A nonprofit in the Dallas area that has helped thousands of young adults with mentorship and support over the past decade received a big boost this summer with the backing of ADT.
All Things Made New was started in 2013 by Michelle Flores, an elementary teacher whose care and concern for her students didn’t end when they entered middle school. Flores says she noticed how pivotal the middle school and high school years were in her former students’ lives.
“The peer pressure that they would face, the bullying, the suicide attempts, the drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, all the things that were negative that were facing them,” Flores recalls. She says she remembers thinking, “Something has to change. There has to be something different for kids that's going to help bridge that gap and stand in the gap.”
This spurred her to start a mentorship program for middle school girls, which she called All Things Made New.
“All Things Made New means it doesn't matter what you've come from. It doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter what's been done to you. You have a choice every single day to make things new for your future. Because every day we have a choice,” Flores says. “And so our hope is that our kids who go through our program choose life for themselves and choose to not be a statistic, but to be a success.”
The program has since expanded to serve boys and girls in middle and high school in the Dallas and Irving, Texas, areas.
In June 2025, All Things Made New became one of ADT’s Safe Places partners. Its drop-in center, which provides students with a safe place to go after school or during the summer for mentorship, is now better protected with an ADT security system. In addition, ADT donated $100,000 to support All Things Made New’s mission and donated a 10-seat passenger van to help bring kids to and from the center.
“This is a powerful example of two great missions and two great organizations coming together to do amazing things,” said Dave Scott, ADT’s Executive Vice President and Chief People and Administration Officer.
The unique challenge of securing a safe place for teens
All Things Made New recently moved its drop-in center to a building intended to feel like a teen’s home away from home. It has hang-out rooms with big, comfy couches for kids to meet with mentors or peers. There are large common areas for activities, a game room and a kitchen.
The structure is several decades old, and that posed some unique challenges when ADT stepped up to customize a security system for the space.
“The building was tricky,” says Jared Corder, an ADT Area Operations Manager who oversaw the installation. “It’s a very elongated building. Buildings of this size and shape can create some complications when it comes to the Wi-Fi signal. We really had to tailor a system to this location.”
Corder says the organization’s mission was also a factor when planning the installation.
“There is no stone that gets unturned when it comes to kids,” Corder says. “You cannot walk around this place; you can't get in this place. There is nowhere you can go around this place without being able to be visually seen or kept from being able to come inside.”
The installation process was months in the making to ensure it met All Things Made New’s needs. “When we came in and met with Michelle, our 20-minute site visit turned into an hour-long conversation where we heard her passion and gained understanding of the mission to better protect it and the people who are here,” Corder says.
Flores says that having the ADT sign out front and the security system in place is very important for parents, who trust All Things Made New to help keep their children safe while visiting the center.
“Having the brand of ADT behind us, knowing that parents can trust that we're going to take care of their child relationally and guide them in a safe direction,” Flores says of the importance of the new system. “They know that they're putting their child in a place where they can let them go and not worry.”