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Get to Know Jeaiza Quiñones

2025-12-03T06:58:47-05:00December 3, 2025|Categories: Blog|

As a proud graduate of Prairie View A&M University, I’m thrilled to return to my “home away from home” in Texas to begin my role as Grants and Operations Assistant with the Trellis Foundation. Returning to Texas is an opportunity to be closer to family and to give back to a state and community that [...]

Embracing Today’s Students: Insights from the Modern Learner Summit

2025-11-25T15:16:36-05:00November 24, 2025|Categories: Blog|

The image many of us have in our heads of the typical college student—someone straight out of high school focused exclusively on their postsecondary studies—is wildly outdated. Today’s students are increasingly juggling work, family, and school while navigating a higher education system that was not designed for them. To explore how institutions can better [...]

Exit Interview with Shamecca Perkins

2025-09-30T08:41:37-05:00September 30, 2025|Categories: Blog|

At the start of the 2023 academic year, we welcomed Shamecca Perkins (Mecca) to the Foundation as our new Graduate Fellow. A former student advisor pursuing her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, Mecca brought extensive experience and a strong dedication to education accessibility and equity. As her [...]

Get to Know Marianna Fresquez

2025-09-10T09:20:37-05:00September 10, 2025|Categories: Blog|

I am thrilled to be joining the Trellis Foundation team as a Graduate Fellow! As a first-generation college student, post-secondary education access, opportunity, and success are subjects that hit close to home. Navigating higher education without a clear guide required me to rely heavily on support resources throughout my university tenure. That experience instilled [...]

Get to Know Kaitlyn Koba

2025-09-04T13:54:46-05:00September 4, 2025|Categories: Blog|

Robert Frost’s poem Nothing Gold Can Stay communicates something beyond impermanence; it speaks to the importance of preservation. Furthermore, in my interpretation, it speaks to the endurance of marginalized communities, those vulnerable to systemic neglect. I am honored to join the Trellis Foundation—an organization committed to building a higher education system that serves everyone—as [...]

Empowering Nontraditional Students

2024-10-02T13:30:46-05:00October 2, 2024|Categories: Blog|

In my previous blog, I shared my experiences as a nontraditional student trying to complete the hidden graduate school curriculum - those unspoken expectations and necessities for successful degree completion - while finding employment that aligns with my education and skills. This challenge is not unique to graduate students. In 2020, 19% of full-time [...]

Cultivating Collaboration: Lessons from Gardening for a Thriving Social Sector

2024-09-16T15:25:57-05:00September 23, 2024|Categories: Blog|

As we close the values blog series sharing Trellis Foundation staff reflections on our values, it’s fitting that we end where our social sector begins: collaboration. In Kristin’s introductory post, she pointed to the etymology of the word “philanthropy: love of humanity,” and in this blog, we’d like to elevate the origin of collaboration, [...]

Making Informed Decisions: Beyond the Data

2024-09-10T10:42:55-05:00September 16, 2024|Categories: Blog|

In highlighting data-informed decisions as a core value, the Trellis Foundation is elevating just one element of our greater commitment as a learning organization. For over a decade, the philanthropic sector has explored “What is a Learning Organization?” And in my year with the Foundation, I have seen us explore this idea deeply and [...]

Integrity in Grantmaking: Improving Accessibility, Clarity, and Transparency

2025-01-31T17:46:31-05:00September 9, 2024|Categories: Blog|

It’s never easy to say “no.” There are power dynamics in philanthropy that need to shift, and processes that favor funders and waste applicants' time need to be changed. There are myriad examples of needed reflection points and systems change in philanthropy. But at the end of the day, foundation program officers are generally [...]

Illuminating Pathways: The Role of a Black Male Educator and Equity Advocate

2024-08-27T12:09:10-05:00September 1, 2024|Categories: Blog|

As a Black male educator and equity advocate, I stand at a unique intersection of identity and purpose, driven by the belief that all students deserve equal educational opportunities. This belief is rooted in a deep understanding of the systemic barriers that have historically marginalized students of color, and our responsibility to dismantle these [...]

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