Foundation for Innovative and Restorative Edcuatio | Application Preview
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 85-0645566
Location: Round Rock, TX, United States
Length of Operation: 1-5
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: $100k to $250k
Annual Gross Expense: $100k to $250k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
We are currently seeking $150,000 dollars to support our 2024-2025 Programs and Students In Need funds, as well as, our Phase 1 funds for the Educational Empowerment Center Campus.
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Business Plan
The demand for innovative, inspired, and accessible education continues to grow. We will grow our organization in connection with our partner organizations by continuing to support and develop innovative learning programs, by ensuring access if available to all within the community, and finally by the completion of the build of our Educational Empowerment Campus in Round Rock, Texas. A first-of-its-kind, community-centric, educational empowerment center that will serve as an example for other Central Texas communities. The FIRE Foundation team consists of experienced entrepreneurs united as Central Texas parents committed to empowering our children with real-world education to succeed in the 21st century. Texas parent and film producer Nicholle Walton-Durban created a project-based learning youth film school in 2014 in response to her children’s demand for higher-quality arts programming than available in the local school system. In 2016, Walton-Durban partnered with Jo Ann Nolte of Learning Fun 101 STEM education to launch ESTEAM Academy, a micro-school in Round Rock affiliated with Acton Academy Socratic-based pedagogy. Regional demand for the ESTEAM model led to the creation of ESTEAM Learning Labs, partnering with hundreds of Central Texas public and private schools to provide after-school and summer enrichment. The FIRE Foundation was established to support these initiatives, meet local demand, and expand opportunity and access. We have the experience, knowledge, and a proven track record with our previous programs to continue to innovative and support this space. ESTEAM Academy microschool and ESTEAM Learning Labs help young Central Texas learners develop vital real-world critical thinking, problem-solving, self-expression, collaboration, and leadership skills through accessible, affordable experiential education. ESTEAM Academy empowers learners ages 4-18 to each embark on a self-paced Hero’s Journey while cultivating a supportive learning community. Heroes help one another strive as learners and mentors in mixed-age academic Studios, facilitated by adult Guides and centered on Socratic discussions. Students take ownership of their learning, progressing through project-based Quests in the arts, humanities, STEM, and entrepreneurship within and beyond their Studios to accomplish self-identified goals and earn badges for academic and character-based mastery. ESTEAM Learning Labs implement our unique framework in summer camp and after-school enrichment formats, in partnership with 250+ Central Texas ISDs, private schools, and community organizations. Both the Academy and the Learning Labs incorporate the digital infrastructure of e-learning, in-person Studio study, and projects and apprenticeships based in the surrounding communities. Our Educational Empowerment Center will take ESTEAM’s vision and success further by casting all residents of Round Rock, TX as Heroes, embarking on their journeys in a community campus integrating high-quality, affordable education, opportunities accessible to all learners, and economic development beneficial to all. We will build and pilot the flagship EEC in Round Rock, designed to be replicated in underserved communities in Central Texas and beyond. EECs will equip young people with real-world skills and training, catalyze growth for local businesses and providers, and be hubs for cultivating community and opportunity across differences.
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Self Identified Competition
The goal of the EEC is not to be in competition with existing community assets, but rather to complement and compound their reach by including them in an ecosystem of cross-organizational programming and resource sharing. As the managing entity of the EEC, the FIRE Foundation will connect local programs to maximize their impact and cultivate audiences. As partners in the EEC, existing community organizations and service providers can expand their capacities through affordable space and state-of-the-art resources, with built-in audiences of learners to help them explore and experiment to better serve the public. FIRE Foundation leadership will work with Round Rock policymakers across sectors to ensure that the EEC supports the vision of the City’s Round Rock 2030 Comprehensive Plan, of which the first priorities are investing in community spaces to improve quality of life while being fiscally responsible, and ensuring there is local infrastructure and services to promote economic development. The goal of the EEC is not to be in competition with existing community assets, but rather to complement and compound their reach by including them in an ecosystem of cross-organizational programming and resource sharing. As the managing entity of the EEC, the FIRE Foundation will connect local programs to maximize their impact and cultivate audiences. As partners in the EEC, existing community organizations and service providers can expand their capacities through affordable space and state-of-the-art resources, with built-in audiences of learners to help them explore and experiment to better serve the public. FIRE Foundation leadership will work with Round Rock policymakers across sectors to ensure that the EEC supports the vision of the City’s Round Rock 2030 Comprehensive Plan, of which the first priorities are investing in community spaces to improve quality of life while being fiscally responsible, and ensuring there is local infrastructure and services to promote economic development.
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