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SPICEing up PTAs around the state: Grants sponsor successful local family outreach efforts

Last December, Chalkboard embarked on a partnership with the Oregon PTA to support creative programming to increase parent involvement at the local level. We created SPICE (Strengthening Parent Involvement in Children’s Education) grants ranging from $600 to $1,000 to fund innovative family outreach efforts focused on ethnic and racial minority families. Forty groups applied for the money, and we funded 16 grants.

Those grants sponsored a range of successful programs and projects last spring, including family literacy nights, purchases of translation services and equipment, and events to offer educational resources to parents.

Local PTAs reported a significant improvement in parent participation and interaction among the targeted groups of families.

Read more about the SPICE grant program results across Oregon

Bank of the West steps up as Running Start sponsor

Chalkboard is pleased to announce that Bank of the West has made a generous $10,000 grant to fund the continued success of our Running Start school-parent communication program.

We introduced our Running Start toolkit of materials last year with one important purpose in mind: to help school staff and families better communicate with each other.

Tens of thousands of Oregon families don’t connect with their children’s schools for a variety of reasons. Many don’t feel welcome in school, or don’t know how to help their children succeed in the classroom. Others speak little or no English, or are struggling to make a living.

Running Start materials help adults in Oregon schools better understand the barriers to engaging with parents and how to overcome them. A companion set of materials in both English and Spanish helps parents learn how to become full partners in their children’s education.

The Bank of the West grant will fund more trainings for parents and school staff to learn how to use the materials in the coming year, and to update materials and translate them into Russian.

Learn more about Running Start

People behind Chalkboard: The JELD-WEN Foundation
Fifth in a series of five profiles on Chalkboard’s founders

The JELD-WEN Foundation is a private, non-profit organization created by the Klamath Falls-based JELD-Wen Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer of windows and doors that includes business units with resorts, a title insurance company and a hotel chain. The foundation was created in 1969 to invest in worthy projects in communities where JELD-WEN operates in more than 30 states.

The three priority giving areas for the foundation include scholarships, United Way giving that complements employee giving, and capital grants that favor “bricks and mortar” kinds of projects that will create improvements in employee-based communities for decades. In 2006, the JELD-WEN Foundation donated more than $6 million to hundreds of endeavors. Schools, colleges, hospitals, museums and neighborhood centers are among the many areas where the foundation centers its giving.

“Chalkboard’s efforts to create long-term change in our K-12 education system is in keeping with our foundation’s mission to fund visionary projects that will have a lasting impact,” said Robert Kingzett, executive director of the JELD-WEN Foundation. “There is no more important work than to improve educational opportunities for young people to help them become successful and strong leaders for the next generation, and a good K-12 public education is a cornerstone in that effort.”

Learn more about the JELD-WEN Foundation