District 50 Education Foundation

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Impact Statement

• Creativity Grants are awarded to teachers, staff and parent groups to improve student achievement.
o $17,000 in Creativity Grants was awarded during the 2007/08 school year.

• Community School Partnerships match businesses with schools to provide tutoring, mentoring and other support to inspire academic success.
• The Benevolent Fund provides low income students access to medical necessities when they are not eligible for other social services.
o In 2007/08 school year $6,000 was distributed to students for hearing aids, wigs, to have tubes put in their ears, and special glasses.
o This money was contributed through the Adams School District 50 Employee Charitable Campaign.

• The I Believe I Achieve Program encourages students to experience new challenges outside of the classroom.
• Scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors to encourage their dreams for the future.
o $43,100 in scholarships were given out in the 2007/2008 school year to 23 students from Ranum and Westminster High School

• Employee Education Grants in memory of Don Ciancio Sr. supports life-long learning for district personnel.
o 14 employees received $6,160 for professional development.

Needs Statement

The District 50 Education Foundation partners with Adams School District 50 serving 10,000 students in the City of Westminster and unincorporated Adams County through 21 public schools.

The District consists of:
1 Preschools (ages 3-5)
13 Elementary Schools (K-5)
3 Middle Schools (6-8)
3 High Schools (9-12)
1 Special Programs Centers (K-8/9-12)

Student Demographics
Male 51%
Female 49%
Hispanic 66%
White 25%
Asian 6%
African-American 2%
Native American 1%

38% English Language Learners
72% of the students are on Free or Reduced lunch programs

• The school district now has over 72% of students living in poverty -this is a 5% increase in just 2 years. What it means in terms of children is that almost 7,200 students don’t always have enough to eat, the right clothes to wear, or the school supplies needed to be prepared to learn.
• There are approximately 500 students who are homeless. While this number has declined recently, it continues to present challenges for those children trying to learn with an unstable home life.
• This year 38% of students speak little or no English when they begin school in our classrooms. This is a 20% jump in English Language Learners in the 20 years of the foundation. It takes 1 ½ to 3 years to learn English fully and the district is making an impact. As a foundation we know that we must provide the tools to help increase language acquisition to insure students’ success in the classroom.

The two biggest issues we face this year are the lack of money to support of our grant programs and the increasing need for scholarships for our students. This fall we awarded $16,000 in grants, but we turned away $72,000 in deserving requests. Many of the grants paid for after-school enrichment programs, and technology because these programs always cost a great deal. We turned down requests for so many things that would have increased achievement, but there is just not enough money to meet the needs.

Most students in our district shoulder the burden of college expenses without assistance from their families. It’s not that families don’t want to help, but many find it is difficult to have anything left over after paying the rent and other bills. For our students, college tuition is the extra they must handle themselves. Last years Ranum valedictorian, Mimi Chau, was able to attend Stanford University thanks to the scholarships she received from us, the Rotary and Stanford. Mimi is living her dream to become a doctor. PJ Nixdorf is on his way to becoming an auto mechanic because of the Silver family Scholarship he won to attend Front Range Community College. Our student’s goals are diverse, and our scholarships help provide for the varying interests and needs of the students. The stumbling block for our students is not the goal, but the question of how; how can it be possible, how can they have hope.
Most of our scholarships are between $1,000 to $2,000, only paying a tiny portion of tuition at our state colleges and universities. Tuition at University of Colorado Boulder is over $15,500, so we know there is more needed than we can currently provide. So many students just want a chance at the dream for college. With more options, we can open up more opportunity for their success.

We know an investment in the employees in the district benefits our students so we have a goal to increase our Employee Education grants in memory of Don Ciancio to $6,000 over the $3,000 awarded this past year. With this money, we could support literacy programs and provide technology needed for students to compete in a global world.
Some of our students have needs that don’t fall into a category, and yet, someone needs to help. We want to offer multi-year scholarships to truly support students throughout college, and to help our employees be life-long learners. We also know that we must develop an endowment to make this foundation financially strong enough to support the changing needs of the future. This commitment assures you, our donors, that we are building a legacy for the future.

Board Chair/President Statement

Public education is one the fundamental bedrocks of our society. More than 90% of America’s children attend public schools. They come from all walks of life and they have many talents, temperaments, abilities and convictions. We welcome them all and turn none away. This most important task of educating our youth is made much easier through the grants and scholarships the District 50 Education Foundation makes available to our staff and students.