Brewer Foundation Celebrates Graduates of Its Future Leaders Program
April 28, 2025 – The Brewer Foundation honored its 2025 Future Leaders Program (FLP) graduates this weekend, celebrating a milestone achievement for 18 seniors, including two students awarded the prestigious QuestBridge National College Scholarship and one student awarded the Gates Scholarship.
Founded in 2001 by the Brewer Foundation, the FLP provides year-round academic courses, leadership training, and cultural enrichment to more than 150 Dallas Independent School District (DISD) students, ages 12 – 18, at no cost. Designed for students, many of whom are the first in their families to pursue college, the FLP prepares future leaders to succeed in school, excel in college, and become pillars of their community.
The 2025 FLP graduates were recognized in a special ceremony on Saturday, April 26, at the Episcopal School of Dallas, attended by FLP faculty, families, and professional staff from Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors.
“We created FLP to help promising students reach their full potential,” said William A. Brewer III, FLP founder and Brewer Foundation Chairman. “Seeing these students achieve this extraordinary graduation milestone is incredibly rewarding – proof that hard work and educational access can transform lives."
A Vision for Success
Students are selected for the FLP based on scholastic aptitude, civic engagement, and leadership potential. The curriculum supplements the education students receive at their home schools, with coursework that includes humanities, advanced mathematics, and psychology. Each class is co-taught by both a private school and public-school teacher — a unique collaboration designed to bring together diverse ideas and perspectives.
The program partners with DISD several of Dallas’ top private schools, including St. Mark’s School of Texas, The Hockaday School, Greenhill School, and the Episcopal School of Dallas.
Since 2009, FLP seniors have received more than $20 million in scholarship offers. FLP alumni are graduates of many elite colleges and universities, including New York University, Yale University, Northwestern University, Pomona College, The University of Texas at Austin, Southern Methodist University, and Texas Christian University.
2025 FLP Graduates
Maya Alvarez
Juan Cabellero
Marian Cuenca
Elizabeth Espinoza
Alfredo Fuente, QuestBridge Scholar
Estrella Garcia, Gates Scholar
Madison Johnson
Andres Juarez
Juan Leos-Reyna
Anaya Martinez
Jonathan Martinez
Isaac Molina, QuestBridge Scholar
Lizbeth Ojeda
Lindsey Rodriquez
Jazmine Salinas
Shruti Sharma
Evelyn Sida
Julissa Zuniga
Learn more about the QuestBridge National College Scholarship here.
Explore the Future Leaders Program here.
Support our mission to expand opportunity for promising students here.
William Brewer Writes in The Dallas Morning News in Support of Releasing Texas School Accountability Ratings
September 15, 2024 -- The Dallas Morning News published a letter to the editor written by Brewer Partner and Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) founder William A. Brewer III calling for the release of Texas school accountability ratings.
The FLP is a is an award-winning public-private partnership that provides academic resources and leadership training to economically disadvantaged students in the Dallas Independent School District. The Brewer Foundation on September 5, 2024, filed a petition in intervention in Travis County court on behalf of its Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (“FLP”), seeking the release of the Texas Education Agency (“TEA”) 2024 A-F accountability ratings for school districts and campuses.
On August 12, 2024, a Travis County judge blocked the scheduled release of the school ratings with a temporary restraining order after five school districts (located across West and South Texas) sued Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath in Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District, et al., v. Mike Morath.
The Foundation is represented by the Brewer Storefront – the community service affiliate of the national litigation firm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors.
The full text of the letter as it appeared in the Sunday edition of the newspaper is below:
Release school ratings
Re: “Why we released our schools’ ratings,” by Joe Carreón and Robert Selders Jr., Monday Opinion.
It is encouraging to see Dallas ISD School Board President Joe Carreón call for two items of importance in Texas education: accountability and transparency. Both are in short supply these days in public education — as several school districts recently brought a Travis County lawsuit to block the Texas Education Agency from releasing school ratings statewide. Meanwhile, DISD and a handful of other districts took the lead in releasing their preliminary ratings.
The accountability rating system is an A-F methodology that evaluates districts and schools. By definition, the system promotes awareness of educational challenges, helps identify best practices and instills confidence in parents and students. The ratings also spark interest and engagement — as we all work collectively to improve the educational system in our state.
Our law firm’s community service legal affiliate, Brewer Storefront, filed a petition to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of our Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program seeking the release of the ratings. The FLP is a public-private partnership that provides academic resources and leadership training to DISD students. We will argue the issue before the court to give a voice to schools, students and communities.
The plaintiff school districts face considerable challenges with student achievement, with between 51% and 73% of students not meeting grade level last year on STAAR exams. We need a system that identifies such problems and inspires the corrective actions necessary to improve schools. It is not only the Texas educational system that depends on this, but also the future generations it serves.
William A. Brewer III
Brewer Foundation Intervenes in Travis County Demanding Greater Accountability and Transparency for Public Schools
September 5, 2024, Dallas, Texas… The Brewer Foundation on September 5, 2024, filed a petition in intervention (“petition”) on behalf of its Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (“FLP”), seeking the release of the Texas Education Agency (“TEA”) 2024 A-F accountability ratings for school districts and campuses.
On August 12, 2024, a Travis County judge blocked the scheduled release of the school ratings with a temporary restraining order after five school districts (located across West and South Texas) sued Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath in Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District, et al., v. Mike Morath.
The Foundation is represented by the Brewer Storefront – the community service affiliate of the national litigation firm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors. The petition seeks to dissolve the temporary restraining and prevent a permanent injunction – paving the way for greater accountability in these school districts across Texas.
The FLP is an award-winning public-private partnership that provides academic resources and leadership training to economically disadvantaged students in the Dallas Independent School District. The program maintains relationships with educators across the state, has been recognized by the Texas State Board of Education and Texas Governor’s Office, and advocates for improved educational offerings in Texas and beyond.
“The plaintiff districts are attempting to prevent the release of grades that help educators and parents better understand how their local public schools are performing and how well they are educating children,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer Storefront and founder of the FLP. “We support the call for greater transparency. As we know from our work with FLP students, identifying the opportunities to improve the educational system is the key to addressing educational performance – to the benefit of children and our collective futures.”
According to the petition, only about 53% of students in Texas meet grade level in English language arts and reading, and around 23% of students across all districts in Texas are not even approaching grade level. These numbers are even more drastic when Black and Hispanic student scores are isolated. Across the State, more than 59% of Black students and 54% of Hispanic students fail to read at grade level.
According to the TEA, the ratings are based on three domains: student achievement, school progress, and closing the gaps.
The Storefront has brought numerous successful Section 2 Voting Rights Act cases on behalf of Hispanic and Black voters in Texas, in efforts to ensure that the interests of minority voters – and children – are better represented on elected school boards. The Storefront’s Texas Voting Rights Initiative (TVRI) was founded due to concerns that a lack of diversity and equitable geographic representation on school boards can lead to underfunded schools, school and student achievement gaps, and disenfranchised voters.
Founded in 2001, the FLP is an academic and leadership development program that benefits Dallas Independent School District (DISD) students, ages 12-18, and provides them with year-round academic coursework and leadership training to prepare students for success in college and beyond. The FLP has become a national model to address the “dropout epidemic.”
The petition adds that the Brewer Foundation has a “vested interest” in the availability of the A-F performance ratings so the students in the FLP program and their parents can make “informed school decisions.”
The petition observes that the five plaintiff school districts face considerable challenges with student achievement:
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District in West Texas in 2022-23 enrolled 2,776 students, of whom about 72% were economically disadvantaged and 91% were Hispanic. In 2023, 66% of students did not meet grade level.
Crandall Independent School District outside of Dallas in 2022-23 enrolled 6,003 students of whom about 62% were economically disadvantaged, about 40% were Hispanic, 31% were white and 25% were Black. In 2023, about 60% of students did not meet grade level.
Forney Independent School District outside of Dallas in 2022-23 enrolled 16,211 students, of whom about 43% were economically disadvantaged, 36% of students were Black and 29% were Hispanic. In 2023, about 51% of students did not meet grade level.
Fort Stockton Independent School District in West Texas in 2022-23 enrolled 2,187 students, of whom about 71% were economically disadvantaged and 89% were Hispanic. In 2023, about 65% of students did not meet grade level.
Kingsville Independent School District in South Texas in 2022-23 enrolled 2,694 students, of whom about 83% were economically disadvantaged and 85% were Hispanic. In 2023, about 73% of students did not meet grade level.
The petition seeks dissolution of the temporary restraining order – and denial of plaintiffs’ request for a permanent injunction prohibiting the issuance of accountability ratings for the 2023-24 school year.
The Dallas Morning News Reports on Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP)
June 14, 2024 – The Dallas Morning News reports on the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) holding a session on mental health for FLP high school students participating in the program’s summer camp.
Founded in 2001, the Future Leaders Program (FLP) provides academic resources and leadership training to deserving students from the Dallas Independent School District (DISD).
Instructor Mayra Salinas-Godsey, an FLP graduate who now works at New York University, taught the class, “Rise & Thrive: Building Mental Strength for College Success and Beyond.” The course is intended to assist students with anxiety about applying for and transitioning to college.
“So like most of you, I know, are first-gen or second-gen,” Salinas-Godsey told the students. “We’re pioneers for our family. We are doing things that they may not have ever experienced before. It’s a little scary.”
FLP intern and graduate Erica Salazar, now a student at Northwestern University, said she advises her peers to give themselves grace.
“I know a lot of these students are top A students, like the top of their class, and they’re doing the best that they can do … but once you’re in college, it’s completely different,” Salazar said. “And if you’re doing your best and you still somehow end up stumbling across a small obstacle, it’s OK. It’s OK to feel stress, and it’s OK not to be OK. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
Read more here.
NBC5 Reports on Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP)
June 26, 2023 - NBC5 in Dallas highlighted the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) in its “Carter in the Classroom” feature, which recognizes unique things school districts and teachers are doing to help children succeed.
Founded in 2001 by the Brewer Foundation, the FLP is an academic and leadership development program that benefits more than 150 students, ages 12-18, from urban communities within the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). Through year-round academic courses, leadership training, and exposure to a wide array of cultural programs, the FLP helps prepare its “future leaders” for success in college and beyond.
The video news report showcased a summer FLP class on financial literacy. The course covered topics such as filing taxes, learning about paychecks and deductions, budgeting, investing, savings, and more. The report noted that the FLP included the class in its summer programming at the request of its students.
"Budgeting, finances, taxes, things we don't learn in school, they teach us here," Anaya Martinez, a student at Dallas ISD's Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet, told NBC.
Watch the report here.
The Season for Celebration – FLP Students Secure College Offers
Students from the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) have a lot to celebrate heading into the new year: acceptances into some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities.
Student Raul Lopez, who attends the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, was accepted to Northwestern University. Student Erica Salazer, who attends the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center – Law Magnet, was accepted to Southern Methodist University. Student Judith Rodriguez, who attends Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, was accepted to Grinnell College through a match as a QuestBridge Scholar.
Founded in 2001, the FLP is a public-private partnership that provides academic training, mentoring and counseling to deserving students from the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). The programs partners teachers and administrators from DISD, The Hockaday School, St. Mark’s School of Texas, The Episcopal School of Dallas, and the Greenhill School.
As the first program of its kind, the FLP has helped its students earn more than $12.5 million in scholarship offers since its inception.
“Testament to the program’s success is the ‘report card’ on where many of these amazing students go to college,” says William A. Brewer III, a founder of the FLP. “They are beginning an incredible academic journey, which holds promise for themselves, their families, and the community. We could not be more proud of all they continue to achieve or the promise of their horizons.”
Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Programs Hosts Holiday Gathering
On December 11, the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) hosted a holiday gathering for its students and faculty at The Episcopal School of Dallas. In addition to enjoying a meal and gift exchange, students spoke with FLP Founder William A. Brewer III about their goals and plans for the future.
Founded in 2001, the FLP provides academic resources and leadership training to deserving students from the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). FLP classes are offered after school on the campuses of the program’s private school partners – The Hockaday School, St. Mark’s School of Texas, Greenhill School, and Episcopal School of Dallas. This public-private partnership is the only one of its kind in the state.
Brewer Foundation Hosts FLP COVID-19 Care Package Giveaway
October 20, 2020 - The Brewer Foundation will host its first COVID-19 Care Package giveaway on Saturday, October 24, 2020. Future Leaders Program (FLP) staff and faculty will hand out packages to participating students that include an FLP face mask, hand sanitizer, canned goods and other items.
Founded in 2001, the FLP is an academic and leadership development program that serves deserving students from the Dallas Independent School District (DISD). The program provides academic resources and leadership development training to select students, ages 14-18, from economically challenged neighborhoods. Students are chosen for the FLP based on their scholastic aptitude, school attendance, civic involvement, and leadership potential.
A national model of public-private partnership, FLP classes typically take place on the campuses of the program's private school partners – St. Mark's School of Texas, Greenhill School, The Hockaday School and Episcopal School of Dallas. However, due to COVID-19, classes are currently taking place virtually.