12-19-2023 4:51am

SCHOLARSHIPS &

Jeff Barto Editor

A YEAR IN REVIEW

The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools, Inc., has been serving BCPS since 1992. Our passion is to build and provide resources to serve our students, educators, and schools and to support improved educational outcomes for our community through fundraising, programs, and advocacy. During 2023 we put our passion to work and are pleased to share how we have positively impacted our school communities.

FUNDRAISING

Fundraising is our primary mechanism to provide grants, scholarships, and special programs to support students, teachers, and school communities. The foundation holds three major fundraisers each year: Tee Off for Team BCPS Golf Classic, Let’s Play Ball!, and State of the Schools.

Tee Off for Team BCPS Golf Classic

The 2023 Annual Tee Off for Team BCPS Golf Classic was held at Greystone Golf Course on October 13. It was a great day for giving, golf, and gratitude. The weather was perfect, the 144 golfers were excited to enjoy the pristine golf course, and our sponsors were happy to support our programs, initiatives, and fundraising efforts. We are grateful to our Education Champions.

Golf Classic photos

Let’s Play Ball

Let’s Play Ball!, held on May 13, at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, was a home run, despite the rain. The family-friendly event celebrated all that is positive in our school system. It was an opportunity to unite as a community to share the joy of sport, make new friends, meet neighbors, celebrate with colleagues, share good food, and highlight the amazing work of our students, educators, and administrators. All proceeds supported 21st Century Initiative Grants for BCPS offices and schools, post-secondary scholarships, and academic/therapeutic supplies and classroom resources to stock the shelves at the Foundation’s two collaborative educator resource centers, the Exchangeree: Gizmos & Gadgets Galore, Windsor Mill and Rosedale/Golden Ring.

Let's Play Ball! photos

State of the Schools

State of the Schools 2023 was an opportunity to come together as a community to celebrate and recognize our richly diverse students and our talented leaders and staff. It was a time to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and focus on the future. This annual event has been the signature event of the foundation since 2012. This year it was held on March 22 at Dundalk High School/Sollers Point Technical High School.

The evening included:

We Are Team BCPS Gallery – A celebration and recognition of BCPS students and educators from throughout the district showcasing their major accomplishments.
State of the Schools Program and Address – An exquisite program featured musical, dance and oratorical performances by BCPS students, and BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams sharing his vision for the school system.

Photos from the State of the Schools 2023

PROGRAMS

Grants

Providing grants to teachers, schools, and offices and scholarships to graduating students is a primary function of the foundation. During spring 2023, nearly $30,000 worth of 21st Century Instructional Initiative grants were disbursed by the foundation to schools and offices. With their funds, recipients took students on field trips, built pollinator gardens on their campuses, hosted a film expo, provided diverse books to students to increase literacy, invested in tools and supports to foster positive social-emotional health, and many other innovative initiatives.

First Financial Federal Credit Union provided schools and offices with an additional $6,000 worth of grant funds for Putting Students First programs such as student mentoring, ukulele lessons, story walks, and more.

In June, the Baltimore County Government, in partnership with the foundation, announced the honorees of its annual Team BCPS Clean Green 15: Litter Challenge. Thirty schools were awarded a total of $21,000 in grant funds to implement programs to continue their environmental work. These grant funds are available to the winning schools throughout the 2023-2024 school year. Team BCPS Clean Green 15: Litter Challenge grants are competitive grants that honor schools for the amount of litter gathered along with the number of participating school and community volunteers.

In July, the foundation earned an $80,000 grant from the Baltimore Community Foundation to improve the culture and climate in four BCPS community schools through literacy-focused events and opportunities. We applaud the hard work that Berkshire, Colgate, Johnnycake, and Riverview elementary schools are doing to increase the sense of belonging their communities have in their schools!

In August, the foundation awarded its inaugural Little Free Library Read in Color grants, which provided 10 lucky recipients with Read in Color Little Free Libraries, official charter plaque, two boxes of diverse books, and $10,000 to spend on acquiring more diverse books. The foundation was one of three organizations selected globally to participate in the cohort.

We look forward to expanding our grants in 2024.

Photos from the Clean Green awards ceremony

Little Free Library photos

Scholarships

Grants are not the only way we fiscally support our students. We also offer scholarships to graduating seniors to support their enrollment in post-secondary training and education programs. More than $30,000 worth of scholarship funds were disbursed to BCPS Class of 2023 graduates!

Along with providing scholarships via our fundraising efforts, the foundation manages multiple private philanthropic donor scholarships.

Collaborative Educator Resource Centers

To ensure that all students, educators, and schools have the resources needed for success, the foundation opened the Exchangerees: Gizmos and Gadgets Galore, two collaborative educator resources centers, multiple times each month to allow educators to shop the shelves at no cost to themselves. The shelves, stocked by generous donations from our community partners, are filled with school supplies, books, winter coats and accessories, toiletries, and social-emotional support tools.

During 2023, the foundation:

hosted 35 regularly-scheduled shopping dates
hosted more than 60 exclusive shopping dates
served 4,000 educators
served 100,000 students
distributed more than 25,000 books

We greatly appreciate the support of our partners who donate to help keep the Exchangeree centers stocked.

Photos from The Exchangereees

Campaigns

To keep the Exchangeree: Gizmos & Gadgets Galore shelves stocked, we call on our partners to be champions of education and to support various campaigns: Tools for School, Books for Bins, and Share the Warmth & Joy.

The Tools for School Campaign launches on the first day of summer and continues throughout the year. Community partners host school supply drives. Teachers shop without cost for academic school supplies throughout the year. During 2023, our partners donated $150,000 worth of tools for school.

The Books for Bins Campaign lasts all year long and supports teachers and staff in building and enhancing classroom libraries as well as students' home libraries. During 2023, our partners donated $100,000 worth of books for our Books for Bins campaign.

The Share the Warmth & Joy Campaign launches in October and continues through January. Community partners host drives to collect winter accessories and health and wellness resources for those in need. Student support staff. such as school counselors, pupil personnel workers, social workers, school community liaisons, etc., shop without cost for these items to distribute to students and families. During 2023, our partners donated $5,000 worth of share the warmth and joy items.

Our partners also contributed to the campaigns by offering monetary donations. This enabled foundation staff to purchase items to replenish the shelves and bins, when needed. During 2023, our partners donated more than $50,000 toward our campaigns.

We would like to thank all our partners and donors. You are truly Champions of Education, and we appreciate you!

ADVOCACY

The foundation could not possibly do all that it does without public support for our mission-driven work. Our corporate and community partners help us raise the money and acquire the resources necessary to support our programs and fundraising efforts.

The Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools, Inc., are consummate professionals with experience as executive leaders in business, government, philanthropy, education, and the nonprofit sector. They have a commitment to, and understanding of educational, student, and community needs. They demonstrate diplomatic skills and an affinity for cultivating relationships and persuading, convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals. They exhibit integrity, credibility, and a passion for improving the lives of young people in our community. And they are willing to solicit philanthropic gifts to ensure we, as an organization, are building and providing resources to support improved educational outcomes for the greater BCPS community.