Transformation Waco

What Transformation Waco does

Transformation Waco is a Waco, Texas-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2018 that operates a full-service community schools strategy, delivering wraparound educational, health, and social services to students and families of Waco Independent School District (Waco ISD). Its core service portfolio spans afterschool academies (at the Estella Maxey and Kate Ross community centers), the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Vision Center (free pediatric eye exams and glasses with transportation from school), licensed social-worker mental health services, telehealth through Waco Family Medicine, the Inspiración Spanish-dominant early childhood program, the Family Center in East Waco (parenting classes, food pantry, SNAP enrollment, child development screenings), and the forthcoming Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center in partnership with the City of Waco. Operational technology is conventional service-delivery infrastructure — community school specialists, individualized care plans, and the third-party Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Growth assessment — rather than proprietary software platforms.

The organization's revenue model is grant- and contract-driven rather than commercial: a multi-year operating contract with Waco ISD covers wraparound services at four campuses (Alta Vista Elementary, Brook Avenue Elementary, J.H. Hines Elementary, and G.W. Carver Middle School), supplemented by federal grants (notably a $2.5M U.S. Department of Education Full-Service Community Schools grant awarded January 2023), state appropriations exceeding $8M for the Waco ISD partnership, foundation grants (Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation, Cooper Foundation, Moody Foundation, Waco Foundation), corporate and individual donations processed via Givebutter, and United Way funded-partner status for 2025-2027. All programs are provided at no cost to families. The organization restructured in October 2023 to focus exclusively on wraparound services, returning direct campus operations to Waco ISD for the 2024-2025 school year.

Transformation Waco serves a concentrated customer base: approximately 1,200 Waco ISD students receiving wraparound services (representing more than 60% of enrollment at partner campuses), plus the broader East Waco and South Waco family communities reached through the Family Center and afterschool sites. The organization coordinates a coalition of more than 140 community partners and reports measurable academic and attendance outcomes — a 37% reduction in chronic absenteeism across the four-campus Transformation Zone (2021-22 to 2022-23), 52% of Transformation Waco students meeting MAP growth targets versus a 50% national average, and 23 Teacher Incentive Allotment-designated educators. Leadership is a CEO model under Dr. Robin McDurham, with a volunteer Board of Directors chaired by Josh Caballero for the 2025-2026 term.

Name

Transformation Waco

Legal name

Transformation Waco

Website

https://transformationwaco.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Transformation Waco is a Waco, Texas-based nonprofit founded in 2018 that delivers wraparound educational, health, and social services — including afterschool programs, free pediatric vision care, mental health services, telehealth, early childhood education, and STEAM programming — to Waco ISD students and their families at no cost, funded primarily by a multi-year school district contract, federal and state grants, and foundation support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

K-12 Wraparound Services

NAICS

Educational Services (611), Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Special Education Vocational & Transition Programs (18–22) (EDAKAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Transition Services (Secondary to Postsecondary/Employment, Life Skills) (EDAJAKAG), School Transition & Independent Living Skills (OT) (EDAKAFAK), OT Evaluations, Assessments & IEP/504 Planning Support (EDAKAFAM), Transition-to-College/Independence Skills Tutoring for Learning Differences (EDANAFAJ)

Keywords

• Afterschool programs
• Wraparound services
• STEAM education
• Mental health services
• Community schools

Headquarters

HQ city

Waco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Grants (Federal & State): Receives federal grants, state funding, and local foundation support. Secured more than $8 million in new state funding for the partnership with Waco ISD. Awarded a $2.5 million U.S. Department of Education Full-Service Community Schools Program grant in January 2023 to expand wraparound services over five years.
2. School District Contract Revenue: Multi-year operating/partnership contract with Waco ISD (most recently approved for 2024-2025). Contract covers afterschool programs, vision services, mental health support, telehealth, legal support, early childhood programs, school readiness initiative, and parent universities.
3. Individual & Corporate Donations: Accepts donations via Givebutter online platform (givebutter.com/transformationwaco). Recognized with a Four-Star Rating Badge by Candid/GuideStar for transparency. Listed as a 2025-2027 United Way Funded Partner.
4. Foundation Grants: Receives foundation grants for specific programs (e.g., $65,000 grant from the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation to establish the on-site optometry clinic; $500 Texas Jazz Educators Association grant to G.W. Carver Middle School; $21,900 raised by Leadership Waco Class 39 for Brook Avenue outdoor learning space). Essilor Foundation covers the cost of glasses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Transformation Waco is a community-based nonprofit that delivers free wraparound services to Waco ISD students and their families, operating under a full-service community schools strategy. Its portfolio includes free afterschool programming, licensed mental health therapy and telehealth, free pediatric eye exams and glasses at the on-site Vision Center, early childhood school-readiness programs, family resources (food pantry, SNAP enrollment, basic needs), and STEAM education through the Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center. Services are coordinated across four Waco ISD campuses (Alta Vista Elementary, Brook Avenue Elementary, J.H. Hines Elementary, G.W. Carver Middle School) and community-center sites.

Product overview

Transformation Waco is a community-based nonprofit organization — not a software platform — that delivers a portfolio of wraparound programs and services centered around three pillars: Family Learning & Early Childhood, Wraparound Services, and Expanded Learning Opportunities. The portfolio is structured as a hub-and-spoke model in which the core organization (Transformation Waco, headquartered at 3005 Edna Avenue, Waco, TX) coordinates and operates multiple discrete programs: the Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center (hands-on STEM learning hub opening early 2026, in partnership with the City of Waco), the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Vision Center (free eye exams and glasses for Waco ISD students), Afterschool Academies/Clubs (free programs at Estella Maxey and Kate Ross community centers), the School Readiness / Family Center (East Waco family support hub), Inspiración (managed Spanish-dominant early childhood program), Mental Health Services (licensed clinical social workers and telehealth), and the Family Resources wraparound hub. Supporting the educational mission are the Novice Teacher Academy and Instructional Leadership Academy professional development programs, delivered in partnership with AUSL. Together these programs form an integrated full-service community schools strategy that has served more than 1,200 students across Alta Vista Elementary, Brook Avenue Elementary, J.H. Hines Elementary, and G.W. Carver Middle School in partnership with Waco ISD.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center: Community-based STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education hub offering hands-on learning experiences in engineering, robotics, digital technology, culinary science, makerspaces, and more for learners of all ages; opened in 2025 with full launch planned for early 2026 in partnership with the City of Waco.
• Bernard and Audre Rapoport Vision Center
• Inspiración
• Transformation Waco Family Center
• Transformation Waco Afterschool Clubs

Products and services

• Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center Community-based STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) education hub offering hands-on learning experiences in engineering, robotics, digital technology, culinary science, and makerspaces for learners of all ages, with year-round programming, school partnerships, and workforce-aligned STEM pathways.
• Bernard and Audre Rapoport Vision Center Provides free eye exams and glasses to all Waco ISD students ages 4 and older, staffed by an on-site optometrist (Dr. Hermineh Moradi). The clinic sees patients weekly, provides transportation from school, and delivers glasses prepared on-site in a few days, all at no cost to families.
• Afterschool Academies / Afterschool Clubs Free afterschool programs for K-8 students at the Estella Maxey and Kate Ross community centers. Each afternoon includes tutoring and homework help, a healthy meal, and enrichment activities such as cooking, photography, gardening, robotics, and sports. Operated Monday-Thursday at no cost to families in East and South Waco.
• School Readiness / Family Center The Transformation Waco Family Center in East Waco (1102 Calumet St.) offers programs supporting the whole family, including early childhood education, parenting classes, wellness activities, afterschool and summer clubs, mental health support, basic needs closet, food pantry, SNAP enrollment assistance, and crisis navigation. Year One Impact (Nov 2024-Aug 2025) served 155 individuals across 80 families.
• Inspiración Spanish-dominant early childhood program operated at Alta Vista Elementary that prepares at-risk Latino children aged infant to four for kindergarten readiness while providing concurrent parent classes. Includes Parents as Teachers-certified parent educators conducting home visits. Transformation Waco serves as fiscal agent and manager.
• Mental Health Services Licensed social workers and graduate interns provide trauma-informed therapy, crisis intervention, case management, and group therapy at no cost to families. Eliminates barriers to learning by addressing student mental health needs and integrates with telehealth behavior/mental health services through Waco Family Medicine.
• Novice Teacher Academy (NTA) Year-long professional development program for teachers with 1-3 years of experience, delivered in partnership with the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). Includes a summer boot camp covering classroom management, relationship building, and setup strategies, plus monthly walkthrough observations and group feedback.
• Instructional Leadership Academy (ILA) Year-long professional development program in partnership with AUSL for instructional specialists, assistant principals, and deans in the Transformation Zone. Participants develop shared student-centered instructional leadership skills, self-evaluate strengths, identify a problem of practice, and culminate with a capstone presentation.
• Family Resources / Wraparound Resource Hub Curated directory of community resources for families, including legal resources (Greater Waco Legal Services), food bank resources (Caritas of Waco, Shepherd's Heart, Salvation Army), diaper resources (Care Net, Caritas), public transportation (Waco Transit, free for Waco ISD students), counseling, and general needs assistance forms for multiple Waco ISD campuses.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship / core partnership, flagship and core.

• Waco Independent School District (Waco ISD)flagship / core partnershipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-year contract partner (most recently approved for 2024-2025). Originally launched to support transformation of five Waco ISD campuses; following October 2023 restructuring, Transformation Waco continues to deliver wraparound services to students at four campuses: Alta Vista Elementary, Brook Avenue Elementary, J.H. Hines Elementary, and G.W. Carver Middle School. The partnership covers free afterschool programming, licensed counselors and social workers, eye exams/glasses, telehealth, legal support, school readiness, and parent universities.
• City of WacoflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-designs programs and learning experiences for the new Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center, opening in early 2026. The City owns the facility and Transformation Waco operates it. Celebrated the STEAM Center's first 100 days with Transformation Waco.
• Waco Family MedicinecoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCo-delivers telehealth medical and behavior/mental health services for students; co-operates the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Vision Center; co-hosts Vision Fest events. One of six FSCS grant consortium partners.
• Communities In Schools of the Heart of TexascoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerOne of six FSCS grant consortium partners; runs the adopt-a-student Winter Village program (served 50 students in 2022). Helps students and families access social, emotional, mental health, and academic support.
• InspiracióncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal early childhood nonprofit operating at Alta Vista Elementary. Transformation Waco is the fiscal agent and manager. Spanish-dominant program prepares at-risk Latino children infant to four for kindergarten readiness while providing parent classes and Parents as Teachers-certified home visits. FSCS grant consortium partner.
• Prosper WacocoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFSCS grant consortium partner. Provides UpSkill Employment Training Courses to TW families to increase equitable workforce training pathways in high-demand, high-paying occupations across McLennan County.
• Waco Housing AuthoritycoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFSCS grant consortium partner. Supports the School Readiness Initiative launching at the Estella Maxey Place Apartments East Waco housing complex using the Parents as Teachers curriculum to serve up to twelve families with children ages infant to four weekly.
• Waco Police DepartmentcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerFSCS grant consortium partner. Runs the National Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, Inc. (PALs) Pilot Program providing mentorship, service, athletics, recreational enrichment, educational opportunities, and resources for juvenile crime and violence prevention.
• Grassroots Community DevelopmentcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCo-leads Collaborative family engagement groups with TW (expanding from two elementary campuses to three schools under the FSCS grant). Co-presented at the National Community Schools & Family Engagement Conference in Los Angeles in June 2022.
• Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerPartners on the year-long Novice Teacher Academy (NTA) and Instructional Leadership Academy (ILA), providing practical professional development for teachers and school leadership teams in the Transformation Zone.
• Baylor University (multiple departments)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports TW via Baylor Department of English, Baylor Freedom Schools, Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, Baylor NAACP, Baylor Nutrition Outreach Waco (BNOW), Baylor Office of External Affairs, Baylor Pipeline, Baylor Pre-Health Organization, Baylor School of Public Health, Baylor Society for Black Engineers, Baylor Bear 2 Bear, Baylor's Regent Spouse Program, Baylor School of Education, Baylor School of Social Work, BEAR Project, etc.
• Greater Waco Legal ServicescoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerProvides free legal support to TW families and students as part of the wraparound services funded by the Waco ISD contract.
• Region 12 Education Service CentercoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerEducation service center partner supporting TW programs.
• Waco Family Medicine (Vision Center partner)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCo-operates the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Vision Center; provides pediatric optometry services.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• StriveTogether: National cradle-to-career network funding local collaboratives that coordinate school, health, and family services across a geographic region — a peer model to how Transformation Waco coordinates 140+ Waco partners around a defined student population.
• Reading Partners: Nonprofit that places trained tutors inside public schools to deliver literacy intervention — a narrower point of overlap with Transformation Waco's afterschool tutoring/homework help at Waco ISD campuses, sharing the in-school delivery model and volunteer/intern workforce.

Others

• National Parents Union: National parent-advocacy network that organizes families in underserved school communities — comparable to Transformation Waco's family engagement and parent university work, though oriented toward advocacy rather than direct service delivery.

Broad incumbents

• KIPP Foundation: National charter network that combines rigorous academics with wraparound supports (health, mental health, enrichment) for underserved students — overlapping mission and target population, though operating charter schools rather than partnering with traditional ISDs.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: National provider of free/subsidized afterschool and youth development programming for K-12 students — overlapping with Transformation Waco's Afterschool Academies at Estella Maxey and Kate Ross community centers, but at far greater geographic scale and without the district contract layer.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: Large national youth-services nonprofit offering mentoring and out-of-school programming — comparable in mission (supporting underserved youth) and donor base, but focuses on 1:1 mentoring rather than wraparound service coordination inside schools.

Direct peers

• Parents as Teachers: National early childhood organization whose home-visit curriculum Transformation Waco explicitly uses in Inspiración and the Family Center. PAT provides the evidence-based parenting/home-visiting framework underpinning TW's birth-to-four school readiness programming.
• Harlem Children's Zone: Pioneer of the full-service community schools / wraparound model that bundles in-school academics with on-site health, social, and family services for children in a defined zone — the same conceptual framework Transformation Waco operationalizes in the Waco Transformation Zone.
• Children's Aid Society: Operator of community schools that integrate on-site health clinics, early childhood, afterschool, and family services directly inside partner public schools — directly analogous to Transformation Waco's on-site Vision Center plus wraparound suite at Waco ISD campuses.
• Communities In Schools: National nonprofit that places site coordinators inside public schools to deliver wraparound services (attendance, mental health, basic needs) — the same operating model Transformation Waco uses at Waco ISD campuses. CIS of the Heart of Texas is already a Transformation Waco FSCS consortium partner.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/TransformationWaco
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pu-solutions

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Transformation Waco