TI’s ¡Unidos! Community Involvement Team has raised funds and donated volunteer hours to programs that make a difference in the lives of people living in the Dallas area. Four of the nine team members are pictured (L to R): John Rodriguez, Pilar Loya, Adelina Lewis, and Ruben Ismael Reyna. (Not pictured) Irma Annillo, Haydee Barajas, Mario Gonzalez, Lisa Maestas, Janie Reed.

TI’s ¡Unidos! Community Involvement Team (CIT) makes a difference in the lives of people living in the Dallas area.

During the last five years, nine dedicated TI ¡Unidos! CIT members have raised almost $100,000 in funding and provided more than 500 volunteer hours to strategic programs that further the educational and creative growth of the Hispanic community.

“There’s a huge need in the Dallas area,” said Ruben Ismael Reyna, ¡Unidos! Community Involvement co-chair and TI project manager. “Dallas has one of the highest high school drop-out rates in the country, and there’s a need to support groups from early childhood development through parental and art support programs.”

The ¡Unidos! CIT was originally part of TI’s Hispanic Employee Initiative Forum (HEIF), which changed its name to ¡Unidos! earlier this year. Under HEIF, TI teams supported a wide-range of nonprofit agencies and programs over a span of more than 30 years.

In 2009, the CIT made the decision to focus on five strategic Hispanic programs where ¡Unidos! CIT members can provide mentors, speakers, funding and volunteer time. These programs include Mi Escuelita, Trinity River Mission, Junior Players, The Concilio and Avance.

Supporting education
¡Unidos! CIT partners with Mi Escuelita and Trinity River Mission (TRM) to support children academically.

Mi Escuelita’s mission is to teach English to children from all cultures and prepare them for academic success. Each year, about 200 children leave Mi Escuelita and enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed in English-speaking classrooms.

TI’s partnership with Mi Escuelita goes back to the early 1980s. Today, ¡Unidos! volunteers read to three classrooms of children one day each week.

“Earlier this year, Mi Escuelita had a flood in their school that totally destroyed two classrooms,” said Adelina Gonzalez Lewis, ¡Unidos! Community Involvement co-chair and a TI design engineer. “They lost their place to teach the kids—furniture, books, computers, notes, supplies—they lost everything.”

To help with their loss, the ¡Unidos! CIT named Mi Escuelita the recipient of the team’s $1,000 TI Founders Community Service Award donation.

The CIT’s work with the TRM, a volunteer-based community learning center that promotes literacy and develops effective life skills among disadvantaged youth in West Dallas, involves team members volunteering for a weekly online math tutoring program and helping to recruit and train new volunteers.

TI University Programs Manager Irma Annillo is a long-time TRM volunteer. She began volunteering at TRM in 2002 as a literacy tutor then became involved in their mentoring program in 2005.

In 2009, she championed an effort to launch TRM’s virtual math program at TI. This online program enables disadvantaged students to receive free math tutoring services from volunteers using donated computers, headsets and online math programs.

“Irma is one of TRM’s most loyal and dedicated volunteers,” said Dolores Sosa Green, TRM’s Executive Director. “As Irma helps to recruit fellow TI colleagues to tutor students in math, this program could potentially serve close to 180 students per week.”

Community outreach efforts
To enhance their community outreach efforts in the areas of mentoring, the arts and family services, ¡Unidos! CIT members support programs sponsored by Junior Players, The Concilio and Avance.

¡Unidos! CIT members support Junior Players’ efforts to provide free, high quality, after-school and summer arts education programs to thousands of Hispanic youth in the greater Dallas area.

In addition to sponsoring a night at the Junior Players’ Shakespeare in the Park Festival, the team has also sponsored auction items and a table at the Junior Players’ annual gala fundraising dinner.

At The Concilio, which advocates and enhances quality of life for Hispanics by addressing the lack of culturally and linguistically effective programs, Lewis spoke to families as part of the nonprofit organization’s parent engagement program for United Way’s Destination: Graduation initiative.

In late 2010, Lisa Maestas, a TI program manager, served as a volunteer at The Concilio’s annual health fit expo. More than 7,000 people came to this event to learn about wellness, receive free health screenings and enjoy physical activities.

“We are continually grateful for the different ways that ¡Unidos! has partnered with us,” said Tara Dunn, The Concilio’s Development Director. “Each way has been unique and extremely meaningful to the families we serve.”

¡Unidos! team members also support Avance, which works to strengthen families in at-risk communities through effective parent education and support programs.

Last year, one of the members coordinated an effort to teach project management skills to the Avance Alumni group, which enabled them to have a very successful district-wide middle school fair. Team members have also helped train, lead and volunteer at a middle school magnet fair that informed the Latino community about the availability of magnet schools.