Operation Shoestring recently received a $2 million award from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving initiative. This award announcement underscores the importance of Shoestring’s programs and missions and amplifies the impact we can potentially have. As one Shoestring parent recently told us: “If I could, I’d put an Operation Shoestring in every neighborhood in Mississippi.” We are profoundly grateful to Yield Giving and MacKenzie Scott for this investment. Yield Giving’s solidarity with Shoestring’s supporters who have made our work possible for the last 56 years will help change lives for the next 50 years.
This one-time investment will be nothing short of transformative for our programs and our community. We’re currently in the middle of a strategic planning process for our work, and we’ll soon be carefully considering opportunities and partnerships to maximize the impact of this generous one-time investment.
This investment in Operation Shoestring, along with the many past and current investments made to further our work, provides the means and momentum to propel our mission at a much higher level and create new paths to opportunity for children facing educational and financial obstacles. Our afterschool, summer, and family programs are all focused on preparing, equipping, and inspiring our kids and families to create healthy and thriving self-determined lives right here in the heart of Mississippi’s capital city.
Operation Shoestring is blessed to have a diverse and dynamic staff, board of directors, and supporters who share a deep commitment to our neighbors and our community, as well as a commitment to a future where every child and family in our community thrives, and the Yield Giving award will help us make great headway toward that future.
But these are big, audacious, life-changing goals that will require ongoing and sustained support from all our donors and partners, particularly those in the Jackson metropolitan area. As we prepare to go wider and deeper in our work, it will take all of us to create a more hopeful path forward for all of our families. We all rise together.
