FORT DAVIS –– Mobile Comunidad, the nonprofit social services outreach program, has received grants from the Still Water Foundation and the Anonymous Fund of the Southwest Community Foundation to support several projects.
Funds were received for the school lunch program, the upcoming Mountain View Hospitality Academy, and general community outreach. “These significant grants, along with donations from private individuals, will position us well for these programs and our work in general,” said Mobile Comunidad co-founder Jeanine Bishop.
The organization feeds nutritious free lunches to Fort Davis school students at the elementary and secondary schools. All students are eligible, and for the 2024-2025 school year, Mobile Comunidad will feed the students daily at both schools. “Because the school district does not have cafeterias, we at Mobile Comunidad believe that this is one of our most impactful programs,” Bishop said. “We know that hungry students don’t learn effectively. And we know that nutritious meals are a key factor in childhood development, so we are pleased to have grant support for this program.”
Additional grant money will facilitate the organization’s hospitality training program launch. “This project has the potential to significantly and positively impact our region’s hospitality and tourism industry, our leading economic driver,” Bishop said. “We all know that hotels, restaurants and other businesses are having difficulty attracting and retaining staff while area students have few attractive career paths in their home communities. Our program will address both sides of this equation by working with hospitality and tourism employers, local high school graduates, and area adults seeking meaningful employment here. The goal is to provide a well-trained pool of candidates to the businesses and well-paying jobs with potential advancement to area adults from high school junior age and up.”
The mission of Mobile Comunidad is to provide accessibility to healthy food, technology, literacy, healthcare, and economic stability through community engagement, and collaborative partnerships. The organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, founded by Jeanine Bishop and Vicki Gibson in Fort Davis in 2020, serving the residents of Jeff Davis County.
More information is available, and donations can be made at the website, mobilecomunidad.org.