Call Us: (945) 438-8486
Email Us: eloisebartonfoundation@gmail.com
What we Do
We are a nonprofit organization driven by one belief: by connecting people and children with animals through compassion, service, and education, we can create better outcomes for communities. Through education and experiential learning, we help build balance, opportunity, and future-oriented skillsets, where families and their pets stay together.
Our Mission
To connect youth development, animal welfare, mental-wellness education, entrepreneurship, and community engagement in order to move people and animals from environments of distress toward safety, positive motivation, education, economic opportunity, and shared responsibility.
Vision
To help youth and communities build healthier futures through mental-wellness education, humane animal care, hands-on learning, entrepreneurship, and trusted community relationships — a community where young people and animals are treated with dignity, residents have constructive ways to respond to local challenges, and education and earned income help sustain long-term growth.
The Challenge
Many young people are exposed to violence, drug activity, homelessness, isolation, and limited positive opportunities. According to Dallas-based nonprofit Youths With Faces, poverty is the largest common denominator for incarcerated youth. 70% of referred Dallas County juveniles have experienced severe trauma, and 67% have witnessed a severe injury or death. Census.gov reports that 12.4% of the total population live in poverty: additional subgroups include overall statistics of 17.3% of children under the age of 18, 10.5% of working-age adults, and 12.3% of senior adults aged 65 and older. Furthermore, Texas continues to rank No. 1 nationally for total shelter euthanasia, with recent statistics for Dallas Animal Services (DAS) highlighting key figures regarding euthanizations: About 1 in 4 animals entering the shelter in 2026 have been euthanized, heavily driven by the shelter running completely out of physical kennel space. It cites 26,000 animal surrenders in 2025, with key reasons ranging from housing and landlord conflicts, financial constraint and cost of living, unmanaged behavioral issues, lack of early socialization, or time pressures.
While these statistics are alarming, they are all related by one thing: many of these pressures can be alleviated or improved through community. and they highlight a key need to anticipate these data points through grassroots, community-based change focused on preemptive assistance for families in need.
Our Focus
Eloise Barton Foundation aims to tackle these issues head on by helping shape the lives of our youth with opportunities to succeed, as well as the lives of adults with community outreach programs. Affordable pet-care education and responsible community partnerships can do just that, and help families address concerns earlier. Safe, supervised opportunities to learn about animals through agriculture, service, and entrepreneurship can support positive youth development, and adults from working age to the elderly can benefit from group-based activities. At Eloise Barton Foundation, we believe that the way out is through educational and service-based pathways. We do this through our Grandmother Model: the personal and ethical foundation of the program, it reflects the role of a grandmother as protector, teacher, encourager, and keeper of practical wisdom. We instill 5 guiding principles into this model: connection, compassion, community, responsibility, and sustainability.
Our Approach: Educate, Serve, Sell, Reinvest, Grow.
Educate
We raise awareness about mental health topics and people/animal care.
Serve
We use our programs to help underserved youth, adults, and the elderly.
Sell
We partner with Gee Your Dog Smells Terrific, a local business, to teach business skill and generate revenue for our programs.
Reinvest
Every dollar generated goes toward funding our programs and creating value for the Community.
Grow
We Empower communities with the mental wellness tools and practical skills they need to be successful on their individual journeys.