Grant to aid underserved youths
The Dickey Museum & Multipurpose Center may not have its permanent home at 500 Burkett St. rebuilt yet, but its program to aid underserved youth just got a major boost from the Anna+Anton Olson Legacy Foundation.
On Nov. 4, the foundation awarded the museum a $10,000 grant to launch a series of workshops for disadvantaged students from Taylor High School beginning in January in collaboration with Impact Counseling Services and Icye Walker from Inspire Change Everywhere.
The program will stress confidence building, business acumen and staying in school, officials said.
“We actually are collaborating with community stakeholders to create a pilot truancy-prevention program,” said Nakevia Miller, the vice president of the Dickey Museum, which is also raising funds to rebuild the historic home of the late civil rights leader Dr. James L. Dickey, two and a half years after it was destroyed by arson. “It’s centered on selfactualization, citizenship and service.”
Larry Olson, who launched the foundation in 2021 as a tribute to his Swedish pioneer grandparents, said the Dickey Museum’s focus dovetailed well with his organization’s goals, including fostering “entrepreneurship with youth and young adults in underserved areas, learning through community responsibility, hard work, customer service, self- confidence, financial literacy and problem solving,” according to the website.
“I’m glad that the Dickey Museum reached out to Anna+Anton during our 2024 Grant Program and look forward to working with them on their ‘Inspiring Leadership, Civility and Service’ project. I hope other Taylor nonprofit organizations will consider applying for grants during next year’s 2025 Anna+Anton Grant Program,” Olson said.
Olson’s Swedish ancestors established a farm near Hutto in 1935. They are among other Scandinavian immigrants who settled in Central Texas during that period.
This is the fourth annual grant cycle of the Anna+Anton Olson Legacy, which operates under the umbrella of the Central Texas Community Foundation, and provides up to $150,000 each year to nonprofits based in Georgetown, Taylor and Hutto.
However, this is the first grant for the Dickey Museum.
“I want the foundation to get credit for doing something that is truly transforming for our youth, and that is what we seek to do,” said Laurie Born, the museum’s grants manager.
Born said one reason the program is launching in January is to allow the 12 to 15 student participants a chance to prepare to attend the Dickey Museum’s annual Black History Month Gala in February.
“This group of youth are going to do some self-reflection and some confidence building, and they are going to get some business-etiquette lessons, including which fork to use during the dinner and how to have a conversation around a table at a formal event,” Born said. “We are going to teach them how to dress, business etiquette, and they will practice all January, and we are going to sit them at tables with possible mentors at the Black History Month Gala.”
In addition, Miller said future workshops will include community service and entrepreneurship projects focused on the area around Taylor’s Health Equity Zone, which Williamson County has identified as experiencing higher than average health and socioeconomic risks.
“The Health Equity Zone is the neighborhood that is around the museum.” Miller said. “The east, central and south side of Taylor is where we are mostly focusing our efforts.”
Olson said this was an additional reason the Dickey Museum was chosen for the grant.
“The Dickey Museum’s focus on supporting youth and young adults from Taylor’s Health Equity Zone is also a major priority area for Anna-Anton,” he said. “Helping youth to gain valuable life skills and develop a deeper connection to their community through workshops on civility, leadership, goal setting, civic engagement, personal and business finances will be a critical factor in their ability to succeed as productive individuals in Taylor.”
For more information, go to ctxcf.org/ anna-anton.
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This group of youth are going to do some self-reflection and some confidence building.”
— Laurie Born, Dickey Museum grants manager
