{"id":40383,"date":"2025-11-20T08:34:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/?p=40383"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:35:37","slug":"building-bridges-through-community-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Bridges Through Community Partners","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What began as a partnership with the organization Gateway of Grace to help support refugee families has become a transformative connection for the district. Gateway of Grace is a local nonprofit whose mission is to empower refugees by connecting them with essential resources like English classes, jobs, and children’s programs to help families achieve sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This unique collaboration offers early childhood teacher training, connects families to home instruction through the Family Literacy Center, and helps to open pathways to employment with Richardson ISD. District departments, including Early Childhood, xPlore, Food and Nutrition, and Transportation, often participate in community job fairs for recruitment. They\u2019ve begun seeing familiar faces from Gateway of Grace among the applicants. In fact, several are now serving as assistant caregivers in the RISD Child Learning Academies after being referred through the partnership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis partnership goes beyond traditional outreach – it transforms lives on both sides,\u201d says Jessica White, RISD Child Learning Academies Director. \u201cRefugee parents gain job skills and employment in early learning environments, while RISD benefits from a more diverse, culturally rich staff that reflects and supports the students they serve.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathy Shackelford, Gateway of Grace Director of Operations, said, \u201cOur partnership with RISD has been amazing on so many levels. The PK training staff has helped our ECL workers learn to become better early childhood teachers and prepare for careers at the elementary school level. We’re also grateful for the employment opportunities that RISD has afforded our ESL students who were ready to work at this higher level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, we\u2019re building bridges that empower families and create opportunities that reach far beyond the classroom and strengthen the community. The partnership is an exemplar of how education, empowerment, and community connection work hand in hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richardson ISD is proud to partner with Gateway of Grace to support families through education and opening doors to opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":10,"featured_media":40384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-40383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-homepage"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding Bridges Through Community Partners - Richardson ISD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building Bridges Through Community Partners - Richardson ISD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Richardson ISD is proud to partner with Gateway of Grace to support families through education and opening doors to opportunity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Richardson ISD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T14:34:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T15:35:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory-1024x576.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justine Huddleston\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justine Huddleston\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justine Huddleston\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/090d7639bd159f937fa158d0ec65b00f\"},\"headline\":\"Building Bridges Through Community Partners\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T14:34:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-04T15:35:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\"},\"wordCount\":299,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png\",\"keywords\":[\"homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\",\"name\":\"Building Bridges Through Community Partners - Richardson ISD\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T14:34:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-04T15:35:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Gateway of grace students with early childhood learning teacher around table\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Building Bridges Through Community Partners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/\",\"name\":\"Richardson ISD\",\"description\":\"Every Child. Every Teacher. Every Leader. Every Day.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Richardson ISD\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/risd_logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/risd_logo.svg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Richardson ISD\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/090d7639bd159f937fa158d0ec65b00f\",\"name\":\"Justine Huddleston\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32bd6c63c020c745d413e441f8d6522469b220599832c5fca9db4aefc6adf8b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32bd6c63c020c745d413e441f8d6522469b220599832c5fca9db4aefc6adf8b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justine Huddleston\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Building Bridges Through Community Partners - Richardson ISD","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Building Bridges Through Community Partners - Richardson ISD","og_description":"Richardson ISD is proud to partner with Gateway of Grace to support families through education and opening doors to opportunity.","og_url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/","og_site_name":"Richardson ISD","article_published_time":"2025-11-20T14:34:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-04T15:35:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory-1024x576.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Justine Huddleston","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justine Huddleston","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/"},"author":{"name":"Justine Huddleston","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/090d7639bd159f937fa158d0ec65b00f"},"headline":"Building Bridges Through Community Partners","datePublished":"2025-11-20T14:34:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-04T15:35:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/"},"wordCount":299,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png","keywords":["homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/","url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/","name":"Building Bridges Through Community Partners - Richardson ISD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png","datePublished":"2025-11-20T14:34:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-04T15:35:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GatewayofGrace_Webstory.png","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Gateway of grace students with early childhood learning teacher around table"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/building-bridges-through-community-partners\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Building Bridges Through Community Partners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#website","url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/","name":"Richardson ISD","description":"Every Child. Every Teacher. Every Leader. Every Day.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#organization","name":"Richardson ISD","url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/risd_logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/risd_logo.svg","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Richardson ISD"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/090d7639bd159f937fa158d0ec65b00f","name":"Justine Huddleston","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32bd6c63c020c745d413e441f8d6522469b220599832c5fca9db4aefc6adf8b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32bd6c63c020c745d413e441f8d6522469b220599832c5fca9db4aefc6adf8b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justine Huddleston"}}]}},"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42665,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40383\/revisions\/42665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.risd.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}