Food Studies Institute
$52,500 / 2007 / Education
For expansion of the Food for Life program at charter schools: Hampstead Hill Academy, The Stadium School, City Springs, and Collington Square. Designed to encourage the exposure to nutritional foods, the year-long hands-on food-based curriculum stresses the importance of acquiring knowledge about vitamins, whole grains, labeling, fat and sugar content, the difference between fruits, vegetables, and legumes, and the importance of exercise. Students are taught how to prepare food using recipes from around the world. The program involves families in community meals and gardens. To evaluate the degree of overall academic performance and student behavior as the consequence of healthier food choice, graduate students from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health will document the effectiveness of the program, gauging obesity reduction and improving the general health of the children.
Educational Opportunity Program
$172,900 / 2007 / Education
To provide facilitators for EOP students at each of the two new Southwestern High Schools. The purpose of the program is to increase the high school graduation rate of Baraka School graduates, to provide them with tutoring, enrichment activities, and academic and social support.
DonorsChoose, Inc.
$50,000 / 2007 / Education
Toward the implementation of an online website to provide needed resources to Baltimore City public school teachers and students. Teachers in need of money to purchase materials can post descriptions of student project proposals on the not-for-profit website, while concerned individuals can search for areas of interest, learn about classroom needs, and choose to fund the most compelling projects in full or in part. DonorsChoose will then purchase the materials and ship items to the schools. Connecting citizen philanthropists with classrooms in need serves as a powerful link to ensuring community involvement in the local schools.
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School
$25,000 / 2007 / Education
For competitive scholarships for one team of four students participating in the Corporate Work-Study Program at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Science Center, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and at the YMCA for the 2007-2008 school year.
Core Knowledge Foundation
$270,980 / 2007 / Education
Two grants in support of the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence Initiative in four Baltimore City Head Start Centers for March 2007 through June 2008. The initiative provides teacher training covering the implementation of language, social, mathematical reasoning, and number sense skills; leadership development; Core Knowledge resources and supplies; effective responses to issues of educating children with English as a Second Language, and collecting a comprehensive student baseline data for ongoing assessments of each child.
