- November 25, 2024
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by: Cynthia Ramirez
Executive Director, FUTURES Foundation for Volusia County Schools
The Consortium of Florida Education Foundations (CFEF) recently awarded FUTURES Foundation for Volusia County Schools $102,824 through the Florida legislatively funded School District Education Foundation (SDEF) Matching Grant Program.
Through an annual school grant application process facilitated by FUTURES Foundation, 14 projects featuring tutoring and/or literacy programs for at-risk students within 10 Volusia County schools will be funded within the SDEF Matching Grant Program. Participating elementary schools include Citrus Grove, DeBary, Horizon, Pathways, Spruce Creek, Edith I. Starke, Sugar Mill, Sweetwater, and Tomoka as well as Ormond Beach Middle School.
All SDEF school projects align with the Strategic Plan for Excellence for Volusia County Schools which includes the school district's goal to meet and/or exceed state and national averages for district achievement on state assessments in reading, math, writing and science. FUTURES Foundation's SDEF grant project will focus on improving student achievement and curriculum by: encouraging student involvement in extracurricular activities to promote student achievement; increasing student access to digital learning tools; ensuring continuous monitoring of student performance; and funding & supporting effective remediation/intervention programs for targeted students not mastering grade-level and/or course standards.
Through academic achievement, personalized learning, rigorous curriculum and implementation of programs, the district can specifically target the lowest quartile students to increase their academic gains, improve ELA/literacy skills among students, and increase access to technology and other digital learning tools.
Through the collaborative effort of its members, the CFEF successfully advocated for the creation of legislative matching funds in 2000 which has provided a dollar-for-dollar incentive for local education foundations to raise private contributions for eligible projects. Since then, more than $114 million in combined private and state dollars has been employed for local projects that serve low-performing students and literacy initiatives, encourage STEM and career/technical education, improve teaching quality, and/or increase graduation rates.
The CFEF is the membership organization for Florida’s school district-wide local education foundations. Established in 1992, the CFEF maximizes the individual and collective strength of Florida local education foundations to support local partners and schools in achieving student success. The CFEF now has 64 member foundations, including FUTURES Foundation, with 1,200 business and community leaders serving as volunteer board members. Collectively, these foundations raise $80 million annually to support students, teachers and schools through a variety of programs. The CFEF has facilitated more than $57 million to local education foundations since 2002 through various private- and public-sector partnerships, including the State of Florida School District Education Foundation Matching Grant Program.
To learn more about the CFEF and the statewide impact of the program, visit www.educationfoundationsfl.org. For more information about FUTURES Foundation, please visit www.FuturesVolusia.org.
