Posts by Ashley Thornton
The Goal is to Share: Thoughts on Philanthropy, One Semester In
by Andy Hogue and Ross Tarpley In October 2013, I (Andy) sat outside Common Grounds one splendid fall morning with Lauren Wolter, the director of a new program called The Philanthropy Lab. Based in Fort Worth, The Philanthropy Lab was working with Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and a few other elite universities to do something innovative:…
Read MoreBut Some of Us are Brave: Lucas Land
(This post is one in a series on race titled “But Some of Us Are Brave.” The series includes posts from a diverse group of writers from our community. It takes a considerable amount of transparency and vulnerability for the contributors to this series to pen these posts and voice their experiences. We appreciate their…
Read MoreAffordable Housing: A New Year’s Resolution we can all Support
By Phil York Happy New Year! The holiday leftovers are long-gone; decorations are starting to find their way back to storage reluctantly and the sound of holiday music is replaced with the resounding resolutions for the New Year. This week, President Obama addressed Central High School in Phoenix, Arizona. He asked the audience to remain…
Read MoreShe Did it Anyway : A Birth Story
by Jenuine Poetess One Friday evening late in May 2009, I ventured to a place I had never been before, yet a place I had known for years: Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural. This independent bookstore and non-profit community center for arts and culture is nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in California.…
Read MoreBut Some of Us are Brave: DeShauna Hollie
(This post is one in a series on race titled “But Some of Us Are Brave.” The series includes posts from a diverse group of writers from our community. It takes a considerable amount of transparency and vulnerability for the contributors to this series to pen these posts and voice their experiences. We appreciate their…
Read MoreNational Mentoring Month: Capes, lawn mowers and kids…
By Stephanie Korteweg Do you remember your childhood the way I remember mine? Water gun fights, hot summer days, swimming pools, imagining that you somehow, by some miraculous event, can run faster than the day before. Clenched teeth, you muster up every ounce of your energy to run with this newfound supernatural strength. You run…
Read MoreWaco-Centric Resolutions for 2015
by Ashley Bean Thornton These are exciting times in Waco! Let’s keep that ball rolling with some community-centric resolutions for 2015. Here are a few ideas to get us started. I’m sure you can think of many others… Spend more time downtown – So much great stuff is happening downtown! The more we take advantage of the opportunities,…
Read MoreA Retelling of the Hunger Story
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike” –Maya Angelou by Amber Jekot In a city of residents dedicated to addressing poverty and hunger, in a city with nonprofits aplenty, in a city where zeal for addressing these concerns is even a part of our city’s governance, we find ourselves proud of this strange…
Read More‘Tis the Season…to talk to your children about substance abuse
by Stephanie Drum The winter season is often a time of celebration and frequent get-togethers with friends, family, and coworkers. Unfortunately, according to the Council on Drug Abuse, the holiday season also sees a significant and reoccurring spike in depression, suicide, domestic violence, and drug and alcohol abuse – often intertwined. Especially for those who…
Read MoreThe Veggie Van is coming!
By Matt Hess Have you ever thought about how difficult it is to get nutritious food if you don’t have a car? The USDA defines a “food desert” as a geographic area where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain, particularly for those without access to an automobile. Research links food deserts to diet-related…
Read More