Passport:ATX An Introduction

Describe your organization’s Mission, History and Purpose.

The mission of Passport: ATX is to connect youth to culture and to partner Austin’s technological, transportation, and civic and cultural institutions as a collaborative partners in a community education network.

We are a new organization, building on work done by our sponsoring non-profit, Cimarron: Youth Building community.

The purpose of Passport:ATX is to empower youth to develop skills for mobility, literacy, and social capital and to participate fully in the cultural life of the city.

We believe that a cooperative, multi-faceted effort is needed to make accessible Austin’s cultural resources to youth in all areas the city, particularly in areas suffering from poverty and social exclusion. Making this connection is vital to the survival of the youth, the institutions, and the city as a whole.


Narrative and Project Design: State the concept, goals and objectives for the project. Describe what’s unique and innovative about the project. What is the target demographic for the project?

The concept is to facilitate a collaboration in a community-based learning initiative that weaves together the public libraries, CapMetro bus/rail system, school district, police, public health agencies, museum consortium, parks, local businesses, volunteer service opportunities, and other non-profits serving youth. Passport:ATX is the vehicle through which youth navigate this network.

Youth apply and receive a passport-style booklet that they travel with through the city. Upon visiting a site, their passports are stamped and the trip is logged. A record of each trip is then uploaded to our database.

Data collected about each passport visit serves the following functions: 1) for institutions to assess youth participation and 2) to provide youth a way to build their own positive “social credit record”; 3) as a tool for parents, caregivers, and teachers to better guide and direct the youth.

Online via a Myspace/Facebook-styled website, youth can blog about their journeys, offering feedback both to the partner institutions and to each other, building friendships with youth across the city with whom they share common interests.

Passport:ATX targets low-income immigrant youth and youth of color living on the urban periphery. The program is scalable and we aim to eventually implement it to youth city-wide.