by Community Foundation of Fayette County | Aug 1, 2023 | CFFC News
The Community Foundation of Fayette County (CFFC) is accepting applications for the fall grant cycle starting on August 1, with three funding opportunities for local schools. The Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund, the Idea Fund, and the Patricia and Robert Metz Educational Fund are donor advised funds that provide the donors flexibility and ongoing involvement with how the grants are used to support charitable causes. Each grant application lists criteria for this year’s funding – all to support education.
Applicants will submit grant requests through CFFC’s online grant system. The application deadline is September 30, 2023.
The Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund is accepting grant requests for reusable items that will enhance the classroom(s). Funding will not be made for field trips or items that can only be used once. Any teacher, school counselor, or administrator in the Laurel Highlands School District or Uniontown Area School District is encouraged to apply. Requests from $750 up to $10,000 will be considered. A total of $20,000 is possible to be awarded this grant cycle.
The Idea Fund was created by a donor who is interested in helping teachers achieve a level of creativity in the classroom that allows students of all learning styles to thrive. All school districts in Fayette County are eligible to apply for an Idea Fund grant in the amount of $2,500. Particular attention will be paid to applicants who: demonstrate that the funds will be used to address the needs of students in the classroom who may not be the top grade earners; can show the sustainability of the program; and are willing to go beyond traditional teaching styles to reach students. Funds will not be granted to purchase books, magazines, or field trips.
The Patricia and Robert Metz Educational Fund is accepting grant requests to enhance STEM teaching and learning at the Uniontown Area School District’s middle schools or high school. An award in the amount of $500 is intended to support teacher or student activities or the purchase of classroom materials. Possible uses include, but are not limited to: teacher professional development at the national or regional level, student field trips, demonstration or laboratory equipment, resource books or magazine subscriptions, and software or Internet resource subscriptions.
Click Here to Apply
If you do not already have a login for CFFC’s grant software, you will need to be added as a user to your school district’s grant account. Please contact Rebecca Wardle, Communications & Grantmaking Coordinator, at rebecca@cffayettepa.org or 724-437-8600 x203 for assistance.
by Community Foundation of Fayette County | Mar 28, 2023 | Building a Stronger Fayette
The Community Foundation of Fayette County’s Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund awarded a grant to Hatfield Elementary School for a book vending machine. CFFC was happy to join students, faculty, and PTO members at the ribbon cutting on March 10, 2023. Students used tokens to select the first books from the vending machine.
“Students will have the opportunity to earn vending tokens based on the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) program. Now, all Hatfield students will have the opportunity to grow their own personal libraries, foster a love of reading, and improve test scores.” – Heidi Mears, Principal
The Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund awards grants for the puchase of reusable items to enhance classrooms, both for Laurel Highlands School District and Uniontown Area School District.
by Community Foundation of Fayette County | Jun 13, 2022 | CFFC News, Grants
The Sturge Hughes Memorial Fund, held at the Community Foundation of Fayette County, granted $2,000 to Connellsville Area Career and Technical Center (CACTC) for their masonry and carpentry programs. Regina Hughes created the fund to honor the memory of her husband and to support local students pursuing the trades. Graduating seniors from CACTC’s masonry and carpentry programs were recognized at a memorial luncheon in May.
Jeff Butela, Jerry Matthews, Renee Couser, Jeff Puskar, and Ryan Butela
graduating seniors from CACTC’s masonry and carpentry programs
by Community Foundation of Fayette County | Apr 12, 2022 | Building a Stronger Fayette, Grants
Renee Couser, CFFC Executive Director; Randy Miller, LHSD Director of Curriculum & Instruction; Dr. Jesse Wallace III, LHSD Superintendent
The Community Foundation of Fayette County (CFFC) awarded $12,855 to Laurel Highlands School District (LHSD) from the Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund in 2021. Teachers submitted requests to purchase reusable items to enhance their classrooms, and five projects were selected for grant awards.
April marks World Autism Month, and two of the awarded projects provided items to support students with autism throughout the whole year, and for years to come. With a grant for their autistic support/life skills sensory room, Marshall Elementary purchased a bubble fountain, light projections, chairs and cushions that enable movement for students, and more. “A sensory room helps students to develop their visual, auditory, and tactile processing as well as fine and gross motor skills,” explained Patricia Spurlin, an autistic support teacher at Marshall Elementary.
A student in motion in the sensory room (submitted by Patricia Spurlin)
“In the past six years, I’ve raised over $8,000 for our sensory room,” said Spurlin. She has run t-shirt drives and “penny wars”, a competition between homerooms to collect pennies in a jar for prizes – but these fundraisers were paused during the pandemic the past two years. An additional sensory room was added at Marshall Elementary, and the reusable items purchased through this grant will also benefit students who use the space for physical therapy and occupational therapy sessions. “Sensory rooms help to teach students with autism and other behavioral deficits to challenge their bodies in a way that helps them achieve success in the classroom. These students all deserve a chance to be independent, self-functioning members of our school population, and improving our sensory room is a great tool to help us help them succeed in that goal!” said Spurlin.
Hutchinson Elementary received a grant to purchase items like sensory water beads, activity books, an alphabet puzzle, and a squeeze and scoop ice cream set – all activities to help students with fine motor skills and sensory input. “In the past couple of years, the [Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund] grants have changed the lives of so many of my students and enhanced and improved my classroom beyond belief,” said Tia Wadworth, an autistic support teacher at Hutchinson Elementary.
LHMS reading teachers Kara Hixson and Jill John at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Inchy the Bookworm
CFFC’s Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund also enabled the purchase of a creative reading-related item at Laurel Highlands Middle School – Inchy the Bookworm. This book vending machine is part of the school’s PRIDE program (Positive, Respectful, Integrity, Discipline, Excellence). Students earn golden coins for their positive behaviors and can use their coins to select books from the vending machine. “We look forward to an increase in reading and positive behaviors in the near future. Inchy the Bookworm Vending Machine will be an asset to Laurel Highlands Middle School for years to come,” said Jill John, a reading teacher at LHMS.
Students using the flight simulator (submitted by MSgt. Daniel Cervone)
Turning to STEM education, Laurel Highlands Senior High School received a grant for a flight simulator for their Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program (AF JROTC). The simulator allows them to “fly” indoors when they are unable to use their drone outside, and it creates the effects of weather during takeoff, in flight, and landings. The flight simulator also shows different emergency situations and how the pilot must react quickly and calmly. “Since placing the simulator into our classroom, the students have been able to fly multiple aircrafts and see how they are all the same, but different at the same time…. Overall the students have definitely become more interested in our flight simulator/drone/rocket program,” said Master Sergeant Daniel Cervone.
Joy Frederick, a 4th grade math, science, and social studies teacher at Marshall Elementary, used grant funds for a variety of educational games. “I love how games excite a student to learn, and how they think they are playing but they are learning,” said Frederick. Purchased items include math flash cards, multiplication dominoes, states geography board game, a time-telling clock, and more to support the Common Core Standards she teaches.
CFFC is proud to support a variety of educational topics, and the Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund is a great example building a stronger Fayette through charitable giving. “We created this annual grant program to help bring innovative and interesting new teaching tools into the classrooms at Laurel Highlands and Uniontown schools,” said Ron Gabriel, creator of the Arthur and Millicent Gabriel Legacy Fund. Teachers, school counselors, and administrators at Laurel Highlands School District and Uniontown Area School District are encouraged to apply for this funding opportunity during CFFC’s annual fall grant cycle.