DENTON (UNT), Texas — The University of North Texas (UNT) Foundation has been awarded a $1.1 million M-Pact Fund grant from the Moody Foundation to enhance educational opportunities for students with foster care experience across the state.

UNT will manage the M-Pact Fund grant in partnership with Education Reach for Texans, a statewide nonprofit that focuses on improving post-secondary education outcomes for students who have experienced foster care by offering professional development, training, and technical assistance to foster care liaisons and support programs.

This collaboration bolsters the statewide work of Education Reach for Texans on UNT’s campus, including its work with UNT’s Persevere UNTil Success Happens (PUSH) program. PUSH offers UNT students who have experienced foster care or homelessness a comprehensive support network covering academics, financial literacy, career readiness, and social well-being. Education Reach will work closely with the PUSH program and six other institutions in Texas to assist foster care students in accessing, persisting through, and graduating from higher education institutions.

“This grant supports our combined efforts to improve outcomes for our students who have experience living in foster care,” said Elizabeth With, senior vice president for the Division of Student Affairs. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Education Reach for Texans and welcome them to UNT’s campus.”

In Texas, only 3% of students with experience in foster care graduate with a degree. The state provides foster care students with a college tuition and fee waiver; however, 40% of eligible students don’t take advantage of it. Research shows that the students who do take advantage of the waiver are 3.5 times more likely to graduate with a degree. UNT and Education Reach for Texans will work together to better understand why students fail to use the waiver, and identify actionable solutions.

“This grant is a game changer for our organization and helps us move from an all-volunteer working board to having staff dedicated to increasing student success rates,” said Sheila Bustillos, a co-founder of Education Reach for Texans and director of UNT’s Student Services Assessment. “As a result, we will be able to strengthen our collaborations with other agencies and universities across the state.”

UNT will also become the operational hub for Education Reach for Texans’ new peer mentoring program. This innovative initiative hires and trains foster care students from campuses across Texas to mentor younger students. The goal is twofold: 1) increase the percentage of students using the Texas Tuition and Fee Waiver for foster youth and 2) increase campus support program engagement.

The Moody Foundation's M-Pact Fund will support staffing and activities, including funding for UNT staff to manage the mentoring program and for hiring and training student mentors. Additionally, the grant will support operational costs and research initiatives.

Brenda Sweeten, clinical professor for social work and foster care liaison at UNT, emphasized the importance of this partnership. “Reach is invaluable to campus support programs like PUSH and foster care liaisons across the state because it offers technical support, information sharing, and training for liaisons. This enables campus support programs and liaisons to more effectively meet the needs of students who have experienced foster care,” she said.

The M-Pact Fund is an annual grantmaking process and a key component of the Moody Foundation’s historic commitment of $1 billion for Texas education over 20 years. The name of the “M-Pact” fund reflects the trustees’ vision of a mutual promise and partnership between the Foundation and its grantees to support student success. With benefits extending beyond grant funding, the M-Pact Fund will unite a comprehensive network of grantees to foster collaboration and share best practices, starting with an annual convening in 2025.

The inaugural cohort offers a comprehensive network of state-wide solutions, serving more than 2.9 million individuals across the state of Texas, from the Rio Grande Valley to Amarillo.

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About the University of North Texas

Ranked a Tier One research university by the Carnegie Classification and designated a Hispanic- and Minority-Serving Institution, UNT is the flagship of the UNT System and is located in Denton. Boasting 250 degree programs and a thriving community of nearly 47,000 students, UNT serves the North Texas region and helps drive the state’s economy through innovative research, educational excellence focused on career readiness, and a spirit of entrepreneurship. Together, with its branch campus in Frisco, UNT students earned more than 12,000 degrees last year.

The UNT community is guided by five shared values — Courageous Integrity, Be Curious, We Care, Better Together and Show Your Fire. Learn more about our values.

About Education Reach for Texans

Education Reach for Texans seeks to eliminate barriers to success and build support programs for students with lived experience in foster care attending public colleges and universities in the state of Texas. Collaborating with foster care liaisons and stakeholders, the organization works to improve post-secondary educational outcomes by offering evidence-based best practices to enhance student success, empowering them to thrive as adults.

About the Moody Foundation

The Moody Foundation was established by W.L. Moody, Jr. and Libbie Shearn Moody in 1942 to share their good fortune and make a difference in the lives of the people of Texas. Since then, the Foundation has pledged and awarded more than $2 billion in grants throughout the state to organizations that have educated, healed, nurtured and inspired generations of Texans. The Moody Foundation continues with a board of three trustees: Frances Moody-Dahlberg, Ross Moody and Elizabeth Moody. Learn more at MoodyF.org and follow the Foundation on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates.