The Portland Schools Foundation works diligently to match the needs of schools with areas of funding that exist with corporate and funding partners. These grants may vary from year to year and are utilized to fund strategic intiatives throughout Portland’s public school districts. Following are the current Sponsored Innovative Grant programs:
The Jeanne and Dick Roy Food Composting Fund, a Sponsored Innovative Grant of the Portland Schools Foundation, will award a total of $15,000 to fund qualifying small grants for initiating systems to compost cafeteria food scraps on elementary or middle school grounds in Portland. Eligible Applicants: Elementary or Middle school principals, teachers, staff, or PTAs within the Portland Public School District. Grants will be awarded for up to $2,500 per application. Applicants should request at least $250. A total of $15,000 is available for funding. Applications must be mailed to Jeanne Roy postmarked by 5:00 pm on Friday, January 29, 2011. Applications will not be accepted by e-mail. Download application.
In partnership with The Boeing Company, the Portland Schools Foundation’s (PSF) Ninth Grade Counts Teacher Inquiry Grant is designed to increase the success of off-track ninth-graders by providing funds to train, coach, and support teachers and school leaders to use data to track student success and design supports to keep students on-track for graduation. PSF’s Connected by 25 research highlighted the importance of the ninth grade year for students who struggle. PSF’s Ninth Grade Counts initiative has taken action on that data by engaging Portland-area school districts and other partners in efforts to identify at-risk eighth graders and support them through the summer transition into ninth grade. This grant is designed to take that work to another level by funding training, coaching, and the development and use of tools to support the teachers that work with off-track ninth graders. Check back soon for the 2010/11 grant application.
MAD Grants are designed to provide educators with small grants for their BIG ideas. Grant amounts range from $35 to $1,000. Examples of porjects funded through MAD Grants includes: a rope-climbing challenge course at the Marshall Campus; a genetics course for second graders at Duniway Elementary School, and a display of flags from around the world to celebrate the diversity of the children studying ELL at Woodmere Elementary School. The deadline for applications for the 2010/11 school year has passed. For more information, please visit www.madgrants.org.
For additional information on all of the Portland Schools Foundation grant programs, please contact Samantha López at samantha@thinkschools.org or 503-234-5404, ext. 13.