Big Thought Awarded Texas Bar Foundation Grant

Big Thought is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $22,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation. The grant will be used to expand Big Thought’s Creative Solutions program and help  provide opportunity and training for area youth in the Dallas County juvenile justice system.

Creative Solutions, a partnership between Big Thought and the Dallas County Juvenile Department, is an arts-as-workforce program that provides youth a safe space for positive self-expression and social-emotional growth. Creative Solutions uses visual, performing and digital arts to help young people tap into their inherent greatness by improving job skills, promoting a positive self-image and increasing social and emotional development. Creative Solutions has worked with some 14,000 Dallas youth over a quarter-century. Through Creative Solutions, youth create and perform an original musical theater piece and create a gallery exhibition of multi-media artwork. In turn, they are paid for their work and build skills associated with job and college readiness, such as teamwork, decision-making, problem-solving, critical thinking and communication.

“We are grateful to the Texas Bar Foundation for awarding Big Thought this grant. For more than 30 years, our organization has been steadfast in its commitment to facing and addressing one of the biggest problems facing young people today – the opportunity gap,” said Byron Sanders, president and CEO of Big Thought. “We are thrilled that this grant will allow us to continue that mission.”

About the Texas Bar Foundation

Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $21 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably-funded bar foundation.

About Big Thought

For 30 years, Dallas-based education nonprofit Big Thought has worked with local and national partners to ensure all students have access to creative learning opportunities that prepare youth for success in work and life. Big Thought brings relentless optimism, innovation and imagination to the biggest problem facing education today: The Opportunity Gap. The organization’s programs and services are designed to make imagination a part of everyday learning, through after-school, in-school and summer learning opportunities. Together with its partners, Big Thought offers students access to personalized, high-quality, creative learning experiences that form the foundation for the crucial job and college readiness skills necessary for the future.