Civic & Community Engagement Collaborative Webinar Series
Harness the Power of Philanthropy for Transformative Change
Complex community challenges rarely fall within the responsibility, or capacity, of any single sector. Meaningful, lasting progress often requires collaboration across nonprofits, government, philanthropy, and the private sector. Increasingly, foundations are playing an important role as conveners, bringing partners together to advance shared solutions.
Powered by Houston Endowment, April’s webinar will explore the catalytic role of well-designed and effectively implemented public-private partnerships within communities across Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The session will highlight lessons learned, practical strategies, and innovative approaches to evaluating impact, shared by executive leaders from the following foundations:
- Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) is a Dallas-based public charity that helps donors invest in North Texas communities through charitable funds, grantmaking, and initiatives that support local nonprofits and regional priorities.
- Daniels Fund is a private charitable foundation based in Denver that provides grants and scholarships to strengthen communities and expand opportunity across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
- Kinder Foundation is a Houston-based private foundation that supports transformative projects in urban parks, education, and quality of life to strengthen the Greater Houston region.
- PY Foundation: A private family foundation based in Artesia, New Mexico, focused on place-based investments in education, health, arts, and community development to strengthen Artesia, Eddy County, and surrounding rural communities
Register Now | April 9, 2026 | Noon to 1 PM CST
Meet the speakers
Sandra Borges, Executive Director, PY Foundation
Sandra Borges is the Executive Director of the PY Foundation, where she leads strategic investments across Education, Health & Human Services, Arts & Culture, and Community Development in Artesia, Eddy County, and neighboring rural communities.
Since 2012, she has played a key role in developing public-private partnerships that have delivered transformative projects, including the Artesia Public Library, the $20 million Artesia Aquatic Center in collaboration with the City of Artesia and Artesia Public Schools, and the $40 million Artesia Recreation Center.
A native of San Angelo, Texas, Sandra was raised in rural West Texas and brings a deep understanding of rural communities to her work. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations and Advertising, a minor in Spanish, and a Master’s degree in Administrative Leadership from Angelo State University.
She has called Artesia, New Mexico home for the past 18 years, where she lives with her husband and their two daughters.
Calvert Collins-Bratton, Chief Relationships Officer, Communities Foundation of Texas
Calvert Collins-Bratton is the Chief Relationships Officer at Communities Foundation of Texas. She previously worked as a Vice President at Methodist Health System Foundation, and before that, spent a decade as a television reporter and anchor in Omaha, Las Vegas and FOX 4 here in Dallas. Calvert serves on multiple community boards including Resource Center, Dallas Zoo, For Oak Cliff, SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Christ’s Family Clinic, and Safer Dallas Better Dallas. She recently “retired” after 8 years on the Dallas Park and Recreation Board, and she is also a member of Charter 100, The Dallas Assembly and The Dallas Summit. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri, and lives in north Dallas with her husband and three young daughters.
Current projects include the $310M plan for Buffalo Bayou East; city-wide $225M Bayou Greenways initiative; $215M plan for Memorial Park; $69M plan for MacGregor Park; SPARK’s “park desert” school park initiative now in its third phase; improvements at Willow Waterhole in southwest Houston; Emancipation Park’s Phase Two Capital Improvements; and the Rebirth in Action brick streets project in Freedmen’s Town. Before joining the Foundation, Mr. Hagstette oversaw the 160-acre, $54M Buffalo Bayou Park project from 2010 to 2015 and Discovery Green’s $125M development and initial operations from 2005 to 2010.
Mr. Hagstette currently serves on the board of the Discovery Green Conservancy, and he represents Buffalo Bayou Partnership as a member of Houston Stronger focused on how to responsibly address flooding along Buffalo Bayou and in western Harris County. He also has served in various positions at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Houston. Previously, he worked for Central Houston, Inc. and the Downtown District where he helped initiate downtown Houston’s renaissance. He also led Team HOU, which designed and implemented downtown’s $20M Sesquicentennial Park from 1986 to 1998.
Mr. Hagstette is an architect and urban designer with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin. He is also an AIA Fellow.
Luke Ragland, Chief Impact Officer, Daniels Fund
Luke Ragland joined the Daniels Fund in July 2021. He oversees all aspects of the Grants Program and leads its major external initiatives, including eight grant funding areas across the Daniels Fund’s four-state region. Prior to joining the Daniels Fund, Luke was the President of Ready Colorado, a statewide education advocacy organization focused on expanding school choice. Previously, he served as Vice President of Policy at Colorado Succeeds, a coalition of business leaders focused on improving the state’s education system. Luke practiced complex commercial litigation at a law firm in Denver immediately after law school.
Luke currently serves on a variety of local and national boards. He received his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University and studied law at the University of Colorado Law School. Luke is a fourth-generation Coloradan who grew up working for his family’s logging company in rural southwestern Colorado. He currently lives in Denver with his wife and two daughters.
Philanthropy plays a vital role in driving positive change by uniting the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The Civic & Community Engagement Collaborative (CCE) is designed to empower philanthropic organizations in the southwestern U.S. to become catalysts for transformative impact. Each webinar in the Collaborative series will feature southwest funders in dialogue with nationally recognized organizations, sharing successes, strategies, and lessons learned from their partnerships to strengthen civic engagement and bring communities together across the region.
Questions?
Email Brittany Huber at bhuber@philanthropysouthwest.org.