Success Stories - 2008
- Camp of Dreams
- Children’s Home Society
- College Access Fairfax
- Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL)
- Kids Empowered by Your Support (KEYS)
- Motivating Our Students Through Experience (MOSTE)
- My Sister’s Circle
- North Light Community Center
- Open Doors After School Enrichment Program
- The Jordan Foundation
- West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC)
Camp of Dreams
www.campofdreams.org
The IECA Foundation provided a grant in 2008 to Camp of Dreams in Chicago, in support of staff training and orientation for their summer program. In 2008, a second grant was requested for their School-Year Community Days project, which takes place two Saturdays each month, from September through June. This project consists of small-group classes and workshops in everything from creative writing, science and math to civic engagement and leadership. A grant of $5,000 was awarded for instructors and class supplies for the Community Days project.
Children’s Home Society
www.chsfl.org
Children's Home Society of Florida was established in 1902 and is one of Florida's oldest non-profit agencies providing services to children and families. This organization provides a wide spectrum of social services designed to protect children at risk from abuse, abandonment and neglect. They also launched a pilot program that assists with higher education planning for females ages 13-17 located in the foster care system. The Foundation granted $5,000 to Children’s Home Society.
College Access Fairfax
www.collegeaccessfairfax.org
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, located in Fairfax, Virginia, and provided funds for the initial start-up in February 2005, and again in December 2006. A third grant of $5,000 was awarded to underwrite portions of the successful Super Saturday program that the IECA Foundation has underwritten in the past.
This program brings parents and students together in January and February to attend a Financial Aid workshop and complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid online, all on the same day. A portion of this grant was used to underwrite a part of the “Finish Your FAFSA Tardy Party” program in March and April – an effort at assisting the stragglers in completing their forms.
Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL)
www.ctcl.org
This non-profit organization, located in Maryland, is dedicated to the advancement and support of a student-centered college search process. They support the goal of each student finding a college that develops a lifelong love of learning while educating students, families, counselors and the public about the actual accessibility of a quality post secondary educational experience. Although the CTCL programs are free of charge, many schools request support for transportation to bring students to the programs. In addition, they are experiencing an increase in requests for speaker services and materials for programs at their schools. To help with these expenses, CTCL was granted $2,000.
Kids Empowered by Your Support (KEYS)
www.keysmusic.org
KEYS is a non-profit organization in Connecticut that provides music lessons to disadvantaged children who have no other access to this important life experience. A second grant of $5,000 was awarded to create a new program for 10 students in the second and third grades at the Beardsley Elementary School aimed at adapting the Suzuki method of teaching to the special needs of inner city children. Musical instruction at the lower grades exploits learning receptivity at ages when this is optimal and which can lead to enhanced opportunities for personal development and future academic options.
Motivating Our Students Through Experience (MOSTE)
www.moste.org
MOSTE is a mentoring, scholarship and college-access program for underserved Los Angeles girls who dream of going to college. For two decades, MOSTE has served more than a thousand girls and continues to expand the scope and geographic boundaries of its program. We funded $5,000 for More MOSTE, a college incentive and scholarship program for high school girls that partners with Occidental College in Los Angeles. The goal is to remove traditional barriers among underserved girls to prepare and help fund all of their students to attend a four-year college.
My Sister’s Circle
www.mysisterscircle.org
My Sister’s Circle is a 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. The Foundation awarded My Sister’s Circle $7,000 in 2007 to supplement school-related expenses, cover travel costs, and provide application and test fees. To help My Sister’s Circle continue their support to these young women and offer their guidance, the Foundation voted to grant them another $5,000 in 2008.
North Light Community Center
www.northlightcommunitycenter.org
This was the first grant request from North Light Community Center, located in Philadelphia. They were founded in 1936, and some of their programs include after-school and out-of-school-time youth development, tutoring, leadership training, arts and recreation, teen employment, GED preparation and neighborhood access to technology. The Foundation approved their proposal for $5,000 to initiate a pilot project to expand its literacy instruction capacity and outcomes by adding a Literacy Coach to the staff of its Youth Continuum programming, which includes homework assistance and tutoring and a program for high school dropouts working toward their GEDs.
Open Doors After School Enrichment Program
www.opendoorsacademy.org
This program serves up to 25 academically underachieving students from Shaker Heights Middle School in Ohio. A previous grant supported Open Doors for the 2006-2007 school year. This grant of $3,000 was awarded to support them for the 2008-09 school year, specifically their 16-hour Peer Mediation training program and a career choice/college access program.
The Jordan Foundation
www.lvjfoundation.org
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 Leadership Workshop, to be used for their academic program.
West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC)
www.wepac.org
WePAC is a volunteer-based organization that was created to bridge the racial, economic, geographic and cultural divides between West Philadelphia and its neighboring suburban communities. Its mission is to provide loving support that enhances resources and opportunities for at-risk children and their families in West Philadelphia. WePAC was one of the four Katz award recipients in November 2006. The organization received $1,000 to recognize and honor IECA member, Luisa Rabe, as an outstanding volunteer. Funding in the amount of $5,000 was also awarded to support a program called ‘The Youth Empowerment Initiative’. This program will work with at-risk, underachieving youth, using intensive case management. The initiative will nurture them through their four high school years, teaching them life skills, and preparing them to be successful in college, technical school or the military.
2010 • 2009