The District 65 Foundation will make grants totaling more than $71,000 to help fund programs at the District, Patty Barbato, president of the Foundation’s Board, announced at a School Board meeting on June 23. The grant awards are:
Advancing Literacy for All – $50,000 to support the first year of the literacy project “Advancing Literacy For All.” The program, under the direction of Ellen Fogelberg, literacy director, is designed to increase intermediate and middle school students’ ability to read and understand informational texts and content, such as science and social studies.
Summer Reading Program – $13,000 to fund a fourth year of the Summer Reading Program, which supports over 50 emerging readers as they transition from first to second grade.
From Ants to the Ocean (School Age Childcare Program) – $2,500 to support a series of field trips and enrichment activities for students attending the District’s after-school child care program.
Parent/Child Wellness Program (Joseph Hill Education Center) – $2,493 to support a second year of the program which targets at-risk parents with babies and young children and teaches techniques for wellness, stress management and physical well-being.
Kindergarten Literacy Baskets (Willard Elementary School) – $2,234 to assist a project that provides multicultural literature and guided-discussion supports to parents of targeted students. The goal is to enable students to build home libraries and for parents to learn to discuss literature with their children.
The Foundation also awarded $1,532 to support a program that supplies science books to struggling readers at Walker Elementary School, $990 to support struggling readers at Washington School who want to compete in the Battle of the Books competition, and $860 to promote literacy by expanding the number of multicultural books offered to a diverse group of third-graders at Bessie Rhodes Magnet School.
The Foundation was created to serve school-aged children in the District through support of innovative initiatives that complement and support the District’s short and long-range goals.