Parklife Expands Work with United Way Social Innovation Accelerator in Dallas
Since 2020, Parklife has been proud to support the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Social Innovation Accelerator (SIA). During this year’s run of the accelerator, which began in late summer 2025, we have enjoyed working with SIA on multiple levels.
Over the course of this year’s cohort, our work spanned brand development, pitch preparation, and Demo Day support for six remarkable organizations driving change across North Texas.
In addition, the Parklife team of Carly Martinelli and Brian Castle along with SIA leaders Frank Santoni and Marco Johnson, delivered a pair of workshops to help the 10 fellows understand the many ways to optimize demo day and pitch night presentations.
Building the Foundation: Strategic Brand Work
Our work began before pitch decks were refined and Demo Day presentations delivered.
For Restorative Farms, Parklife developed a comprehensive educational messaging framework designed to articulate how they cultivate economic mobility, workforce development, and sustainable community impact. The framework positioned Restorative Farms’ work in urban agriculture as both restorative and scalable, equipping their team with language that clearly communicates long-term value.
For From Ordinary to Extraordinary (FOTE), our engagement was expansive– including a rebrand, brand messaging overhaul, and website transformation. The new identity reflects the strength, dignity, and forward momentum at the heart of FOTE’s mission, supporting survivors of domestic violence on their path toward economic independence. The refreshed messaging and digital presence created alignment between their impact and how it is experienced by donors, partners, and the community.
Preparing to Take the Stage: The Two-Part Pitch Workshop
With brand clarity established, we shifted focus to Demo Day preparation.
Carly and Brian led a two-part pitch workshop in December and January. Along with Frank and Marco, they designed the interactive sessions to help fellows communicate with confidence and precision. The sessions emphasized clarity over complexity, encouraging presenters to simplify visuals, reduce technical risk, and let their spoken narrative lead.
Fellows explored three powerful opening strategies:
A concise founder story rooted in lived experience
A beneficiary story that humanizes impact
A problem-first approach grounded in urgency and data
The workshop also centered on designing around the judging rubric, ensuring that problem, solution, measurable impact, and scalable growth were clearly articulated. Fellows refined how they quantified outcomes, distinguished growth from scale, and demonstrated the ripple effects of their work.
Demo Day: Celebrating Six Partners
On Demo Day, our team was proud to have six client organizations take the stage:
These organizations presented bold solutions addressing food insecurity, mental health access, domestic violence recovery, menstrual health equity, and incubating entrepreneurial food ventures in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of South Dallas.
We are proud to congratulate Cooking for the Crowd, Restorative Farms, FOTE, and Dotted for advancing to the next stage. We also want to share our sincere admiration for Helen’s Project and the work of Oak Cliff Empowered, powered by the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce.
A Continued Commitment to Social Innovation
Parklife’s partnership with the Social Innovation Accelerator reflects our belief that strong storytelling and strategic branding are essential to scaling impact.
The 25/26 cohort demonstrated what’s possible when innovation is matched with strategy. We’re honored to have supported these six fellows, not just for Demo Day, but in strengthening the foundations that will guide their work moving forward.
