E4 Youth

E4 Youth turns stories into skills and skills into opportunity.

We connect young creatives to real pathways for growth and careers, helping them be seen, heard, and hired as cultural innovators and creative entrepreneurs. E4 Youth collaborates with business leaders in creative media related industries to expose and nurture talent from traditionally under-represented groups including people of color and women. Each year we provide access to tours, creative portfolio building opportunities, internships, education and career guidance to hundreds of promising youth.

10/16/2026

Investing in our young people means investing in the future of our community!!

Thank you to GFiber, our Community Connection and Activation Partner, and C3 Presents, our Activation Partner!

As Activation Partners, your support helps make labs, augmented reality (AR) experiences, and programming possible at the WOW Heritage Center.

Thank you for believing in our young creatives and helping us build a space where our stories have a home. 👏🏾👏🏾

10/14/2026

We are just THREE DAYS AWAY! 👏🏾

We’re opening the doors to the WOW Heritage Center at Rosewood Courts, and we want you there!

Come celebrate a space that honors East Austin’s Black history and makes room for the next generation of storytellers and creatives. The day will include:

- Live music
- Local vendors
- A community gallery
- A ribbon-cutting to mark the moment together

📍 Sunday, October 18 | 2–5 PM | 1141 Chicon St., Austin, TX

Bring your family, bring a friend, bring yourself! We can’t wait to celebrate with you. RSVP at the link in bio or comment “WOW CENTER” for the link.

10/13/2026

📍¿SABÍAS QUE, AUSTIN? | DID YOU KNOW?

Walk through downtown Austin’s Republic Square today, and you are walking through a much older Mexican American story.

Austin’s early Mexican and Tejano community once surrounded the square in a neighborhood known simply as “Mexico.”

By the 1880s, families were gathering around the park for concerts, dances, church fundraisers, and celebrations of Diez y Seis de Septiembre, Mexican Independence Day.

In 1907, the community built Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church near the square.

Many residents came to know the park as Guadalupe Park.

But as Austin grew and segregation shaped where people could live and receive city services, much of the Mexican American community moved east.

The people moved.

The churches moved.

The businesses moved.

The fiestas moved.

But the history didn’t disappear.

So when we walk through Austin, E4 Youth wants us to ask:

What was here before what we see now?

Because sometimes a city’s memory hides beneath its street signs.

10/12/2026

‼️ VENDOR SPOTS ARE NOW FULL ‼️

📣 Calling Austin small businesses and community resource organizations! We still have FOUR vendor spots available for the WOW Heritage Center Grand Opening this Sunday, October 18.

Join us for an afternoon of community, connection, and celebration, and introduce your business or organization to our neighbors. There’s no fee to participate!

📍 1141 Chicon St., Austin | Sunday, October 18 | 2–5 PM

Interested? Comment “VENDOR” and we’ll send you the form, or visit the link in our bio to apply.

👉🏾 Know someone who would be a great fit? Tag them below or share this post!

10/09/2026

📣 Our history deserves a home. 📣 Our young people deserve opportunities. 📣 You can help make both possible. 📣

We invite you to join the WOW Heritage Center Founding Circle and partner with us in building a space where East Austin’s stories are preserved, shared, and carried forward.

Your partnership supports creative programming, internships, workforce pathways, and youth participation. Every investment helps lay the foundation for what this center will become for our community.

There’s still time to be part of something great! Learn more at whatoncewas.org/support.

10/08/2026

🌳 ¿SABÍAS QUE, AUSTIN? | DID YOU KNOW?

Parque Zaragoza wasn’t always simply a park.
In 1931, the City of Austin established what was then called Zaragosa Park as a segregated recreational space for Austin’s growing Mexican American community.

But here’s the part we don’t want to miss: The community made it theirs.

Mexican American business and civic leaders organized a park board. Families gathered. Baseball teams played. Musicians performed. Communities celebrated Cinco de Mayo, Diez y Seis de Septiembre, and other traditions.
By 1941, a “Mexican Day” celebration there drew 9,000 people. Nine. Thousand.

What began inside the boundaries of segregation became a place of culture, recreation, music, memory, and belonging.

That is something communities have always known how to do: Take the space we’re given and make more room inside it.

Nearly a century later, Parque Zaragoza remains part of Austin’s Mexican American story.

10/07/2026

A huge shoutout to Liaison Creative + Marketing, Butler, and St. David’s Foundation, our WOW Founding Circle Community Activation Partners! 🙌🏾

Your support helps us welcome young people into the WOW Heritage Center, where they can connect with our history, explore their talents, and dream big about their futures.

Thank you for showing up for our young people and investing in our community! 💙

Want your organization to be part of what comes next? There’s still time to join our Founding Circle! Learn more at whatoncewas.org/support.

10/05/2026

The doors are opening, and we can’t wait to welcome you in! 💛

The WOW Heritage Center is E4 Youth’s first permanent home in East Austin. It’s a space for creative learning, community voice, oral history, and preserving the stories and experiences that make East Austin what it is.
On October 18, we’re celebrating this next chapter with our community, and you’re invited!

Swipe to learn more about the space and what to expect at our Grand Opening.

→Comment “WOW” and we’ll send you the ticket link, or visit the link in our bio to secure your spot.

We hope to see you there!

10/02/2026

In 1927, Consuelo Herrera Méndez became the first Mexican American teacher hired by Austin’s public school system.

But Austin almost missed out on her.

After graduating from Austin High School in 1923 and qualifying to teach, Méndez was not initially hired by Austin schools. She taught elsewhere in Texas before returning to Austin and beginning her career at the segregated Comal School.

She later taught at Zavala and Brooke elementary schools, advocated for Mexican American students and families, helped establish PTAs, translated educational materials into Spanish, and served through LULAC.

She spent more than four decades in education.

Today, Consuelo Herrera Méndez Middle School carries her name.

Sometimes being “the first” means walking through a door.

Sometimes it means pushing on that door until somebody finally opens it.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, E4 Youth remembers the people who made room for the generations coming behind them.

Our history is here. You just have to know where to look.

E4Youth LatinxAustin

09/30/2026

We are proud to recognize the WOW Founding Circle, the organizations, workplace giving groups, and individuals whose early support helped bring the WOW Heritage Center to life.

A huge THANK YOU to our Founding Circle partners:

👉🏾 C3 Presents — Activation Partner

👉🏾 GFiber — Activation Partner

👉🏾 GSD&M — Pipeline Partner

👉🏾 Butler — Community Activation

👉🏾 Liaison Creative — Community Activation

👉🏾 St. David’s Foundation — Community Activation

Your support has helped turn a long-held vision into a permanent place for storytelling, learning, creativity, and opportunity.

Interested in joining the WOW Founding Circle? It’s not too late. Our doors open October 18, and there are still many ways to partner with us and support the work that will continue at WOW for years to come.

Visit whatoncewas.org to learn more, or comment FOUNDER and we’ll send you the link.

Address

Austin, TX

Website

http://e4youth.org/donate/, https://linktr.ee/e4youth, https://whatoncewas.org/

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