Our Initiatives

Quality teachers are consistently identified as the most important school-based factor in student achievement. On average, a high-performing teacher increases student learning by 50% more than expected growth over the course of a school year. Texas has hundreds of educator preparation programs of varying quality and varying levels of access to aspiring teachers. The teacher pipeline must be robust to meet the needs of a growing state with a growing student population. We are working with our partners to define, build, and scale models of high-quality educator preparation. The target for these efforts is specifically focused on Dallas-Fort Worth and the Rio Grande Valley with the goal of at least 50% of new teachers being prepared in high-quality educator preparation programs by 2030.

Texas has grown rapidly, and the state’s population is projected to expand by 70% from 2020 to 2070. While this growth can fuel robust economic development, ensuring the vitality of Texas’ cities, industries, and agriculture while also protecting natural resources will require careful water management. As water demand increases, state water supplies will drop by 18%. The state water plan suggests that water conservation strategies could meet 30% of future water demand. 

While conservation success can be determined in part by policies, everyday water users are the conservation decision makers, and how they value water is the most crucial element of achieving an overall demand reduction. We are working with our partners to advance water conservation, with the goal of reducing the planned use of water by 30% by 2030.

Depression is the most common mental illness in the U.S. In North Texas alone, 300,000 adults and children experience depression annually. We know that mental health treatment works: two-thirds of individuals who receive evidence-based, measurement-based care get better. However, less than one in 10 receive this type of care. 

With appropriate training and support, primary care physicians can screen, identify, and provide effective behavioral and mental health treatment and referrals to their patients, which could fill this gap in care. In fact, at least 80% of individuals diagnosed with depression can be treated by their primary care physician. We are working with our partners to integrate evidence-based practices into primary care at large healthcare systems, with the goal of ending untreated depression in North Texas by 2030.