Baltimore’s Promise, Fiscally Sponsored by Fund for Educational Excellence
The Summer Funding Collaborative (SFC) is an aligned fund that directs resources to high-quality summer programs for low-income children in Baltimore City. In 2020, the SFC included 13 public and private funders that, collectively, distributed $3.5 million to 74 programs, funding a projected 9,500 seats. This grant includes funding for between 15-20 nonprofit organizations that will be determined in late winter 2021 through the SFC’s request for proposals as well as a fee for Baltimore’s Promise, the SFC’s administrative backbone.
Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC)
BERC pursues long- and short-term data analysis and research, and subsequently interprets and shares the findings with Baltimore City Public Schools, community leaders, and other stakeholders. This grant will strengthen BERC’s core operating budget, which will support the onboarding of a new executive director and maintain the robust data archives that are the foundation of BERC’s work.
Reading Partners
Since 2012, Reading Partners has provided high quality literacy tutoring by recruiting, training and supervising comunity volunteers to serve children in Baltimore City elementatary schools. With the support of 650 volunteers and 29 Americorps members, Reading Partners will serve up to 600 K-4th grade studentsin 16 Title I schools in the 2020/21 school year. While that instruction may be virutal, in person, or a hybrid, Reading Partners expects that 81% of tutored students will meet their primary individualized end of year literacy growth goals.
The Ingenuity Project
The Abell Foundation launched The Ingenuity Project for advanced math and science in 1994. Today, Ingenuity prepares and launches the next diverse generation of nationally competitive STEM leaders in Baltimore City Schools, serving 830 students in grades 6-12. This grant will enable Ingenuity to expand and improve access to students of color and students living in concentrated poverty by establishing a community-driven vision and systems to produce equitable outcomes for all students, supporting its new middle school program at James McHenry School in West Baltimore, and refining individualized support and STEM enrichment, including the high school practicum experience for all participants. Ingenuity will continue to serve as the exemplary accelerated math and science program that prepares Baltimore City students for selective colleges and STEM careers, demonstrating both excellence and equity.
Improving Education
The Abell Foundation has supported the work of Jarrod Bolte and his non-profit, Improving Education, over the last four years as they use improvement science to change the way schools work to improve reading outcomes for children. In 2020/21, City Schools has contracted with Improving Education to launch and faciliate a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) of 19 schools to assist teachers, administrators, and community providers in redesigning instructional and support mechanisms to improve early literacy outcomes for students from K through fifth grade. Working with 40 Literacy Coaches, 200 teachers and 6,000 students, Improving Education will share its literacy protocols in school innovation and early literacy instructional design. Abell Foundation funds will enable Improving Education to continue some deep coaching work in the 19 schools to inform future practice. Improving Education expects to increase the number of participating students in grades K-5 meeting grade level reading proficiency by 15 percentage points from the beginning to end of year.