Public Allies San Antonio (PASA)
Public Allies San Antonio (PASA) is a career education group founded by Public Allies and Alamo Colleges to assist San Antonio residents, specifically those in low-income and racial minority communities, to find employment and higher education. The program is almost entirely funded by Alamo Colleges and AmeriCorps, a civil society program supported by the U.S. federal government, foundations, businesses, and other donors. 1
Contents
As of August 2025, PASA has 153 alumni who have gone through PASA’s programs, and 60 percent of these alumni are employed in the nonprofit or public service sectors. 2
Background
Public Allies was founded in 1992 to help low-income and racial minority communities within the United States to find careers and acquire higher education. Many of the organization’s programs are financed by AmeriCorps. As of August 2025, Public Allies operates chapters in 21 states and Washington, D.C. Public Allies San Antonio is Public Allies’ sole chapter in Texas and was launched in 2007. 3 4
Public Allies and PASA develop “allies,” or individuals whom it places with local nonprofits for workplace training. Allies are trained to uphold “six core values” which are centered around the left-of-center concepts of “Diversity/Inclusion.” Any individual who is 17 or older and a permanent resident may apply to be an ally, though Public Allies and PASA aim for allies to be “as diverse as possible.” 5
Partners
Public Allies San Antonio (PASA) is partnered with Girls Inc. of San Antonio to recruit female participants for its Bold Future Initiative, a program to encourage female intellectual development and risk-taking in fields in which women are traditionally underrepresented. According to GISA’s website in August 2025, the organization was “recently” provided a grant to acquire 50 participants for its Bold Future Initiative from the San Antonio Independent School District and Houston Independent School District; GISA reached out to PASA to help it complete its goal. 6
Past PASA partner organizations include Family Service Association of San Antonio, Catholic Charities USA, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, the WestCare Foundation, the Eastside Education and Training Center, Meals on Wheels San Antonio, Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, Texas A&M San Antonio, AVANCE-San Antonio, Special Reach, the Doseum, Alamo Colleges- I-Best Program, and the American Volkssport Association. 2
Funding
Public Allies San Antonio (PASA) is funded by local community college network Alamo Colleges as well as AmeriCorps, a federal program run by the Corporation for National and Community Service federal agency. 1 In 2022, AmeriCorps provided $539,993 in federal funding to PASA. 7 In 2021, AmeriCorps provided $418,898 in federal funding to PASA. 8 In 2019, AmeriCorps provided $325,000 in federal funding to PASA. 9
In 2023, Public Allies San Antonio co-signed a letter with other AmeriCorps funding recipients to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor-HHS Appropriations asking the committee not to cut funding to AmeriCorps. 10
Leadership
Gionni Taylor is the director of Public Allies San Antonio (PASA). Taylor first joined PASA in 2019 as a grant program specialist and as of 2025 also works as the director of AmeriCorps’ service program. Taylor was previously the program manager and site director for the Public Allies national group. From 2015 to 2019, Taylor worked at City Year, an educational nonprofit. 11
Michelle Tremillo was the founding director of PASA. She is the executive director and co-founder of the Texas Organizing Project, a left-of-center political advocacy group. Tremillo previously worked for the defunct ACORN, a left-of-center voter outreach group that disbanded in 2010 after accusations of voter fraud. 12