Hello

My name is Dr. Tracie Edmond, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cavalry, a nonprofit organization specializing in workforce development for economically challenged and underserved communities. Cavalry got its start from the experiences that I had as a child growing up and not being able to have enough money to afford things. I never knew when I came home if our water would be shut off or our lights cut off. I grew up with a stepfather that was drug-addicted, and as a result, our family was always struggling financially.

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I was praying for a way out, and that is when a high school counselor approached me with an apprenticeship-type program at the Pentagon in accounting.  That apprenticeship program changed the trajectory of my life and helped me to end the cycle of poverty for my family. As I look back at my friends that I grew up with, the majority of them are still in the same area and having the same financial struggles.

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When I thought about why it is that I was able to make it out, it was that apprenticeship program. They gave me the opportunity to see how I could potentially live, and the earnings that I could potentially make. That apprenticeship program led me to getting my degree in accounting, becoming a CPA, ultimately getting my PhD and becoming Texas Accounting Educator of the Year. It gave me the passion and the purpose to want to start an organization that could help people in similar  financial circumstances lead a life of financial self-sufficiency.

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When Cavalry started, we were a leadership development program. We helped more than 300 youth with their soft skills and helped them get jobs and/or scholarships to attend top-tier universities. We were also improving their soft skills and teaching them servant leadership by  taking on projects that benefited the city. To date, our apprentices and student leaders have produced an economic impact of over $500,000 for the city, area small businesses, and area nonprofit organizations.

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We are so excited now to take this program to the next level. Our newest and boldest program to date is degree-based apprenticeship programs. There are so many students who are choosing to not go to a university because of the debt that is associated with it. We are disrupting the educational model by creating a degree-based apprenticeship in Project Management and Accounting. To start, we are creating a model with these two programs that will help other colleges and universities across the nation develop something similar so that students can get their college degree, have four years of experience working with one of our employer partners, and industry-recognized credentials, setting them up for jobs making anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000+.

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Our organization has seen tremendous growth. We have more than doubled in size for the past two years, and we’re on track to do it again this year. We’re super excited for all of the partners that are joining us in this great initiative. We have the City of San Antonio, the University of the Incarnate Word, Alamo Colleges, UTSA, Greater Texas SA, and a growing number of nonprofit, for-profit, and city employers anxious to hire the students that are coming from our program.