New Seattle-area foundation focuses on closing achievement gap
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—May 12, 2005
Contact: 425-451-2516 or info@fordhamstreet.org
SEATTLE, WASH. The Fordham Street Foundation today announced a $615,500 round of grants to programs focused on closing the achievement gap affecting children of color. The newly created foundation expects to dedicate $400,000 to $500,000 annually to promoting the rights of all children to thrive, grow and be enriched.
“The achievement gap is the single most important challenge facing our country today,” said Fordham Street founder Judy Bigelow. “A functioning democracy depends on an educated and engaged populace. Our nation is growing increasingly diverse, but our schools have not been able to educate children of color as well as they historically and currently educate white children.”
“The Fordham Street Foundation exists because we need to take steps now to change that pattern and educate all of our children equally well,” Bigelow said.
In its first funding cycle, the foundation issued 10 mostly two-year grants totaling $615,500. The grants, focused primarily on K-12 education in the greater Seattle area, will help improve schools’ academic environment by providing resources, training, or in-school support for students of color and their teachers.
• Seattle MESA - $200,000 over two years in a combination of direct grants and challenge grant funds to underwrite the Elementary MESA program. The program is focused on giving teachers the skills and tools they need to engage underrepresented minority students early in mathematics and science. www.seattlemesa.org
• Friends of the Children of King County - $100,000 over two years in a combination of direct grants and challenge grant funds for general operating support for early intervention preventive mentoring for high-risk youth and families. www.friendskc.org
• Rainier Scholars - $60,000 over two years for general operating support of programming and services cultivating academic potential of talented and motivated young scholars from ethnic minority backgrounds. www.rainierscholars.org
• Technology Access Foundation - $30,000 to underwrite expansion of the TechStart program to introduce young children of color to technology through engaging lessons that strengthen their math and reading skills and instill a love of learning. www.techaccess.org
• Let’s Get Ready - $30,000 to support Get Ready NY, an intensive college counseling and SAT preparatory course for underserved high school students dreaming of achieving college success. www.letsgetready.org
• City Year Seattle/King County - $60,000 over two years to support the GYBBIS program, providing an alternative to suspension and on-going mentorship for at-risk and low-income middle school youth. www.cityyear.org/sites/seattle
• Catholic Community Services Youth Tutoring program - $50,000 over two years to provide tutoring and educational enrichment for elementary, middle and high school youth at six centers in the greater Seattle Area. www.ytpseattle.org
• Powerful Schools - $40,000 over two years for general operating support for high-quality educational enrichment programs within coalitions of public elementary schools in Seattle with high percentages of students in need. www.powerfulschools.org
• Fremont Public Association - $45,000 over three years to underwrite the King County Reading Corps programs offering direct reading assistance, family literacy and community involvement and assistance for non- and limited-English speaking families in Seattle, Kent, Highline and Tukwila School Districts. www.fremontpublic.org
• Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing - $500 for printing the Lions Health Connections directory. www.nlfoundation.org
Currently, the Foundation is limiting its review and funding to grant proposals that target minority academic achievement. Requests from all areas of the United States will be considered, but applicants from the Pacific Northwest or with programs that benefit the Pacific Northwest will be preferred.
Fordham Street Foundation grants support programs that offer innovative approaches to promoting minority academic achievement. The Foundation also looks for programs that closely track results and offer opportunities to leverage Foundation grants to generate support from other sources. The Foundation’s next grants will be awarded in the Spring of 2006. The deadline for spring grants is Feb. 1. Details on requirements and procedures are available at http://www.fordhamstreet.org.
Bigelow, a partner in the Preston Gates & Ellis law firm, named The Fordham Street Foundation for her childhood street in Pocatello, Idaho, where she benefited from the strong community, educational enrichment and family support that helped build a successful life.
“Education was very highly valued in my family,” Bigelow said. “My parents raised my brother and me to believe that we could do anything if we got a good education and worked hard. I want to bring the opportunities I enjoyed on Fordham Street to others.’
The Fordham Street Foundation can be reached at info@fordhamstreet.org or 425-451-2516.