About ECC
Vision
Our ultimate goal is to bring together the University of Texas at Austin and the East Austin communities to end poverty in East Austin and foster a spirit of service throughout the Austin community.
Mission
Eastside Community Connection will offer emergency food assistance and free educational classes in a variety of subjects to low-income residents of East Austin.
Eastside Community Connection will involve students from the University of Texas at Austin in every aspect of the center's operations.
Eastside Community Connection will serve as a model for similar centers and/or organizations at other campuses.
Board and Staff
Board
Eastside Community Connection strives to maintain a board that is diverse in background, interests, and professions. Our board provides both support and governance. In its supporting role, the board must help raise money, bring contacts to the organization, provide special skills and other resources, and act as ambassadors to the community. In its governance role, the board must select the executive director, evaluate the executive director's performance, review and authorize plans and commitments, ensure compliance with legal requirements, and evaluate the organization's work. To achieve these goals, the Eastside Community Connection will select and maintain a board of involved and responsible students and community members, who are representative of various sectors of the campus and community. Board members serve 2 year terms, and the terms stagger so as to ensure continuity from year to year.
Officers
- Chair - Sly Majid, Executive Director
- Vice Chair - Thomas Lopez, UT Business Honors & Plan II Honor
- Treasurer - Joe Ciccarello, Deloitte and Touche L.L.P.
- Secretary - Nadia Mavrakis, UT Business Honors
Directors
- Krystle Alvarado - Texans for Rick Perry
- Amy Maxwell Hunt - Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP
- Zane Keller - UT Finance & Economics
- Tara Mica - National Rifle Association
- Anjali Mohan - UT Business Honors & Plan II Honors
- Meg Moore - UT Executive MBA Candidate
- Kevin Robnett
- Mandy Shooter - Literacy Coalition of Central Texas
- Warren Wills - Richie & Gueringer PC
- Justin Yarborough
- Carlos Zaffirini - Adelanto HealthCare Ventures LLP
Advisory Board
Being fully aware of the fact that students may not have the access to funds that alumni and other community members might have, the ECC will create an Advisory Board that will also serve the function of fundraising. The Advisory Board will advise the Board of Directors on issues of importance, and help raise money for the ECC. The Advisory Board will not be responsible for governance of the organization, and is not held liable for any of the ECC's actions.
The current advisory board members are as follows:
- Jack S. Blanton, Jr - Niklos Drilling Company
- Andy Brown - Attorney, DLA Piper US LLP
- Jennifer Brown - J.E. "Buster" Brown Consulting
- George P. Bush - Attorney, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
- Graham Davis - Founder, Eastside community Connection
- Drew Gressett - Century Bridge
- Admiral Bob Inman - Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs
- Lowell Lebermann - Chairman, Centex Beverage, Inc.
- Curtis Meadows Jr. - President Emeritus, The Meadows Foundation
- Deanna Rodriguez - Vice-President, Corporate Contributions Entergy Corp.
Staff
- Executive Director, Sly Majid, smajid@austinecc.org
While we only employ one full-time employee who serves as our Executive Director, we have a remarkably large staff. The rest of our staff is comprised of interns, UT classes, and volunteers. Here's a sample . . .
2 classes from UT's business school (Linda Bailey's MIS 374 and Eugene Sepulveda's MKT 372) have worked with us on numerous projects. Their projects include a client database, first budget projections, a volunteer database, marketing strategies for our clothing donation program, and more!
Our current interns include Business Managers, Program Directors, Location Specialists, Event Planners, and a Volunteer Coordinator. Responsibilities range from designing new programs to writing grants. Thanks interns!
Volunteers staff our food pantry, and teach classes! Thanks volunteers!
Contact Info
General e-mail: info@austinecc.org
Voice: 512-220-7312
Fax: 512-532-0707
Address: 5810 Berkman Drive, Austin TX 78723. Click here for a map
Buses: UT students: The #37 Colony Park/Windsor Park picks up near UT campus and drops off at Berkman and Northridge Drive.
Clients from 78702: The #300 Govalle Crosstown picks up in 78702 and drops off a couple of blocks from our location on Berkman.