80/20 Foundation, SBA grants to help San Antonio Heron grow

The San Antonio Heron has received a pair of $10,000 grants, which come as the citywide housing discussion is getting ready to heat up.

In late August, the 80/20 Foundation awarded the Heron $10,000 to help kickstart the creation of a development database, which the public can use to research the multitude of new projects sprouting up throughout the downtown area, as well as older ones. This is funding the Heron applied for.

Our goal is to launch the database this year, and give readers a tool they can use to organize and search the various developments by unit total, affordability mix, number of public incentives received, and other attributes. The 80/20 Foundation is a philanthropic organization started by Rackspace co-founder and downtown developer Graham Weston, who co-built the new Frost Tower, and has about a dozen high-profile developments in the works in west downtown through his company, Weston Urban.

The 80/20 Foundation also fully-funded our summer intern, Maggie Ryan, a San Antonio native attending Hendrix College in Arkansas, through its Students + Startups program, an in-kind position worth $4,000.

Part of our fundraising strategy is to seek grant money that perfectly synchs with, and helps us expand, the work we’re already doing—that is, to deliver explanatory, deep dive journalism that helps you understand how the downtown San Antonio area is changing, and why. And to do so by presenting you, in each article we produce, with all of the relevant facts and opinions so that you’re armed with the information you need to decide how you feel about the topic.

We’ll never pursue or accept funding that’s going cause us to deviate from our balanced and thorough approach to journalism.

On Aug. 26, the Heron also received a U.S. Small Business Administration Targeted EIDL Advance grant worth $10,000.

The two grants are in addition to a $10,000 grant we received over the summer from the H.E. Butt Foundation, which we’re using to help tell the stories of people who live in the kinds of low-income housing we often write about.

The 80/20 Foundation and SBA grants are two significant milestones toward the Heron being self-financed, which we’re on target to reach sometime in mid-2022, and we greatly appreciate them.

Two more times this year, we’ll be asking for your help.

On Sept 23, we’ll be participating in the citywide Big Give campaign, and then in the nationwide NewsMatch campaign in November and December.

Heron Editor Ben Olivo can be reached at 210-421-3932 | ben@saheron.com | @rbolivo on Twitter