Spotlights

The Index for Volunteer Involvement (IVE), an organizational self-assessment tool developed at UT Austin, is helping organizations better engage volunteers and community groups in their work.

Portfolio alum Lily Trieu is the Founder and Executive Director of Asian Texans for Justiuce, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated ti engaging Texas' diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the democratic process.

On Friday, October 4th, the Social Entrepreneurship Certificate at the LBJ School of Public Affairs launched.

The second annual Cine-Activism film festival was hosted by the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Lorenzo Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the end of September. Portfolio student Larissa Costa and LBJ student Geraldine Fandiño organized the event to bring together an alliance of vulnerable communities in conversation within academia.

UT Austin students and alumni gathered at the LBJ School last Tuesday to discuss the critical role of legislative advocacy in policymaking and to explore career opportunities in the field. Panelists discussed their personal experiences working in legislative advocacy through nonprofits and shared tips on squeezing the most out of the graduate school experience.

This summer, a group of UT undergraduates and faculty traveled to Eastern Kenya to address the region’s water security issue as a part of the university’s 2023-2024 Presidential Award for Global Learning.

LBJ School students Marlene Plua, Sam Stone, and Brandon Mulder traveled to Mexico over the summer to complete their internships in collaboration with NGOs, governmental agencies, and local universities. Learn more about their experience in Mexico and in border areas along the Rio Grande.

LBJ School students Zander Mintz and Neëma Lubin traveled to Japan over the summer to complete their internships with NGOs like the Institute for Global Environment Studies and the Saskawa Peace Foundation. Learn more about their experience in Hayama and Hiroshima.

LBJ student Muhammad Qasim worked with the City of Austin’s Office of Innovation to develop a Grant Funding Opportunity Evaluation tool through the CONNECT program last spring. The tool, which was released this week, can be used by potential grantees to assess whether a funding opportunity is the right fit for their organization. 

As she was completing her PhD in Special Education last fall, CONNECT fellow Zhina Shen worked alongside local nonprofit Joshua’s Stage to further develop their data collection methods and improve their ability to measure, track, and communicate the impact of their programs.