National Association of Episcopal Schools awards $12,000 in outreach grants
Episcopal News Service. June 30, 2010 [063010-02]
ENS staff
The National Association of Episcopal Schools announced June 30 the award of $12,000 in Outreach Fund grants to 13 member schools, according to a news release.
Each school year, NAES distributes grants of up to $1,000 to members, associate members, and regional, state or diocesan Episcopal schools organizations. The grants fund scholarships, mission-focused activities, the strengthening and articulation of Episcopal school identity, and school outreach programs.
Nine grants will provide partial scholarships for attendance at the association's biennial conference Nov. 18–20 in San Antonio, Texas.
They are awarded to:
- Coast Episcopal School, Long Beach, Mississippi
- Imago Dei Middle School, Tucson, Arizona
- St. Andrew's School, Richmond, Virginia
- St. Anne's School of Annapolis, Annapolis, Maryland
- St. Elizabeth's School, Denver, Colorado
- St. James' Episcopal School, Warrenton, Virginia
- St. Peter's Episcopal Preschool, Conway, Arkansas
- St. Stephen's Episcopal Church School, Whitehall, Pennsylvania
- St. Stephen's Preschool, Santa Clarita, California
The other four grants are awarded to support specific programs at schools in Louisiana and Texas:
Creating a school yard field guide
Bishop Noland Episcopal School, Lake Charles, Louisiana, has received a grant in support of its environmental stewardship program. The grant will partially cover the purchase of Jane Kirkland's No Student Left Indoors: Creating a Field Guide to Your Schoolyard and supporting materials for 36 homeroom teachers. The manual will help them develop grade specific guides that will connect environmental studies, science, history, language arts, art, and technology, and help students discover, observe, and record nature on the school's grounds.
Chapel digital enhancements
Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas, has received a grant in support of new digital and multimedia learning and presentation methods in daily chapel services. The overall project includes the purchase of viewing screens, audio-visual equipment, sound systems, and necessary infrastructure for the main campus' chapel space.
Leveling the playing field for inner-city youth
St. Paul's Episcopal Montessori School, San Antonio, Texas, serves a community in which 61 percent of families within a two-mile radius live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. More than 50 percent of its students receive financial aid and/or are minority children. This grant assists the school in efforts to provide school readiness and language and cognitive skills intervention to its students.
Rebuilding space for toddlers
St. James' School, Houston, Texas, historically an elementary school program, has recently revised its mission to serve toddlers and preschool students. This grant helps support the purchase of appropriately sized furnishings and the replacement of toilet facilities in its school space.
NAES is an independently incorporated, voluntary membership organization that supports, serves, and advocates for the work and ministry of more than 1,200 Episcopal schools, early childhood education programs, and school establishment efforts throughout the Episcopal Church. It has a $1 million annual budget.