Arlington Tomorrow Foundation Awards $1 Million Grant to Green Oaks School

In 2000, Green Oaks School in Arlington opened with a mission to serve and educate students with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities.

It grew from just four students in its first year to more than 100 students from 47 zip codes.

Now, the school is poised to expand. Green Oaks plans to open a life prep academy that helps post-secondary students learn life and job skills that will place them on a path to independence.

The Arlington Tomorrow Foundation has contributed a $1 million grant to the project, which is scheduled to open in 2020. Green Oaks is trying to raise $5.5 million.

“For so many families, this was the missing piece,” said Jean Jewell, the school’s executive director. “People with intellectual disabilities can have much fuller, more independent lives than we once realized. They just need to be taught.”

Research shows that life expectancy for people with Down syndrome has risen dramatically, from 25 years of age in 1983 to 60 today. Yet few resources exist in Texas or the United States to help people navigate these years.

Green Oaks, which is located on Houston St. in Downtown Arlington, wants to change that.

Read the rest of the story at myArlingtonTX.com. Shared in partnership with the City of Arlington.