CapCityKids (The Capital City Fund for Education) is a non-profit organization created to help children facing homelessness beat the odds and get a quality education. CapCityKids develops innovative programs and provides direct resources to help these students stay in school. Administrative costs for our programs are absorbed by our Board (Dobson Foundation) and by leveraging existing infrastructure at Austin Independent School District . Thanks to this close partnership, 100% of your donations go directly to the students. Your donations not only provide basic school supplies, but also support campus based specialist for at-risk students, after-school tutoring at homeless shelters, and help connect kids with social services.

About CapCityKids' programs

From our experiences in working with the Austin Independent School District (AISD) and consulting with education experts working on the problems that homeless students face, CapCityKids has identified three critical hurdles:

• Maintaining grade level skills - Families in crisis frequently move from school to school and even district to district. In fact, more than 40% of these kids are likely to attend two or more different schools in the course of the year. In addition to the basic stress of such instability and change, the vagaries of differing levels of acceptance and program flexibility in different environments, and differing and often contradictory curriculum and program objectives often conspire to make it difficult for students to keep pace with their peers.
• Meeting basic personal needs - For homeless children, clothes, supplies, classroom fees and miscellaneous expenses become extraordinary burdens. Without these basic needs, the social pressures alone can make the classroom situation untenable for even the most resilient students.
• Logistics - Basic transportation to and from school is a challenge for homeless families. After school activities such as clubs, tutoring, and appointments with counselors are simply not options for families whose most urgent priorities are finding a safe place to sleep and a meal for the day.

Finding solutions

In addition to transportation, school supplies and other support services, this budget provides grants to AISD for pilot programs aimed at discovering and implementing effective practices and procedures to minimize these hurdles.

Here is an overview of the programs CapCityKids supports:

• Shelter tutors - CapCityKids launched a unique tutoring program at Safeplace, an emergency women's shelter. The tutoring program provided over 640 hours of tutoring for school aged children living in the shelter during the school year. By placing tutors directly in the students living environment, the assistance is more accessible and relevant to the students’ lives, and thus more effective in bringing about a positive impact on their educational experience.  The tutors are either certified teachers themselves or working under the supervision of certified teachers.
• Summer months - CapCityKids provides for academic enrichment opportunities focused on building reading and social skills. The pilot program allows our certified teacher/tutors to assess the students' skills, collaborate with the students' classroom teachers, and work one-on-one with students to target areas for improvement. Click here for a Q&A with a shelter tutor.
• Teachers - CapCityKids funds a math specialist at Mathews Elementary to work with their homeless population and other at-risk students who are struggling academically. CapCityKids started working with Mathews Elementary in the 2006 – 2007 school year. Matthews has earned an Exemplary rating from the Texas Education Agency due to substantial increases in math scores by these students.
• Social workers - CapCityKids piloted a social worker program that helped more than 50 homeless high school students stay and succeed in school.  This population of students typically has a high  need of support in accessing basic needs services such as food, clothing, and shelter.   The Licensed Master Social Worker identified academic, charitable and government programs and services that gave the students the opportunity to sustain academic progress and graduate from high school. This special pilot project has lead to a strategic collaboration between CapCityKids, AISD and the School ofSocial Work at The University of Texas in Austin.

Kudos to DPR Construction

Special thanks to DPR Construction, which has given us more than $105,000 over the last three years to continue funding our Homeless Shelter Tutoring program! What a great company and what a difference they are making!

Meet the Team

Joslyn Dobson is an institutional investment manager and private investor who founded and sold Palladium Capital Management after managing assets for Criterion Asset Management in Houston and Boston. She is currently the managing Partner of JDSD Investments LTD, with interests in Texas and New York. She also advises several family offices, while exploring venture philanthropic opportunities.

Joslyn is a board member and co-founder of CapCityKids. She is Chairperson on the Board of Advisors to the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, as well as a member of the UT Presidential Development Board. Joslyn is a co-founder and on the Board of Directors for OncoPep, a Boston-based vaccine development company targeting cancer. She is on the Presidential Science Committee at the Dan-Farber Cancer Institute. 

Joslyn resides in Austin, Texas with her husband of 19 years, Sean Dobson, and their children - Sean-Karl (12) and Johanna Grace (11). She enjoys tennis, golf, cooking and spending time with her family.

Sean Dobson is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Amherst Holdings, an investment services company dedicated to U.S. real estate finance. Amherst is widely known for their data and analytics and one of the few residential mortgage specialist to anticipate the 2008 mortgage crisis.

Mr. Dobson has over 25 years of experience in the mortgage industry, has served  as a Board Member of the American Securitization Forum (ASF) and has counseled various branches of the federal government including the Department of Treasury, the Senate, The House of Representatives, The Federal Housing Finance Agency, The Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Council of Economic Advisors, and the National Economic Advisor on housing and mortgage related issues.

Mr. Dobson is a co-founder of CapCityKids and also currently serves as a Governing Trustee for the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston. He lives with his wife, Joslyn, and their two children, Sean-Karl and Gracie, in Austin, Texas.

Amy Kinkade has 35 years experience in education and currently is a lecturer and Cohort Coordinator in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas and is a field support specialist for Education Service Center, Region 13.

She retired from AISD in 2013 and previously was the principal at Mathews Elementary School. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Mrs. Kinkade taught students who had special needs in both El Paso and Austin. She started her administrative career first as a Special Education Instructional Coordinator for the Austin I.S.D. and then as a campus administrator. Campus administrator jobs have been:  Casis Elementary School principal, 12 years; Mills Elementary School, 3 years; Austin Jewish Academy (Head of School—4 years); Mathews Elementary School, 9 years. Mrs. Kinkade has had the opportunity to work with students, teachers, and parents in each of these communities.

Her passion for meeting the unique learning style of each student and supporting the teaching style of each teacher make her an administrator who is able to build relationships with students, teachers, and the community.

Steve Gorman recently retired from Amherst Holdings, where he remains a partner and continues to serve on the Board of Directors.  Steve, originally from Houston, was a founding partner of Spires Financial, LP and previously worked with Bear, Stearns & Co. in New York City.  He has over 30 years of experience in information technology and software engineering in the securities industry. Steve is the owner of Austin Time Machine, LLC, runs The Jerry Alexander Gorman Foundation and currently serves as the Treasurer of CapCityKids and runs operations in the background, ensuring our charity's smooth operation.

Steve enjoys biking around Austin and especially on the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike trail.  He also likes attending musicals in Austin at the Bass Concert Hall and the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Tracy G. Erwin is a partner at Amherst Holdings. In addition, she is a Managing Director with Amherst Pierpont Securities, L.L.C. of which Amherst Holdings is a shareholder. She holds a Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses in 10 states.  Ms. Erwin began her career in the securities industry in 1987 as a database programmer.  Her ambition and desire to learn eventually promoted her position to Sr. Quantitative Analyst with a staff of 10 reporting to her.  Her analytical mind led her to working with some of the top minds on Wall Street in preparing portfolio level risk models for fixed income securities.  She has worked closely with institutional clients with assets under management into the tens of billions.  Many of these clients she continues to work with today.

Prior to joining Amherst Securities, she was co-founder of Spires Financial, L.P.  She joined Amherst as a partner in 2002.  She recently moved to Austin from Houston where her daughter and 3 beautiful grandchildren reside.  Mason who is 7 along with his 3 year old twin sisters, Michaela & Liberty.

Philanthropic work has included co-chairing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun benefiting the Ronald McDonald House for 2013 & 2014.  This event has raised several hundred thousand dollars over the previous years.   Recently, Ms. Erwin was the proud recipient of the All American Award presented by Cancer Fighters of Houston during their Spring luncheon .  She also supports City Art Works and Stomp out Bullying.

Dan Ciola is a partner at Amherst Holdings and Sr. Vice President with Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC.

Ryan Mullaney serves as Senior Managing Director and Head of Sales at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC.

Help us help our students

CapCityKids (The Capital City Fund for Education) is a non-profit organization created to help children facing homelessness beat the odds and get a quality education. CapCityKids develops innovative programs and provides direct resources to help these students stay in school. Administrative costs for our programs are absorbed by our Board (Dobson Foundation) and by leveraging existing infrastructure at Austin Independent School District . Thanks to this close partnership, 100% of your donations go directly to the students. Your donations not only provide basic school supplies, but also support campus based specialist for at-risk students, after-school tutoring at homeless shelters, and help connect kids with social services.

It's easy to make a big difference in the life of a homeless student. Click the button below to see how you can help.

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