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.
The Piney Woods School
$118,200 / 2007 / Education
To provide scholarships for 13 under-achieving, at-risk male students from Baltimore City to attend a college preparatory boarding school in Mississippi for the 2007-2008 school year. The grant includes funding for a resident counselor to encourage positive attitudes, appropriate social behaviors, and academic achievement.
The Ingenuity Project
$400,000 / 2006 / Education
For support of the 2006-2007 Ingenuity Project, an intensive math and science curriculum for Baltimore City public elementary, middle, and high school students. Its purpose is to identify and develop nationally competitive math, science, and engineering students as measured by their GPAs, SAT scores, selective college acceptances, and college scholarships earned.
Baltimore City Public School System/ National Academic League
$146,150 / 2006 / Education
For support of the 2006-2007 National Academic League in 28 Baltimore City public middle schools. This league provides extracurricular interscholastic programming in an atmosphere of competition traditionally associated with athletic events. The purpose of the program is to increase students’ awareness of local, national, and international current events, and strengthen student background knowledge in all disciplines, particularly mathematics. The program engages more than 650 students.
Johns Hopkins University/Center for Social Organization of Schools
$75,000 / 2006 / Education
Toward the establishment of the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC). A collaborative effort of four partner organizations, BERC will annually produce data on core issues critical for the development of school system policies. The consortium will have the capacity to produce rapid response summary analyses to help both the school district and the school reform committee react appropriately to challenges as they occur.