The following programs received funds from the IECA Foundation recently: Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center A grant of $10,000 was given to the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center (AAYTE) in Philadelphia, a non-profit corporation founded in 1952. Its mission is to create and promote opportunities to improve the quality of life of young people through tennis and education. AAYTE serves young people from ages 4-21, many from under served, at-risk, multicultural populations. Most of AAYTE’s enrollees participate at little or no cost. Camp of Dreams The Foundation Board voted to make Camp of Dreams the 2007 recipient of the Jan Scott Memorial Grant. Camp of Dreams is a non-profit organization located in Chicago. Their mission is to prepare underprivileged young people to reach their full potential through the development of life skills, knowledge, and cultural enrichment. Camp of Dreams provides year-round programming for their participants: 1) during the school year: two or three Saturday gatherings per month and weekly tutoring; and 2) over the summer: a three-week residential camp. The students served are those typically overlooked by other programs; Camp of Dreams targets 9-15 year-olds who are neither the most troubled nor statistical standouts, but those whose promise needs to be bolstered by additional study, practice, and attention. The Foundation granted $7,500 to the Camp of Dreams for their intensive five-day staff training that precedes their three-week residential summer camp. Cesar Chavez Public Charter School The Foundation made an award of $3,250 to Cesar Chavez Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., allocated specifically for the Summer SAT Prep Program. This program serves 65 rising seniors at the Capital Hill Campus. It is aimed at helping low-income first generation students understand the test structure and become comfortable with taking the exam. Through practice tests and skill-deficiency tutorials, students work towards raising their SAT test scores in preparation for college. The monies from the Foundation will specifically fund the SAT Prep books for all 65 students. Children’s Home Society Children's Home Society of Florida was established in 1902 and is one of Florida's oldest nonprofit agencies providing services to children and families. The organization provides a wide spectrum of social services designed to protect children at risk from abuse, abandonment and neglect. They are launching a pilot program for 20 to 25 females (ages 13-17) located in the foster care system that would assist in their higher education planning. The Foundation granted $5,000 to Children’s Home Society to assist them in higher education planning for teenagers in foster care. College Access Fairfax The Fairfax Scholarship Fund was incorporated in August 2004, and in May 2006 changed their name to College Access Fairfax. The IECA Foundation was one of the earliest supporters of this program, and provided support for the initial start-up. The Foundation renewed a grant of $5,000 to this organization to provide funds for a Super Saturday program at eight sites in Fairfax County, Virginia. This program brings parents and students together in January and February to attend a financial aid workshop, and to complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid online, all on the same day. The grant helped pay staffing salaries, book scholarships, and promotional costs (printing and postage) for the program. Community Preparatory School Community Prep School was founded in 1983 with the mission to challenge minority and low-income children of Rhode Island to succeed in college-preparatory high school programs and to become community leaders. Celebrating its 23rd year, Community Preparatory School is an independent middle school (grades 3-8) located in the inner city of Providence, Rhode Island. The IECA Foundation’s $5,000 grant helps fund their SummerPrep and TestPrep Programs to low-income students. TestPrep, an additional two-week component of their summer programming, prepared seventh and eighth grade students for the high school placement exams in the fall. GESU School Gesu in an independent Catholic school in the Jesuit and IHM traditions for 445 children in pre-K through 8th grade. Gesu is committed to providing an excellent education, character formation, and leadership motivation to at-risk, mostly non-Catholic children from the surrounding North Philadelphia neighborhood, one that is characterized by poverty and violence. They were granted $5,350 to use for the Young Scholars Project for 60 high achieving 6th, 7th and 8th graders from North Philadelphia. These students participate in an intensive three-year program that will prepare them for matriculation at competitive high schools. Although these students’ families pay a modest fee and only approximately half attend Gesu School, Gesu raises most of the funding for this program. Keely’s District Boxing and Youth Center Keely’s, a non-profit organization located in the District of Columbia, was established in response to a growing gang violence and juvenile delinquency amongst Latino and African-American youth in DC. Most of the youth in the program are from broken homes, where the mother or grandmother is the primary caregiver, and there is an absence or lack of fathers or male role models in the home. The IECA Foundation granted Keely’s $10,000 in support of their educational and literacy programs. The education program at Keely’s compliments the boxing program, and was created to provide boxing participants with an opportunity to enhance their personal skills. Kids Empowered by Your Support (K.E.Y.S.) K.E.Y.S. was awarded a $5,000 grant. Located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, K.E.Y.S. is an arts enrichment program which provides music lessons for children in grades 4-6, as well as practice instruments for the students. Believing that all children should have the opportunity to learn music despite their socio-economic background, K.E.Y.S. also provides music lessons in local schools that are unable to support music programs of their own. My Sister’s Circle My Sister's Circle (MSC) is a comprehensive relationship-based program designed to mentor girls from disadvantaged Baltimore neighborhoods during their challenging transition to middle school, throughout high school, and into college. Through school placement and support, mentoring, tutoring, educational and cultural events and summer camps and jobs, MSC creates a number of educational opportunities for these girls. Furthermore, MSC continues to support these young women once the placement is made. Many of these girls are below the poverty level. Although they receive scholarships, there are still related costs for books, uniforms, activity fees, tuition balances, etc. The Foundation granted $7,000 to MSC to pay for these fees, as well as school visits and application and test fees when applicable. Strategies to Elevate People (STEPdc) A grant of $5,000 was awarded to STEPdc to assist in funding their after school tutoring program at Park View Elementary School in Washington, DC. STEPdc has been providing tutoring and mentoring in the DC area for 14 years. Through weekly tutoring sessions combined with a hot meal, STEPdc helps high-risk children to break the debilitating cycle of drugs, poverty and violence prevalent in their young lives. They plan to use our grant to provide teaching materials, books, and supplies for the children enrolled in the tutoring program. The Hope Center for Autism and Related Disorders The Hope Center is located in Westport, Connecticut, and was established for parents and professionals to seek comprehensive assistance in developing, implementing and coordinating individualized programs for children with autism spectrum disorders across home, school and community. The Foundation granted $8,000 to fund their Summer Institute to provide specialized training of paraprofessionals serving children with autism. It is expected that a total of 30 paraprofessionals will be involved in this Summer Institute. Additional in-classroom experiences will be provided for these individuals while they are working directly with their students. The Jordan Foundation The Jordan Foundation utilizes the medium of baseball as a common ground to create and make available academic and athletic opportunities, enhance cultural enrichment, and life management strategies to economically disadvantaged boys from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, ages 9 to 19. The Jordan Foundation works in collaboration with the boys, their families, and their respective communities and schools with the ultimate goal of placing them in collegiate programs as student athletes. They were granted $5,000 for their Fall 2007 Leadership Workshop, to be used for their academic program.