Dallas City Wire

The Dallas branch of a nationwide educational collective, whose founding chairman and CEO attracted suspicions from a parent advocate earlier this summer, received up to $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) COVID-19-related loans.

COMMIT!2DALLAS received between $350,000 and $1 million in PPP loans via lender Immito LLC in a deal approved on April 28, according to a ProPublica Coronavirus Bailouts report. COMMIT!2DALLAS, the Dallas branch of the Commit Partnership, is described in the report as a civic and social organization. 

The group received almost $2.5 million in grants last summer from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Commit Partnership's founding chairman and CEO Todd A. Williams | File photo

The Commit Partnership is the nation's largest educational collective impact organization, with more than 200 branches and other institutions, including 15 school districts and eight higher-education bodies, according to the corporate website. Those institutions educate more than 790,000 students and are supported by a dedicated staff of about 50 employees, the website says.

The Commit Partnership's founding chairman and CEO is Todd A. Williams, who earlier this summer attracted the attention of a parent advocate who mused about a community journalism partnership at the Dallas Morning News. Lynn Davenport, a Parent Coalition for Student Privacy member, voiced concern that benefactors, including the Todd A. Williams Family Foundation, were paying for the reporter's education.

"The overarching issue that we've seen in Dallas is privatization and funders who are listed, especially the Todd A. Williams Family Foundation, have been behind most of the privatization agendas in Dallas through charter schools, which move them to a privatized model," Davenport said in a July 16 Dallas City Wire news report.

Williams has been an education influencer for years, according to his bio at The Commit Partnership's website. Williams was appointed in 2017 by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to a yearlong position on the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, where he chaired the commission's Outcome Committee. Williams also is former chair of the Citizen Budget Review Commission for Dallas Independent School District and former vice chair of the Uplift Education's board of trustees.

Williams also is past chair of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center at the University of Texas and the Real Estate Council of Dallas.

The PPP funds retained the jobs of 53 COMMIT!2DALLAS employees, according to the ProPublica report. The PPP originated as part of last spring's Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, originally providing about $350 billion to small businesses to provide them cash-flow assistance in 100% federally guaranteed loans. The loans are backed by the Small Business Administration.

PPP loans to companies and nonprofit organizations may be forgiven if certain criteria are met, such as not laying off employees more than two months. Applicants also are required to attest they cannot continue to operate without the loans.

ProPublica's report said about $350,000 to $1 million in forgivable federal loans COMMIT!2DALLAS received came from the Small Business Administration. Its data includes lender-approved PPP loans of at least $150,000. Other loan programs, including the Economic Injury Disaster Loans, were not included in the Small Business Administration's database.