Employee giving transforms classrooms and lives
At Dallas ISD, the Employee Giving Campaign is more than a fundraiser—it’s a way for team members to directly invest in students and classrooms across the district. For Yizzel Pompa, special education teacher at Leila P. Cowart Elementary School, proceeds from previous campaigns have already proven how powerful that investment can be.
Now an Employee Giving Campaign campus champion, Pompa has seen firsthand how employee donations turn into meaningful, tangible change for students. Through a Dallas Education Foundation grant, she was able to completely reimagine the environment in her self-contained special education classroom.
Her grant focused on sensory regulation for early childhood special education and students with significant needs. With those funds, she purchased items like a light table, sensory floor tiles, texture pads, weighted items, light fixture covers, and materials to build a Peace Center for students who need a break to regulate.
“When you get classrooms, you get a lot of things that are just handed down or constantly used,” she said. For her students—many of whom are autistic or experience sensory overload—this wasn’t enough. “Grants are the one thing that transforms a classroom.”
The impact of the grant has extended beyond her own students. Working with principal Christina Rodrigue Dimanh, Pompa helped create a campuswide cool-down room using some of the sensory items and a crash pad funded by the grant. Any student who feels overwhelmed, emotional, or in need of a mental break can use the space.
“It’s a welcoming, peaceful space for friends when they need it, and that’s used across the entire campus,” she said. “It’s been really helpful to the whole campus, which is why it’s great to get buy-in from staff. Their participation is what helped us get what we need.”
One of the most striking examples of the grant’s impact came from a single tool Pompa initially saw as optional—the light table. She bought it for sensory play, but during a difficult moment with a student who struggled with transitions and engagement, she tried something new.
“Randomly, I just put the worksheet on top of the light table and turned it on dim, and that completely changed his willingness to work,” she said. “It’s become something that allows me to reach him instructionally.”
Stories like this are at the heart of the Employee Giving Campaign. Pompa emphasized that donations from team members are what make these kinds of grants possible—not just at her school, but across the district.
“I think it’s just a resource within our community that gives back to our community,” she said. “This is something that comes from our staff, and it goes right back to our schools.”
As a campus champion, Pompa now works just as hard to keep her colleagues engaged and motivated to give. She’s turned fundraising into something fun, creative, and rewarding for all.
“Cowart is in the lead because I negotiated with my administrator to be able to give our staff small prizes,” she said. Those who donate can earn jeans days; enter in weekly raffles with prizes like baked goods, themed baskets, gift cards; and even get extended lunch breaks.
“We get a little creative,” she said. “Teacher wins that we don’t think of are super valuable. I would love an hour lunch break, so we’re raffling off that. I’ll cover your recess if your entire team gives to the giving campaign.”
Those efforts are paying off.
“We’re one of the schools at the top,” Pompa said.
For this year’s Employee Giving Campaign, Pompa’s message is clear: “It’s important to keep it going, and in order to do that, we have to engage, and we have to participate, and we have to give,” she said. “We just have to remember the purpose of it is to give back to ourselves and our communities and our district.”
To donate to the Employee Giving Campaign, click here. To find your school or department champion, click on this document.
