good jobs that pay [...]
W.E.B Du Bois described education as the gatekeeper of access because he believed education was the key to opportunities and socioeconomic mobility. Lack of education perpetuates poverty, particularly for marginalized communities facing systemic disenfranchisement and limited economic mobility. I understood this concept at 12 years old when I committed to go to college and [...]
At Trellis Foundation, supporting public policy change is crucial to our mission of helping low-income students and students of color succeed in postsecondary education. That's why our funding strategy includes breaking down the systemic barriers faced by students from communities facing historic and persistent barriers to higher education. One way we do this is [...]
