Galen and Ruth Roush (GAR) Foundation has announced a $350,000 grant for 39 teams of educators through its annual Educator Initiative Grant (EIG) program on May 27. The program provides grants to K-12 educators in Summit County’s public and nonprofit private schools.
“With so much extra work for teachers helping students during this stressful COVID year, we streamlined our application process in the hopes of getting more applications from teaching teams. We were not disappointed! The ideas and innovative work submitted by our Summit County educators is outstanding,” said senior vice president of GAR Foundation, Kirstin Toth, in a statement.
Most of the projects discussed social-emotional learning, college and career pathway building drawing on community resources and speakers, supporting interactive approaches that discuss racial equity, gap-closing, and a diverse learning environment for students.
“We’re so excited to see these projects come to fruition in the coming academic year,” added Toth.
Several grants include a collaborative and inter-district approach. For example, Akron Public School’s North High School will partner with Hudson High School in their projects called “My Voice, My Story, My Self: Exploring My Identity, Valuing Yours”.
This partnership aims to share experiences connected to cultural awareness, bridge-building, and anti-racism activism. Students will be encouraged to co-develop projects that highlight their identity through sound, art and theater.
Meanwhile, the foundation also announced that the GAR Educator Conference will resume in the fall of 2022. The free conference aims to bring Summit County K-12 educators together to improve innovative strategies for student engagement and success.