Our local school districts have been under significant budget pressure for the past several years. Many classroom teachers and other faculty members have lacked funding and resources to implement special, non-core programs. We at the Anaheim Hills Rotary Club have seen first hand a positive impact on many student's educational experience by providing funding to purchase supplies for these unique classroom projects from last years submissions and awards.
Our plan will be to develop an application form which teachers or other faculty members will complete that identifies the project they wish to request funding for. Applications will spell out how the funds will be used, how the students will benefit and the anticipated timeline for their projects.
AHRC Rotarians will visit 9 schools to announce and explain the program. Rotarians will evaluate and judge the applications from each school. Funding will be allocated to the successful applicants in each school. We anticipate that we will give out 10-15 awards of materials worth approximately $500. We will also consider awarding $1,000 or more to one or two more projects if they will impact an entire campus. The applicants will provide a bill of materials for each approved project and AHRC Rotarians will purchase the required supplies and deliver them to the campus. We expect that Rotarians will be involved in many steps along the way depending on the exact nature of the project. We will see the completed projects and give recognition to the students and faculty upon completion of the project which will allow significant exposure for Rotary.
Publicity and recognition for this program will be achieved via press releases to the Orange County Register, the Anaheim Bulletin, the Orange Unified School District newsletter as will as placing an article in District #5320 monthly newsletter.
Aid for Educational Supplies will build on previous literacy projects of the AHRC including: Speaker Book Program, Classroom Library book programs, Principal of the Day Program and the Classroom Reading Program.
Summary of the Process:
1. AHRC develops the application criteria.
2. AHRC members visit target schools and solicit applications.
3. Applications reviewed and winners selected.
4. Applicants whose projects have been selected will supply the following to AHRC:
A An itemized list of supplies needed for the project.
B. Cost of each item.
C. Recommended source for each item. For more expensive items, an alternate source recommendation to ensure we have competitive bids for lowest cost
5 AHRC Rotarians will purchase the items listed in 4A and deliver them to the schools. All payments will be made directly to the vendors
6. The faculty and students implement the project, then complete a report describing the the outcome and benefit to the students.
7. Where possible and appropriate AHRC members will visit the school to observe the project and recognize the students' accomplishments.
Summary: We believe this process will provide proper fiduciary control of our Club's funds.
Timeline:
1. Implementation: Once our grant application is approved, but no later than September 30, 2016
2. Completion: No later than April 1, 2017. Note this process will be ongoing as the schools complete their projects.
3 Final Report and all required documentation by April 15, 2017.
4. AHRC will invite as many faculty members as agree to attend our weekly meetings and present their projects to the club and explain what the project involved and how it impacted their students now and for the future. This will be done by April 1, 2017.
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