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Clay Education Foundation gets $40,000 Grant for Classrooms Projects

CLAY COUNTY – The Consortium of Florida Education Foundations recently awarded The Clay Education Foundation $40,159.00 in matching funds through the School District Education Foundation Matching Grant Program.

Over the last few years, the Clay Education Foundation has made it a priority to give our students the tools and resources they need to be successful whether they choose college, military, or career. Through the Grants for Great Ideas program, the CEF awards more than $50,000 a year in innovative classroom grants to teachers to purchase those supplies they need in order to make this a reality. This year, educators were eligible to apply to our Grants program for projects focusing on STEM, arts, and literacy. Projects included bringing coding and robotics to first graders to expanding STEAM centers in many of our school media centers.

“I have been blessed with receiving several Clay County Education Foundation grants over my teaching career. The materials I have received have impacted my teaching and inspired my students beyond measure. I wish you could witness firsthand the engagement of my students as they collaborate with their classmates on STEM learning projects, or the quiet joy of a reluctant reader who finally achieves success with literacy tailored to their specialized needs. Simply put, the Clay County Education Foundation and their Grants for Great Ideas program provides educators the very tools to provide grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction, deep engagement, and to hold high expectations for all of our learners when traditional funding lags. Our entire school community appreciates the support of the Clay County Education Foundation as they embolden teachers on their journey to elevate the learning of ALL of our students”, Kimberly Miskowski, Coppergate School of the Arts.

Thanks to generous community partners like Northeast FL STEM2Hub, Wells Fargo, Community First Credit Union, Doctors Lake Family Dental, the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations, and State officials, we are able to fund not only our Grants for Great Ideas program, but programs to build classroom libraries and support numerous hands-on STEM activities like school gardens and robotics clubs.

Through the collaborative effort of its members, the CFEF successfully advocated for the creation of legislative matching funds in 2000 which has provided a dollar-for-dollar incentive for local education foundations to raise private contributions for eligible projects. Since then, more than $114 million in combined private and state dollars has been employed for local projects that serve low-performing students and literacy initiatives, encourage STEM and career/technical education, improve teaching quality, and/or increase graduation rates.

The CFEF is the membership organization for Florida’s school district-wide local education foundations. Established in 1987, the CFEF maximizes the individual and collective strength of Florida local education foundations to support local partners and schools in achieving student success. The CFEF now has 65 member foundations with 1,100 business and community leaders serving as volunteer board members. Collectively, they

raise $64 million annually to support students, teachers and schools through a variety of programs. The CFEF has facilitated more than $52 million to local education foundations since 2002 through various private- and public-sector partnerships, including the State of Florida School District Education Foundation Matching Grant Program.

To learn more about the CFEF and the statewide impact of the program, visit www.educationfoundationsfl.org.

View – The Clay Today