Students in Mr. Stead’s Industrial Arts class at Madison Middle School were able to donate 60 handmade, aesthetically pleasing, and functional ‘Tot Stools’ to the Marines’ Toys For Tots drive in the 2022-23 school year. This incredible act of community service was made possible by a $1,600 grant from EEF that funded the purchase of a new bandsaw for the woodshop. The new bandsaw replaced old equipment that caused safety issues and contributed to the waste of expensive woodworking materials. As a result of this grant, nearly 400 students had the opportunity to get hands-on experience working with industry-standard equipment as they developed skills and interest in the industrial arts. Providing Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities in public schools is crucial to guiding students to a career that is meaningful to them.
“Classroom learning is important, but when students can put the things they have learned in a classroom to the test in a ‘laboratory’… or shop environment, it is amazing to see the lights go on! Watching these connections being made is why I want to be a teacher.”
Mike Stead, Industrial Arts Teacher, Madison Middle School
In the 2021-22 school year, EEF provided a $3,500 grant to McCornack Elementary to purchase materials for a STEAM makerspace. The makerspace gave students the opportunity to learn collaboratively about science, technology, engineering, arts, and math concepts in ways that are best suited to their individual learning styles. Due to the overwhelming success and popularity of the makerspace, EEF granted an additional $5,000 to McCornack for the 2022-23 school year to purchase additional supplies for the space, making it more accessible to a greater number of students with a diverse range of abilities.
The makerspace continuously proves to be a worthy investment of EEF grant dollars. Students are excited about learning new skills, working collaboratively with students they normally would not, and have even extended their learning outside the classroom and into the home!
“We saw kids grow and work together and all try new things. We even saw kids who liked some of the new tools and resources so much, parents said they asked for their own sets at holiday time!”
EEF Grants Over $83,000 to 4J Schools in Second Round of Funding for 2021-22 School Year
Eugene, OR – The Eugene Education Foundation Board of Directors is thrilled to announce an additional $83,674.62 in grant funds to be distributed to schools and district level programs in Eugene School District 4J, in the second of two rounds of funding for the 2021-22 school year. Combined with the grants awarded in Fall 2021, EEF has invested a total of $223,150 in standard grants this year.
The funding categories for grants awarded during this round included literacy, STEM, art and music, social emotional learning, and physical education. Some examples of grants that advance innovation and support overall student success include: Cesar Chávez Elementary School’s Adapted Books for the Inclusive Instruction of Diverse Learners, which provided a set of classroom books adapted to help students with learning disabilities to increase their reading level while remaining in the classroom with their peers; Spencer Butte Middle School’s Vernier GoDirect Sensor Probes,which provided temperature and weather probes for students to monitor climatic conditions in a chemistry lab or outside in environmental monitoring;and Arts & Technology Academy’s Electronic Music Foundational Equity Fund,which provided midi keyboards and headphones for students to compose digital music on school iPads.
Many of the applications awarded have an emphasis on increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in materials and curriculum, or addressing the growing need for student mental health support. Applications received during both rounds of funding highlight the impact the pandemic has had on children’s ability to focus and moderate behavior in the classroom.
Most notably, EEF awarded $10,000 for a district level grant for Conscious Discipline program materials for K-1 teachers. Conscious Discipline is an evidence-based social-emotional learning and classroom management strategy that is currently being implemented in kindergarten and first grade classrooms in 4J’s Title I elementary schools. The positive results in classrooms using Conscious Discipline have included fewer behavioral incidents, less tardiness and absenteeism, increased empathy, and even higher reading scores.
Mariah Engle, a Kindergarten teacher at Cesar Chavez Elementary, shared how Conscious Discipline has transformed her classroom:
“Conscious Discipline takes us from an unconscious, reactive state, to a conscious, mindful place of personal and communal awareness. I finally feel like I am not only providing children with the skills they need to succeed academically, but I am also providing them with skills to succeed in life, both emotionally and socially. I am also growing and becoming a happier and more fulfilled person through this work”.
Since 1993, EEF has been the Foundation for 4J, connecting the generous support of donors, corporate sponsors, and school/parent partnerships with programs that create opportunities for equity, access, and engagement in learning for 4J students. Throughout the pandemic, EEF offered two grant cycles per year to ensure that educators had access to resources needed to continue to provide high quality education in the face of compounding adversity. As the district transitions away from pandemic era policies, EEF will revert to offering just one grant cycle per year, beginning in the fall of 2022.
Started during the pandemic, EEF will also continue to fund Urgent Needs and Rosie’s Fund requests on a rolling basis to provide individual interventions to students who are in crisis or are facing other significant barriers to learning. This school year, to date, EEF has granted $15,232 in Urgent Needs requests and $29,820 in Rosie’s Fund support.
EEFreceives much of the funding needed to provide ongoing support to 4J schools through an annual fundraising dinner. For the first time in two years, the event will be held on May 13th at 5:30 pm at the Kidsports Fieldhouse at Civic Park. To attend, donate, or find more information about On Track For Success: EEF’s Annual Dinner, please visit: https://bit.ly/EEFannualdinner22.
EEF will be hosting two additional fundraising events this year to provide more opportunities for folks to show their support for excellence in public education. Stay tuned for more details about the summer winery event and community 5K/fun run in the fall!
Support from organizations like Thermo Fisher Scientific, SELCO Community Credit Union, Sunrise Asian Food Market, Pape’ Group, Bigfoot Beverages, and Palo Alto Software, along with many other businesses and individuals, make it possible for EEF to support 4J with annual grants.
Visit http://www.eeflane.org to learn how to support EEF, and to help make learning happen.
Official Press Release November 4, 2021 Contact: Dana Fleming, Executive Director, eef@eeflane.org, 541-790-7744
***For Immediate Release***
EEF Grants Over $144,000 to 4J Schools and District-Wide Programs in First of Two Rounds for 2021-22 School Year
Eugene, OR – The Eugene Education Foundation’s Board of Directors is excited to announce the distribution of more than $144,000 in grants to schools and district programs that support social emotional learning and drive literacy, science, and other subject areas to help address challenges post- pandemic. This grant cycle is one of two EEF will offer to the district in an unusual year. The second round of applications will be reviewed and awarded in February 2022 in an effort to provide ongoing support to schools and the district. An additional Urgent Needs application – created in response to families dealing with the impacts of Covid-19 – will have a rolling deadline throughout the year.
For the past 28 years, EEF grants have brought much needed enrichment and access in 4J schools. During the past two unprecedented years of distance and hybrid learning, EEF met the need for rising inequities in our community by splitting the normal granting cycle into two separate cycles, allowing more access for teachers and staff. EEF recognized that a comprehensive approach was needed again this year.
The once-in-a-lifetime disruption in learning brought on by the pandemic has impacted students all over the world, including the 15,623 K-12 students in Eugene School District 4J. Teachers and administrators made heroic efforts throughout distance and hybrid learning. Now, as students have returned to classrooms for the first time in two years, the needs of our young learners have never been so great or diverse. With the help of individual donors and corporate sponsors, EEF is able to help to meet those needs through grants to 4J classrooms and district level programs.
“Our board was impressed with the variety of grants received this cycle,” said Dana Fleming, Executive Director of EEF. “We know that the 4J community is struggling, and that psychological and physical safety underpin student success. Any way that we can help support students and staff as they reenter their classrooms is a win.”
Grant proposals this year represented a broad spectrum of subject areas, including projects in literacy, science, math, adaptive supports, health and physical education, career technical education, and the arts. Additionally, there was an increase in requests for projects that promote social emotional learning. Grant awardee Mandy Brookshear, Edison Elementary Counselor, stated well why requests in this category have grown:
“Students are coming to school overwhelmed and anxious. They have learned over the last 2 years that the world has changed. Adults are much more stressed than they were, and unfortunately, that stress is weighing significantly on children. This is causing a mental health crisis throughout our youth. This crisis looks like social and emotional behaviors of concern, but it also looks like hyper-vigilance and perfectionism. There is not one student in our school that hasn’t been impacted by our current crisis and we need to methodically devote time, energy, and resources to address their needs!”
Examples of other grants include: Arts and Technology Academy’s Programmable Drones, which will provide the materials needed to build and operate drones in a new elective class at ATA; Buena Vista Elementary School’s Arte en Segundo Grado, through which students will hone their fine motor skills through a combination of painting, handwriting, and creative writing using the medium of watercolors; and North Eugene High School’s Library Nonfiction Renewal, that will allow Amary Taylor, NEHS Librarian, to fill gaps in content and perspective in NEHS’ nonfiction library collection. “We are SO excited to receive this generous grant from EEF! School libraries are expected to offer reliable, trustworthy, and current informational nonfiction books for students who may be curious about the world around them, about technology, about historical people and events, and about society. Unfortunately, our nonfiction section has fallen short on this promise, and the funds we’ve received will help us to renew these valuable resources,” stated Taylor.
In addition to awarding grants to each school, the Eugene Education Foundation also awarded six district-wide grants, including a grant that will fund the purchase of a 360-degree camera and related materials that will be available for use throughout the district for virtual tours and orientations, and other learning opportunities. Another district level grant will allow students with moderate to severe disabilities to engage in a variety of outings in their local community.
Since 1993, EEF has been the Foundation for 4J, connecting the generous support of donors, corporate sponsors, and school/parent partnerships with programs that create opportunities for equity, access, and engagement for 4J students. Support from organizations like SELCO Community Credit Union, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Sunrise Asian Food Market, Pape’, Bigfoot Beverages, and Rowell Brokaw Architects, along with many other businesses and individuals, make it possible for EEF to support 4J with annual grants.
Visit www.eeflane.org to learn how to support EEF, and to help make learning happen.
For a complete list of grants awarded during the 2021-22 school year, visit this link.
On April 27, we hosted A Brighter Future: our first virtual event, which replaced our annual in-person gala. While we were nervous about the unknowns of hosting an event in a completely different way, we were confident that the community would still show up to support public education in Eugene, and you did! To date, we have raised over $87,000, far surpassing our goal of $75,000!
Throughout the live stream (which was so well emceed by Celeste Edman), we shared stories about how we helped make learning happen during a very challenging year. We will be sharing those videos again, over the upcoming months, via emails and social media posts. A link to the video featuring 4J Superintendent Cydney Vandercar’s gala address is included below.
Also included below is what I refer to as EEF’s Honor Roll: lists of the organizations and individuals who helped us to surpass our event goal. There is still time to add your name to the list! Follow this link to help support a brighter future for 4J students. Your donations help us to fill in the gaps through our annual grants, providing opportunities that keep students engaged and excited about learning. We shine brighter together!
The Eugene Education Foundation’s Board of Directors is excited to announce the distribution of more than $120,000 in grants to schools and district programs in Eugene School District 4J throughout the 2020-2021 school year.
Since 1993, with the support of the community, EEF’s annual grants have brought much-needed enrichment and access to 4J schools. During this year of distance learning, which presented many new challenges, EEF sought to address the unique needs arising in 4J by allowing for teachers and staff to apply for grants in two cycles: one in the fall of 2020, and one in January 2021. Additionally, a third application option was implemented for urgent needs, to be granted out quickly, and on a rolling basis, throughout the school year for unique requests that would support distance learning and student success in line with EEF’s priorities of equity, access, and enrichment.
Grant proposals submitted this year represented a broad spectrum of subject areas, including projects in literacy, science, math, career technical education, technology, arts, and music. Examples of grants awarded include: Sheldon High School’s Social Justice Novels for Grade 10, which provides a copy of This is My America by local author Kim Johnson to 10th graders; Madison Middle School’s Building History, which uses LEGOs in an immersive Social Studies simulation of a variety of government types across the globe; and Twin Oaks Elementary’s Increasing Rigor and Supporting Literacy, which addresses reading gaps in upper elementary grades with new curriculum tailored to underserved students. Urgent Need Grants included: Edison Elementary’s Silence is Bliss, which provided students in unstable housing situations with noise-canceling headphones and dividers so they could better concentrate on their schoolwork, and Churchill High School’s Mechanics and Geometric/Physical Optic Take-Home Kits, which enabled students to perform hands-on science lessons in tandem with their teacher during distance learning.
In addition to awarding grants to schools, Eugene Education Foundation also funded five district-wide grants, including a grant that will pilot mental health support groups for both students and parents, a grant that allows students online access to high-interest books for all grade levels, and a grant that helped to facilitate PE in distance learning.
For the past 27 years, EEF has been the Foundation for 4J by generating support from generous donors, corporate sponsors, school/parent partnerships, as well as through an annual dinner event. This year, their event will be a virtual gala held on April 27th at 5:30 pm. To attend, donate, or find more information about A Brighter Future: EEF’s annual virtual gala, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/2021eefgala to learn more about this exciting event benefitting all 4J students.
Support from organizations like SELCO Community Credit Union, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Pape’, Bigfoot Beverages, and Rowell Brokaw Architects, along with many other businesses and individuals, make it possible for EEF to support 4J with annual grants.
