Microsoft invests in local programs that benefit people of all ages. In San Antonio, our collaborations are organized by our focus areas of Skills for Jobs, Enabling Sustainability, and Empowering Communities.
The following program list contains a sample of the investments Microsoft has made in San Antonio.
Skills for jobs
Microsoft believes everyone should have access to the skills, technology, and opportunity they need to succeed in a changing economy.
Alamo Colleges Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Alamo Colleges. Its focus is scholarships—life-changing gifts that help students come in and stay in, and achieve their dreams of a college education. As a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit and philanthropic arm of the Alamo Colleges District, its mission is to strengthen the Alamo Colleges’ capacity to empower for success the diverse communities served by each of the Alamo Colleges.
- Palo Alto College Tech Program Equipment Support provided necessary funds for technology, equipment, and program support to fully outfit the recently opened Rio Grande multipurpose facility at Palo Alto College. Classrooms and dedicated lab spaces in the facility include: Advanced Manufacturing Center and Labs; Healthcare Center of Excellence; Dental Clinic for community use; health clinic; el museo/event space, Cybersecurity Lab; Science Labs; Simulated Courtroom; STEM Makers Space, and instructional spaces/labs. Palo Alto College, one the five Alamo Colleges, is a publicly funded, two-year community college federally designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) serving the needs of predominantly Hispanic, low-income students in south San Antonio, Texas and nearby counties of Bexar, Atascosa, Guadalupe, Medina, and Wilson.
- Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center at San Antonio College prepares the next generation of leaders to break down systemic racism and dismantle the belief in a hierarchy of human value. It aims to be a catalyst for narrative change so that everyone thrives in an equitable community. Reckoning with the past through land acknowledgments and supporting Native Urban Communities is paramount to building and equity ecosystem. It also aims to bring people together and build alliances with various citywide organizations focusing on social and racial justice. This project expanded the capacity and impact of the TRHT Center through the following projects/activities: 1) enhancing the existing Center by adding a healing and meditation space; 2) creating and equipping a resource lending library; 3) establishing a Native American and Urban Native Student Scholarship Fund; 4) sponsoring convenings to bring people together to prepare the next generation of leaders to break down systemic racism; 5) commemorating and committing to our Native American and Urban Native community through an art piece highlighting a local Native artist; and 6) launching a Narrative Change Project to develop podcasts on equity and collect oral history.
- gener8tor Skills Accelerator supports learners in obtaining high-quality employment in diverse, professional workplaces where the skills they gain from the accelerator can be applied. In alignment with Microsoft, gener8tor Skills focuses on building technical skills to help under- and unemployed individuals who fall under the category of hidden talent such as people of color, women, veterans, and others. The accelerator helps them secure meaningful employment across a variety of sectors (such as technology, insurance, finance, and professional services) in professional, technical, and administrative services roles. The accelerator increases access to technology and supports local employers in their hiring needs as well as their ability to adapt to digital transformation as learners are prepared for digitally-enabled jobs at these companies.
- Datacenter Academy Scholarship program supports students enrolled at the Microsoft Datacenter Academy at Northwest Vista College. The program provides financial support for those students who come from underrepresented backgrounds, by removing barriers and promoting a diverse workforce. Datacenter Academy Scholarships help pay for the cost of tuition, fees, and certifications for historically underrepresented students enrolled in IT/STEM, promoting the acquisition of skills and certifications for 21st-century employment in a world increasingly reliant on cloud computing big data.
Enabling sustainability
Climate change requires swift, collective action and technological innovation. We are committed to meeting our own goals while helping communities to do the same.
American Forests is the oldest national nonprofit conservation organization in the United States. It creates healthy and resilient forests, from cities to large natural landscapes, that deliver essential benefits for climate, people, water and wildlife. It advances its mission through forestry innovation, place-based partnerships to plant and restore forests, and movement building.
- Advancing Tree Equity in San Antonio is planting trees in school districts with low canopy coverage and supporting career training for young adults to become future professionals in environmental resilience, community leadership, and conservation and disaster response. American Forests partnered with Bexar Branches Alliance (BBA) and American Youthworks, along with environmental science teacher Isaac Esquivel, Northside Independent School District, and classes at Jim G Martin Elementary and Rhodes Elementary. American Youthworks provides Texas Tree Corps members to lead students as part of the planting project and educate them on careers in urban forestry. Additionally, BBA is exploring equity-driven restoration opportunities in Medina County, in particular in Castroville, which are accompanied with installed irrigation to ensure trees planted have the maintenance support needed to thrive. And BBA’s Rooted Resilience program creates equitable access to professional tree care and ensures existing tree canopy, regardless of the neighborhood it is in, is properly cared for.
- Garcia Street Urban Farm is a 4.1-acre Eastside urban farm in San Antonio—one of the largest in the city. The farm serves as an education and food production hub in a U.S. Department of Agriculture designated food desert. The Urban Farm is a component of Opportunity Home San Antonio’s Choice Neighborhoods Critical Community Initiatives plan funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant. William R. Sinkin Eco Centro at San Antonio College manages the Urban Farm, creating opportunities for community involvement and volunteerism, providing education, resources, and fresh produce. The farm supports healthy initiatives, community gardeners, and urban agricultural research.
Society for Ecological Restoration inspires, motivates, and engages people to protect, preserve, and restore wildlife habitat.
- Mission Reach Environmental Education and Green Jobs for Youth in San Antonio is a collaborative restoration project by Trinity University and the San Antonio River Authority (SARA). The project is developing and assessing best practices for restoring native grasslands that are being degraded by invasive non-native Guinea grass along a beloved and highly used Mission Reach area of the San Antonio River. University students and members of the public (including datacenter employees) will assist both with establishment of native species and data collection regarding Guinea grass control and native grassland restoration along the river corridor. The pilot project tested practices in a 2.5 acre area with the intent to apply the results to more than 500 acres of land experiencing similar degradation.
Empowering communities
Microsoft is committed to strengthening communities and empowering the organizations that help them thrive. Whether affected by a recent emergency or decades of challenges, we use data, technology, and strategic investments to restore and support them for future generations.
ChangeX International helps to create thriving communities everywhere by democratizing change, ensuring proven innovations and finance are accessible to everyone, everywhere. ChangeX is a community engagement platform that, with Microsoft’s support, has funded more than 500 groups in communities across Europe and the United States since 2015. Funds are repeated often throughout the years.
- ChangeX San Antonio Community Challenge makes financing, resources, and support available to those who are interested in starting a proven idea, across the themes of community environment and community tech skills, with the aim of strengthening their local community. It focuses on community or school gardens, revitalization projects, and STEM labs or workshops. Key goals are to launch new local projects in the region around environmental sustainability, digital skills, and community prosperity, contributing to more sustainable, livable, and inclusive communities.
Tech Impact works to change lives, organizations, and the world.
- Digital Transformation Initiative – Cohort (San Antonio) provides education to each cohort to provide benefits of the Microsoft Cloud in relation to the organizations’ productivity and security goals and align digital transformation to the mission and impact goals of each organization. The education can be delivered through in-person workshops or online webinars and followed up with on-demand session recordings. Select cohort participants have the opportunity to participate in TechCheck consultations with Tech Impact. The TechCheck will assess the organization’s current technology, security, and governance and produce recommendations to close any gaps that the assessment exposes. Recommendations will include projects with associated budget.
WLD Johnson Scholarship Foundation is based upon the conviction that an education is essential to a healthy thriving community. The Foundation provides access to postsecondary education to members of the community who otherwise would not have the financial means to fulfill their educational goals.
- WLD Johnson Foundation Weekly Mentoring programs teach students table etiquette, leadership, follow-ship, and the importance of scholarship. The mentoring program graduates go to their prospective colleges and return to mentor the kids that are still in the program.