Beginning in 2011, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call to action, the firm began a year-long commitment to serve a specific need and an organization serving that need. That effort continues today.

2025 – Equest

Equest’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for children and adults with physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, by partnering with horses to bring hope and healing through equine-assisted activities and therapies. Since its founding, Equest has stayed on the leading edge of equine therapy for autism, veterans, and other diverse needs, and provides a next level of therapy, meeting its clients where they are. Equest is the missing piece of a puzzle – delivering sought-after results and relief for the first time ever or as another layer of physical and emotional support. Equest is a PATH International Premier Accredited Center and one of the largest in the country. Its master-certified staff members are heavily engaged in designing curriculum and training for the next generation of equine-assisted therapy instructors.

2024 (and 2014) – Dallas Urban Debate Alliance (DUDA)

Many lawyers were debaters in their high school and college days, and they will quickly tell you it has served them well in their careers. The Dallas Urban Debate Association gives every Dallas ISD student a chance to participate in a rigorous academic endeavor to help them become articulate and informed leaders in their schools and communities. In addition to undertaking a focused fund-raising effort on behalf of DUDA, Carrington Coleman attorneys and staff volunteered to work at debates as judges and in other roles. This service opportunity showcased the abilities of young people, many of whom are in disadvantaged circumstances, to excel and rise above the challenges and excel in the classroom and the community.

2023 – Hope Supply Co.

Hope Supply Co. provides diapers and other essentials to social service organizations in North Texas, including homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, and transitional housing. They currently have a network of 70+ partner agencies, ensuring their items are given directly to the families and children who need them the most. Hope meets the critical needs of homeless and at-risk children in North Texas by providing necessities including diapers, wipes, hygiene kits, baby food and formula, clothing, school supplies, and toys to enhance their lives. The firm held a Diaper Drive to collect diapers for the organization. We delivered the diapers and spent time volunteering at Hope Supply’s warehouse. The firm donated almost 1,500 diapers, and our volunteers packaged 7,150 diapers to be distributed to Hope Supply’s partner agencies.

2022 – Jonathan's Place

The mission of Jonathan’s Place is to provide a safe place, loving homes, and promising futures for abused and neglected children, teens, and young adults. Jonathan’s Place is the only organization in Dallas County that provides residential services to children under the age of 5. While at Jonathan’s Place, each child receives medical and dental exams, developmental and psychological assessments, weekly individual and group therapy, and is enrolled in school. Jonathan’s Place can also play a critical role in addressing the unmet, specialized needs of child sex trafficking victims. Jonathan’s Place cares for these youth through the RESET (Restoring and Educating Survivors to Empowerment and Transformation) Emergency Shelter and/or placement into a RESET Long-Term Therapeutic Foster home. Each program includes trauma-informed therapeutic services as well as life skills, medical, legal, and educational services.

2021 – Café Momentum

Carrington Coleman saw the need to give back to the community was much stronger during the pandemic and partnered with Café Momentum, a fellow downtown organization. Café Momentum is a non-profit restaurant that offers a compensated 12-month internship program to justice-involved youth aged 15 to 19. Café Momentum's objective is to help the community's most at-risk kids achieve their greatest potential by providing them with life skills, education, and employment opportunities. We raised money for Café Momentum, by organizing a Zoom cooking class guided by their chefs. Attendees learned how to create the famed Café sausage gravy and biscuits using the Café's biscuit mix.

2019 – Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas

In June 2019, Carrington Coleman hosted an event to raise funds for Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas (JFS). Additionally, the firm volunteered at their facility and held a supply donation drive later that year. Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas is a nonsectarian mental health and social services agency that impacts more than 13,000 lives a year. For more than 65 years, JFS has welcomed anyone through their doors regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or the ability to pay.  Their mission is to provide professional, effective, and affordable mental health and social services that promote lifelong self-sufficiency and well-being for anyone in need. When people turn to Jewish Family Service for help, they can rely on licensed professionals with the education, expertise, experience, and heart to make a positive difference in thousands of lives every year in an atmosphere of respect and confidentiality.

2018 – Reading Partners

Carrington Coleman believes that every child deserves the opportunity to learn to read. In 2018, we focused efforts on this cause by partnering with Reading Partners. The firm held an event to raise funds for donation to Reading Partners, volunteered to read to children, and held a book drive. Reading Partners mobilizes communities to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade. Research shows that students who read at grade level by fourth grade have a greater opportunity to succeed in school and in life. Reading Partners works with under-resourced schools and engages volunteer reading partners to work one-on-one with students who struggle with reading.  An evidence-based and community-driven organization, they recruit and train volunteers to work one-on-one with students for 45 minutes twice a week, following a structured, research-based curriculum.  Their program model works and is backed by evidence-based research which proves that their students make significant gains in reading. On average, Reading Partners’ students more than double their rate of learning while in the program.

2017 – Bonton Farms

Carrington Coleman joined with Bonton Farms who is driven by the mission to restore lives, create jobs, and ignite hope in a once forgotten and neglected neighborhood with some of the most marginalized people. What started out as a garden in a small lot has grown into two fully functioning farms and the Bonton Market. They grow organic food and hope for a better tomorrow, right in the Bonton community and on a separate 40-acre farm south of Dallas. They are determined to grow the best-tasting, healthiest produce in the city while inspiring hope in everyone around them. They also house free-range chickens, goats, turkeys, rabbits and beehives that provide an abundance of fresh eggs, milk and honey.

2015, 2016 – North Texas Food Bank

For many years, the North Texas Food Bank has served those in need. In our commitment to addressing hunger, we volunteered time and resources to support its work. There should be no hunger in this nation, or any other. The reality is that hunger exists in our community. Though our individual roles were small, we contributed to the collective effort of individuals, companies, and organizations supporting this vital outreach.

2014 – Dallas Urban Debate Alliance (DUDA)

Many lawyers were debaters in their high school and college days, and they will quickly tell you it has served them well in their careers. The Dallas Urban Debate Association gives every Dallas ISD student a chance to participate in a rigorous academic endeavor to help them become articulate and informed leaders in their schools and communities. In addition to undertaking a focused fund-raising effort on behalf of DUDA, Carrington Coleman attorneys and staff volunteered to work at debates as judges and in other roles. This service opportunity showcased the abilities of young people, many of whom are in disadvantaged circumstances, to excel and rise above the challenges and excel in the classroom and the community.

2013 – Community Partners of Dallas

The Carrington Coleman family joined with Community Partners of Dallas whose mission is to ensure safety, restore dignity, and inspire hope for the abused and neglected children served by Dallas County Child Protective Services. Our volunteers were part of the annual Easter Basket Handout, helping children in extremely difficult circumstances have a little sunshine. The firm also took part in a toy drive and a “Keep the Change” program that raised several thousand dollars to assist Community Partners.

2012 – Family Gateway

Family Gateway provides housing and comprehensive services to homeless families with children. Their programs focus on meeting basic needs of children and their parents, and then, most importantly, empowering them to move from their current crisis back to self-sufficiency. The firm has a long history with Family Gateway and has supported them for many years by providing pro bono legal work. During our year of service, the firm had a “Fill the Backpack” drive, donating school supplies for the new school year and hosted fund-raising activities throughout the year.

2011 – Children’s Medical Center

Carrington Coleman has had a long relationship with Children’s Medical Center, so it was a logical first choice. The purpose was to give a little bit of comfort and joy to the children and families who were being treated at the hospital. We held a food drive to provide snacks and meals for families in the ICU waiting rooms. Birthdays are a big deal to children, so we created Birthdays in a Box to make it easier for families confined to the hospital to celebrate memorably with their children. We ended the year with a day of service at Children’s. Our firm staffed several playrooms during the day. Arms loaded with lots of crafts and the willingness to play, our volunteers read, played pool, had pretend tea parties, played video games, and raced Hot Wheels. While having the opportunity to serve others, our lives were enriched by the families at Children’s Medical Center.