Dallas DA's Office Receives Mavs Foundation Grant

Dallas County District Attorney's Office Receives Grant from Mavs Foundation to Address Racial Disparity in Women of Color 

February 27, 2023

Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot and Social Venture Partners Dallas (SVP Dallas), are proud to announce the award of a $25,000 grant from the Mavs Foundation. With this generous award, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office will implement a new program targeted toward supporting disenfranchised women of color participating in the Achieve Inspire Motivate (AIM) court program.

“This is an exciting and much-needed step forward in our pre-diversionary efforts. We are so thankful to the Mavs Foundation and heartened to know they see this program as a necessary component to making Dallas County a safer and more just community for all,” said Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot.

Through a balanced curriculum of sanctions, incentives and rehabilitation, low-level youthful offenders participating in AIM receive the tools and resources needed to achieve success and are given the opportunity to become productive and contributing members of society, rather than repeat offenders. In 2019, AIM introduced a new curriculum called HEAT (Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy), a culturally proficient, strength-based, and trauma-informed group counseling intervention designed for disenfranchised men of color between 18 and 29 who are engaged in problematic substance use and involved in the criminal justice system. Since the implementation of HEAT within the AIM program, statistics have shown HEAT is maintaining higher levels of engagement as evidenced by higher attendance rates and lower dropout rates.

Through the grant from the Mavs Foundation, the AIM program will now be able to address the same racial disparity in disenfranchised women of color via training and implementing the HER (Habilitation Empowerment Recovery) Program. By providing these culturally proficient programs in an environment that is tailored to address the specific racial, gender, and social challenges faced by participants, HEAT and now HER are uniquely positioned to advance justice in Dallas and reduce reoffending and incarceration among young members of our community.

“SVP Dallas is proud to be a long-time supporter of these innovative pre-diversion courts in Dallas County,” said CEO Tony Fleo. “We believe that the new HER program will increase the capacity of the AIM court to engage service providers in valuable professional development and youth offenders in meaningful transformation. HEAT and HER go a long way to addressing disparities faced by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) youth in the justice system at large.”

SVP Dallas is a network of over 250 professionals (Partners) who contribute their collective influence to address the root causes of social injustice in Greater Dallas. By leveraging their expertise from across all industries, SVP Dallas Partners build the capacity of nonprofits, social enterprises, and other social impact projects finding innovative solutions to eliminating social injustice. Involved in supporting AIM early on by developing an advisory board, SVP Dallas is now serving as the fiscal sponsor of the HER program. Fiscal sponsorship is one of the services offered by SVP Dallas to expand the capacity of organizations and will allow the DA’s Office to pursue funding and support for this program that would otherwise be inaccessible.

The Mavs Foundation is dedicated to building a stronger community by empowering youth, women and families in need. Established in October 1996, the Mavs Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team.