APIE was originally created in 1983 as Adopt-A-School by the Austin Independent School District and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce before becoming Austin Partners in Education, an independent 501(c)(3) in 2004. We work in partnership with Austin ISD to reinvent the urban-school experience and build a talent pipeline of local students to grow the regional economy. Since our founding, we have trained and placed more than 16,000 tutors and mentors, who have supported over 35,000 Austin ISD students. Our academic support and mentoring programs increase access to higher education. We utilize best practice learning models with proven results that have received recognition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and have been cited as an example of Better Use of Community Resources by the U.S. Department of Education. We were also honored by the White House Initiative in Educational Excellence for Hispanics.