Education Grants 

Recent education-related grants made by the Cleveland Foundation include:

• $685,000 for the Cleveland Scholarship Program’s Post-Secondary Access Initiative. The program increases access to post-secondary education for low-income, first-generation students who face such barriers as academic preparation and affordability.
• $500,000 for the launch of Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s new Metropolitan Cleveland Consortium Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (MC2 STEM) school. The school will open with about 100 ninth-graders, who will be housed at different sites around Cleveland each year as they acquire and refine STEM-related skills.
• $500,000 for startup and operation of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's New Schools Office. The office will oversee all aspects of new school development, from strategy through planning and authorization, incubation, opening, and ongoing support. In a related grant, the foundation gave $325,000 to the district in support of new schools related to its "Opportunity Schools" initiative.
• $300,000 for the design and startup of six Cleveland Metropolitan School District “Opportunity Schools,” including four single-gender K-8 academies; the Ginn Academy, which aims to serve high school boys in a residential setting; and a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) school starting with grades 7 and 8. Combined with a matching grant from the George Gund Foundation, money will be used by four school design teams to recruit staff and students, consult with curriculum experts, and carry out other critical tasks.
• $240,000 to the Institute for Educational Renewal, housed at John Carroll University, for its ongoing work with schools in Cleveland’s “first-ring” suburbs. The organization has had considerable success promoting literacy education in the Euclid and Warrensville School Districts, and it seeks to expand its program to other first-ring communities. The institute also helps teachers, principals and parents by hosting professional development activities and events promoting shared educational leadership between administrators and the community.
• $200,000 to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Reading Achievement Project. The district will implement the Accelerated Reader program across all 120 of its schools to maximize the effectiveness of reading practice and personalize that practice to each student’s level of ability.
• $200,000 to Cleveland’s Entrepreneurship Preparatory (E Prep) School. With its rigorous curriculum, the highly regarded charter school aims for 100 percent of its students to enter college. E Prep will become a complete middle school, serving students in grades 6 through 8 at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.
• $90,000 to Ohio Grantmakers Forum to support its education task force. Last year the task force released “Education for Ohio’s Future,” a comprehensive report detailing Ohio’s current educational challenges, recent reform initiatives, and student performance results, and issuing policy recommendations. The task force currently is convening regional and state leaders to prioritize and address the report’s recommendations.
• $70,000 to the board of directors of the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine Foundation for the development of a teaching and learning plan, professional development, instructional materials, and teacher recruitment. This grant supports ongoing development of the school, housed on one floor of the newly renovated John Hay High School in Cleveland’s University Circle.