Jessica Mota never thought she’d work in banking. The daughter of immigrants thought her accent was too strong, and she only had seven years of restaurant experience.
But she learned about a seven-week “Career in Finance” program offered by Ascend Dallas, a nonprofit focused on empowering women and fighting poverty. By the end of her training, she was employed by Bank of America.
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“I know what it’s like, the feeling of not knowing the language,” Mota said. “So I can be, like, ‘You’re OK, you deserve to be here,’ you know, because I’ve been there.”
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Mota’s story illustrates how Ascend Dallas and its community partners strive to help people move from survival to economic stability, according to Ascend and its partners.
The nonprofit recently took about 30 donors on a three-hour tour to the Dallas Entrepreneur Center Network at The Shops at RedBird and the nonprofit Hope Cottage to show firsthand how Ascend and its partners use philanthropic funding to help residents.
Ascend Dallas offers career coaching, education, financial literacy training, transportation and maternal health support to residents. A lack of access to those resources hinders one’s ability to move beyond low-wage work, according to the nonprofit’s staff.
Jessica Mota (right) speaks about her experience taking the career in finance program from Ascend Dallas alongside Lawanda Strhan, a career educator and navigator with Ascend Dallas, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
Hope Cottage, one of Ascend Dallas’ partner organizations, supports about 1,347 parents and 1,977 children through maternal medical care, infant adoption, foster care services and parenting support programs, according to Hope Cottage. Hope Cottage’s services include prenatal care, diapers and educational classes to help underserved and uninsured families.
Access to health services matters because Texas leads the nation’s highest uninsured rate at 21.6% for adults, with Dallas leading the state at 24% uninsured, said Wayne White, president and CEO of the Communities Foundation of Texas, during an event in June. (The foundation is a supporter of the Future of North Texas initiative at The Dallas Morning News)
Career training and support are crucial because 40% of Dallas workers between ages 25 and 64 earn low wages, and single women and Hispanic people specifically lack opportunities for upskilling, said Lynn McBee, the city’s workforce development czar, in an interview with The News.
Hope Cottage CEO Stephanie Bohan speaks about the various organizations Hope Cottage partners with to provide services for their clients on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
Stephanie Bohan, Hope Cottage’s CEO, urged attendees to support nonprofits, citing the need to focus on getting people access to food, financial literacy training, housing and baby care items.
“It is hard being poor and sick in Dallas. Oftentimes, our systems make poverty and illness even more difficult. We have the power to fight these inequities if we link arm in arm and work together to build a better, healthier Dallas for our neighbors,” Bohan told The News.
Ayshia Langrum told attendees this holistic approach worked for her, as she initially felt “lost” about motherhood. Langrum participated in Ascend Dallas’ Nurse-Family Partnership program, which supports low-income families from pregnancy through the child’s second year.
Ascend Dallas connected Langrum with a registered nurse to navigate her through pregnancy and motherhood. She’s now working with a career coach through Ascend’s Economic Advancement program.
Ayshia Langrum (left) laughs as she talks about her experience with Ascend Dallas’ Nurse-Family Partnership program, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Dallas.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
“Eventually I would have launched my business,” Langrum said, “But I think it happened a lot sooner, thanks to the financial coach. … Now I’m an author and a business owner.”
About 2,635 people benefited from Ascend’s programs last year, and 87% of them made below $48,000 before they became clients for the nonprofit, according to Ascend’s 2024 impact report.
But in Ascend’s Economic Advancement program alone, the nonprofit’s financial counseling clients reached $256,883 in savings and reduced non-mortgage debt by $591,038, according to the report.
Those results impressed funders and community partners. That matters, because Ascend and Hope Cottage are among the more than 3,600 nonprofits seeking support during the annual North Texas Giving Day event.
Victor Vonico Johnson, the community outreach coordinator for Prosperity Bank, told The News his company is a sponsor for Ascend. He said he’s fascinated by their work.
“The work that Ascend does requires resources,” Johnson said. He urged people to get involved. “Take action by financially supporting or at least just stop in and be a volunteer.”
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.