Community Partners
A Private School with a Public Purpose. The strong partnerships that Trinity has with local nonprofits give all members of our school community opportunities to make an impact and to grow important life skills in real-world contexts. We engage in collaborative planning, communication, and problem-solving with our partner organizations–knowing that successful relationships are based on reciprocity: shared goals and mutual benefit. These ongoing collaborations lead to enhanced learning outcomes for our students, increased nonprofit capacity, and more empowered communities.
Sixth-grade students volunteer at Mobile Loaves and Fishes.
School-Wide Partnerships
Trinity Center
Trinity Center helps our unhoused and low-income neighbors meet basic needs, providing support and addressing homelessness in downtown Austin. As part of the “Trinity Streets” program on Sunday afternoons throughout the year, our school chaplain, along with volunteers from our school community, offers a service and a meal for our neighbors experiencing homelessness–many of whom do not feel welcome at other worship services in town. Middle School students can sign up to volunteer via MobileServe. We also support Trinity Streets financially through our Chapel program.
Mobile Loaves and Fishes Truck Ministry
Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) is a Christian social outreach ministry that has been empowering communities in Austin into a lifestyle of service with the homeless since 1998. Trinity has a recurring commitment–on the fourth Wednesday of every month–to bring a team of volunteers to serve in the MLF commissary and on a truck team distributing food and other items at a series of stops to our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness and food insecurity. Middle School students can sign up to volunteer via MobileServe.
El Buen Samaritano
El Buen Samaritano is an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas that serves as a “one-stop shop” to address the needs of the Latino and Spanish-speaking community in Travis County. El Buen’s bilingual, bicultural staff of health workers, volunteers, and social services practitioners is committed to ensuring access to food, healthcare, and education for the families they serve. Every Trinity 5th grader volunteers in their no-cost food pantry through their “Intro to Service Learning” co-curricular class, and the Trinity community raises funds for their annual “Hands for Hope” campaign that provides year-round equitable access to food and nutrition for families in Central Texas.
Shine
Shine is a program of Trinity Episcopal School that supports families from under-resourced communities in Austin to combat summer learning loss and boost student achievement. The program provides a dynamic curriculum, top-notch facilities, passionate educators, fun excursions, and other resources at no cost to participating families. With a student-teacher ratio of 5:1, kids get an engaging experience that builds confidence and crucial skills. Trinity Middle School students can apply to volunteer their time and gifts as teachers’ helpers in the summer.
Austin Ukrainian School
On Sundays since 2022, Trinity has been providing the space and other resources for a school option for displaced and resettled Ukrainian families in the Austin area. Austin Ukrainian School affords families a safe space to connect, belong, and continue an educational program in their language.
Bookspring
Bookspring engages young children in under-resourced areas of Texas with no-cost, high-interest books and literacy programming that supports family-focused learning. The Middle School Library Club (the Page Turning Tornadoes) supports their mission through volunteering, donating books and fundraising.
Seventh-grade students volunteering in the garden center at Down Home Ranch.
Grade-Level Partnerships
Trinity’s academic program is truly transformational for our learners here on campus as well as for the wider community. Each grade level explores global issues and how they manifest in a local context here in Austin so that they can take action with an impact. We get to hear from these organizations about their work and get involved.
Austin Creative Reuse – Blue House Preschool
ACR envisions a community that consciously consumes and chooses reuse as a first choice when evaluating the need for personal or project materials, encouraging Austinites to evaluate purchase decisions based on the whole lifecycle of an object and fostering conservation through creativity, education, and community building. Our preschoolers learn about and practice upcycling materials through “Loose Parts.”
AGE of Central Texas – Kindergarten
AGE of Central Texas helps older adults and their caregivers thrive as they navigate the realities and opportunities of aging and caregiving. Kindergarteners make regular visits to AGE’s Thrive Social & Wellness Center in south Austin, bringing some joy and connection to older neighbors with physical or cognitive needs.
TreeFolks – Grade 1
TreeFolks empowers Central Texans to build stronger communities through planting and caring for trees–engaging thousands of volunteers and community groups to plant trees in public parks, preserves, and schoolyards. TreeFolks also provides free, year-round education opportunities for Austinites of all ages with an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning using the urban forest as a teacher. 1st graders volunteer annually with their Ready! Set! Plant! program.
Urban Roots – Grade 2
Urban Roots envisions a thriving food system–cultivated by youth–that is sustainable and just. They work with youth leaders to grow fresh food and build a community dedicated to achieving food equity in Austin. Trinity 2nd graders get to participate in the meaningful work of growing fresh produce for our neighbors and honoring the land through regenerative agricultural practices.
Colorado River Alliance – Grade 5
The Colorado River Alliance (CRA) provides educational and engagement activities that empower Texans with knowledge and tools to protect the Texas Colorado River and ensure its long-term vitality. 5th graders have opportunities throughout the year to apply everything they’re learning in Science about water conservation and clean water to actionable service through field trips and creek clean-ups with the CRA.
Keep Austin Beautiful – Grade 5
As stewards of Austin’s green spaces and waterways, Keep Austin Beautiful promotes continued education, growth, and learning about our environment, as well as a passion for keeping our city clean, safe, and usable. 5th graders have formally adopted the section of Eanes Creek that runs through Trinity’s campus through KAB’s “Adopt-A-Creek” program.
Down Home Ranch – Grade 7
Down Home Ranch (DHR) is a working farm and ranch that’s both an intentional community and an entrepreneurial organization providing residency as well as skills training and paid employment for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. 7th graders make an annual service trip to volunteer in their Garden Center. Trinity also purchases flowers from DHR that beautify our Chapel space at special times of the year (including Christmas and Easter).
Caitlin Sweetlamb
Director of Service Learning
Caitlin integrates service learning into all areas of school life. She teaches Intro to Service Learning and Religion and partners with the Chaplain to weave service learning into Chapel programming. Caitlin also coordinates school-sponsored service learning activities, maintains relationships with community partner organizations, and manages the Middle School "Graduate with Disctinction" process.