The Board of Directors of the Foundation for Portland Public Schools invite you to a Meet & Greet Event
Wednesday, February 3rd from 5pm-6:30pm
Rines Auditorium – Portland Public Library
5 Monument Square
Your Hosts
| Mary Bennett Mike Bove Ed Bryan Jessica Burton Jeanne Crocker |
Erin Macey Sue Olafsen Josh Rent Rob Ruesch Ira Waltz |
RSVP
Kate Snyder – kate.snyder@foundationforpps.org – 207.838.0789
I have a “secret” to share: Culture Club Portland, a unique collaboration with our city’s cultural institutions to bring the arts to all Portland Public Schools’ students, is so successful it’s worthy of national replication.
But before that happens, I want to make sure everyone in Portland knows about Culture Club Portland.
The program, generously funded through an anonymous donor, is now in its fourth year of delivering outstanding arts and cultural opportunities to thousands of our students. Surprisingly, however, many of our community members – and even some school staff – don’t know much about it.
That’s why we’re now trying to raise awareness about Culture Club Portland. It’s a collaboration between four arts organizations – the Portland Museum of Art, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Stage and Portland Ovations – and the Portland Public Schools, along with the Portland Education Foundation.
PORTLAND —Several local organizations are making it their mission increase students’ access to art both in and out of the classroom.
Founded in 2012, Culture Club-Portland is a collaboration of four arts organizations with a goal of connecting students to the arts. Together, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Ovations and Portland Stage Company work to provide better access for K-12 students to the organizations.
And now, a new ad hoc committee is the latest step in the organization’s efforts to get art into students’ lives.
Funded by $200,000 annually from an anonymous Portland donor, Culture Club – along with the Portland Education Foundation, which serves as the Club’s fiscal agent – has worked to bring arts programming into schools and allow the students to access the organizations free of charge.
Kate Snyder, the executive director of PEF, on Monday said the idea of establishing a Culture Club-Portland Ad Hoc Committee came up last summer as a way to look at the past three years and see where improvements can be made. The Maine Evaluation Collaborative at the University of Southern Maine has written reports on the program in each of its first three years, and recommended establishing the ad hoc committee.
Read The Full Article on The Forecaster.net
Foundation for Portland Public Schools (FPPS) has completed its seventh annual Teacher Grant Program cycle. Funds disbursed in 2015 represent a 29% increase over last year.
The FPPS Teacher Grant Program is designed to support a wide range of innovative school and classroom-based efforts to enhance learning experiences, and to recognize and reward the hard work of Portland’s talented and dedicated teachers, who work tirelessly to engage and inspire students. “FPPS Teacher Grants prove that relatively small dollars can make a very big impact in a classroom,” states Portland Public Schools Superintendent Jeanne Crocker.
Funds in support of the 2015 FPPS Teacher Grant Program came from a Lennox Foundation grant, the Ellen S. Edwards Memorial Fund, and FPPS Board Member contributions. The FPPS is developing plans to increase funds to support the Teacher Grants Program in 2016. “We believe that the FPPS Teacher Grants Program makes a real difference for students and teachers in Portland’s public schools, and we look forward to working with the community over the coming months to increase the number of dollars we have to support the great work and innovation that is happening in classrooms and schools across the District,” says Mike Bove, Chair of the PEF Teacher Grants Committee.
Grant applications were received from teachers in every school, representing all grade levels, K-12. 47 grant proposals were awarded totaling $33,000.
Foundation for Portland Public Schools, a private not-for-profit corporation, is committed to raising philanthropic support to enhance educational opportunities for present and future students in Portland’s public schools. The FPPS Teacher Grants Program is a key to PEF’s goals to affect educational enrichment, classroom innovation and community engagement.
If you’d like more information about this topic, or you’d like to schedule an interview with a FPPS Board Member, please call FPPS Executive Director Kate Snyder at 207-838-0789, or email at kate.snyder@foundationforpps.org.
