Mission
To strengthen communities by helping people and community-based organizations to reach their goals.
Values
Community, Collaboration, Continuous Development, Empowerment, Enablement, and Health Failure
Statement on Diversity:
We believe everyone has a voice and deserves opportunities to succeed in life. We recognize that many communities, including those earning below poverty wages, minorities and women, historically have been disenfranchised and may require assistance with realizing their voice, abilities, potential, and obtaining opportunities. We stand ready to empower and enable people and other community-based organizations to achieve their goals.
What We're Doing
April – Summer Activities Summit
July/August – Capacity Building Conference
September – Mentoring/Wellness Focused Event
November 2025 – STEAM Fair
December – Holiday Volunteering
April – Summer Activities Summit
– – Expo of Summer Camps
– – Expo of Safety Resources
– – Expo of Summer Activities for Kids and Families
September – Lupus Walk/Run 5&10K
– – Medaled 5K & 10K Run
– – Walk Pledges
– – Expo of Mentoring and Wellness Resources
November – STEAM Fair
– – Expo for STEAM education efforts of local small businesses and organizations
– – Expo of vocational and collegiate STEAM-related programs
– – Expo of local and national STEAM-related jobs (Hiring Fair)
December – Holiday Volunteering
– – Food and Gift Giving
– – Spread of Holiday Cheer
Hosted Launch to the Future:, a family Friendly STEAM Fair to get familyies excited about education and STEAM based careers.
– – Over 5 hours of activities and fun
– – Over 450 in attendance
– – Gave away lots of Space and STEAM related prizes.
Provided school supplies for a family of six kids to start the 2023-2024 school year.
Distributed a $2,500 Community Builder Grant to a Central Florida Resident who served community, but couldn’t find assistance with basic needs.
Began Survey of educational resources in the Greater Orlando area related to STEAM.
Christmas Day Volunteering
– – Served 100 Families in temporary housing with meals and toys on Christmas Day 2022.
– – Provided 5 Families with paid temporary housing through the end of the 2022 holiday season.
– – Blessed a family with one month of paid temporary housing thorugh January 2023
WHO WE ARE
Justin Thomas
Executive Director and Board Chairman
Tatyanna Thomas
Board Member
Deandre Jones
Board Memeber
Sharon Zuniga
Director of Communications
INITIATIVES
Capacity building is a broad term that can encompass just about anything. To best serve the community, we have boiled our emphasis areas down to four inititiatives: Mentoring, Affordable Housing, Capacity Building, and Education. Typically community surveys would be conducted, public meetings would be held and buy in would be sought on initiatives, but these issues are so prevalent and just about every entity from the city, county and state governments, local school districts, and chambers of commerce have al prioritized these goals in some fashion. To use resources on identifying what everyone already recognizes would be a misuse of time and resources. With this in mind, Grace Capacity’s work turns to HOW we get after these initiatives.
There are many organizations and individuals who already work in these spaces and they do their jobs well. Our desire is NOT to jump into the fray and contend for volunteers, donations, grants, or constituents receiving services. Instead, our goal is to:
1. Be a megaphone for the community, highlighting the great work entities are accomplishing in their unique ways.
The reality is many organization operating in specific spaces are bound by their missions, financial sources, and current capacity to serve. Government organizations have laws, policies, and political considerations that play a heavy hand in how they are able to assist. In instances where services are not being provided or there is a coverage gap, we would:
2. Expose the gaps that exist in our Initiative areas throughout the community so organizations well equipped to handle these things can cover those areas.
Being that our mission is intentionally crafted as a community-capacity building organization, this may look like technical services for a new or expanding organization, or providing temporary services in conjunction with a primary organization until a wholistic plan can take root.
PARTNER WITH US
Your partnership allows us to meet our operating needs and bring the many community focused events we have planned throughout the year.
Grace Capacity is dedicated to developing and maintaining a sustainable community from which we can all take pride. Our M.A.C.E. initiatives are derived from county, chamber of commerce and community services documented priorities.
When we host experiences, our participants are a blend of families, businesses, and community organizations united around a common goal. To ensure maximum impact, we tailor exhibitor participation to those specifically and tangentially related to the event’s theme. This helps families find needed products and services AND assists businesses and community organizations with tapping into your target audience.
As we continue to build our team and calendar of events in pursuit of our vision, the value of partnering will continue to grow.
Annual Partnerships
Community Partners
$250
- Logo represented on event banners throughout annual calendar
- Feature in Newsletter
- Representations of support on website, and via social media
$500
- Everything in previous partnership and:
- Standard Booth at annual STEAM Fair
- Standard Booth at one event of choice throughout year
$1000
- Everything in previous partnership and:
- Standard Booth at ALL events, including annual STEAM Fair
Bronze Partner
$2000
Everything in Community Partners and:
- Premiere booth at STEAM Fair
- Banner displayed at all events (partner provided)
- Spotlights on your M.A.C.E. related events throughout year.
Silver Partner
$5000
Everything in Bronze Partner and:
- Premier Booth at all events
- Section sponsorship at event of choice
Gold Partner
$10,000
Everything in Silver Partner and:
- Gold-level Signature Sponsorship of STEAM Fair
- Presenting Sponsorship for one event of choice
- Steering committee participation
Current Event Sponsorship Opportunities
Summer Activities Summit
DATE: May 2024
LOCATION: Kissimmee Civic Center
- More info coming soon!
Lupus 5/10K
DATE: September 2024
LOCATION: Saint Cloud Lakefront
- More info coming soon
Grace Capacity's Opportunity List
We have identified the following items as important to continuing our mission, but we do not currently have the resources to obtain them. Your support in procuring these resources will help us take a forward step in helping the Central Florida Community succeed.
TBD
TBD
TBD