EDUCATION “What Schools in the City Can Learn From the Suburbs” (WaPo, 8/30) - As readers of our member-only Update were aware, the Center for American Progress convened leaders of D.C., Montgomery Co., and Fairfax Co. school districts earlier this week to discuss ”Turning Around Low-Performing Schools.” In his recap, the Post’s Marc Fisher concludes: “In Washington, the public schools have failed to make the political connection between rich and poor, or between parents and non-parent taxpayers.”
[D.C.] A $750,000 grant from the Los Angeles based Broad Foundation ”will be used for a fiscal audit to help balance the school system’s budget and identify opportunities to increase funding for the system, which serves 50,000 students and started classes on Tuesday…. The money also will be used for planning to improve the system’s central office support of its principals.” (Examiner, 8/29)
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NOTE: A few spots are still available at the Sept. 12 training for WG members who want to help with the community audit of D.C.’s public schools.
____________________________________ Washington Grantmakers Daily will return on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Have a great Labor Day weekend!
(Buffering may take a while, depending on your internet connection.)
- Joel Fleishman, author, The Foundation: A Great American Secret
- Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation
- Matthew Bishop, chief business writer of the Economist
POVERTY/WEALTH New census data:Income inequality is at a record high, with the top five percent of households getting the biggest share in history. Many of those wealthy households are in our region. Fairfax (Va.), Loudoun (Va.), and Howard (Md.) counties are the wealthiest large counties in the nation. Montgomery (Md.) and Prince William (Va.) are in the top ten (WaPo, 8/28). Meanwhile, the District of Columbia has “the second-highest poverty rate in the country at 20 percent.” (Examiner, 8/28)
Nationally, the U.S. poverty rate dropped for the first time this decade, “but the number of Americans without health insurance rose to a record 47 million.” The number of uninsured children rose for the second straight year. (WaPo, 8/28)
College Board officials say falling SAT scores “reflect greater participation among students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who previously might not have aspired to college, let alone a college-entrance exam.” (WaPo, 8/29)
HEALTH From the WaPo article “Demand for Prenatal Care for Poor Strains Localities” (8/28): “The Mary’s Center is expanding to Long Branch in November in partnership with Washington Adventist Hospital, which has been ‘overwhelmed’ with demand for prenatal care since it expanded its services to indigent people in July 2006.” The Mary’s Center receives funding from several Washington Grantmakers members. Here’s the press release from Washington Adventist Hospital.
PHILANTHROPY
[Md.] “A slush fund’s clean-up” (WaPo, 8/28)- “The $2.8 million that remains to be disbursed by 2014 will be administered exclusively by the Prince George’s Community Foundation [WG member], a reputable outfit with a solid board of directors and a good track record in the charity field…That’s important because the funds in question constitute one of Prince George’s largest sources of philanthropic giving.
[D.C.] “Three Reasons to Cheer for Rhee’s Fast Start” (WaPo, 8/28) - ”[N]inth-grade textbooks were mistakenly shipped to the middle school. The parents asked if they could box up the books, throw them into their cars and move them to the high school. Oh, no, came the reply from central HQ. Those books must be returned to the central warehouse… Rhee was appalled: “I was like, lady, do not send those books to the warehouse. I said, ‘Thank the parents, get the books in the car, and move them over.’
Jaylee Mead of the Mead Family Foundation asks you to please join her family for a musical celebration of Gilbert Mead’s life on Monday, September 17, 2007 at the Kennedy Center in the Concert Hall. This will be a Millennium Stage event from 6-7pm. There is no need to reply, just come.
“Contests kick-start innovation” (ChicagoTrib, 8/27)
“‘Some of the best ideas start in living rooms and church basements, said Michael Smith, social investment manager at the [WG member] Case Foundation.”
Billionaire Chuck Feeney “has spent the last 25 years going around the world, finding good causes for his money…” (Australian Broadcasting Company, 8/26)
[Va.] Well-regarded N. Va. school systems fail to meet ‘No Child’ standards, “largely because many students with limited English skills struggled on reading tests that were given in response to a federal order… Overall, test scores held steady in Northern Virginia and showed gains in some areas, notably middle school mathematics. But school ratings dipped because the federal law requires scores for all groups of students to show advances simultaneously.”
EDUCATION “Freddie Mac Foundation Commits $1.1 Million More to Provide Services at D.C.’S JC Nalle Community School” (Wire, 8/22) - A decade ago, the Foundation [a WG member] committed to helping transform the southeast D.C. elementary into a full- service community school, offering afull-range of integrated services.” This latest grant “will continue and enhance the community school programming, which includes extended day, summer enrichment, Saturday school, mental and health services, and a parent university.”
> Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., chairman, Freddie Mac Foundation. “The community school model works — ensuring that children benefit from collaboration between the school system, nonprofits, and private enterprise.” > Chancellor Michelle Rhee, D.C. Public Schools: “I look forward to working closely with the Freddie Mac Foundation and NCCF to ensure that this model helps more children reach their full potential.”
PHILANTHROPY “A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy” (WSJ, 8/21) - “Young donors and volunteers, snubbing traditional appeals such as direct mail and phone calls, are satisfying their philanthropic urges on the Internet.”Sean’s point on this is well taken–don’t think of them as a generation, think of them as early adopters. Young people do tend to be early technology adopters, but my Grandma checks her e-mail daily. So new habits can take hold much faster than it takes for an entire generation to age. (Meanwhile, the web-based fundraising services keep creating applications for Facebook. The latest is Firstgiving…)
BUDGET Virginia has a $641 million budget shortfall (WaPo, 8/21). Not as bad as Maryland’s $1.5 billion shortfall, but bad enough that Gov. Kaine is ordering state agencies to cut spending by five percent, and eyeing the $1.2 billion rainy day fund. Kaine’s goal of extending state-funded pre-k to more 4-year-olds may be tough in this environment.
To take part in this unique opportunity, please contact Evita Smedley, Public Education Working Group Coordinator at smedley@washingtongrantmakers.org or (202) 253-4205.
Date: Sept. 12
Time: 12 noon! (Brown bag-lunch - we will provide beverages and dessert) Location: Consumer Health Foundation 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 710
Washington, DC, 20036
Background: Next month, 500 residents from all eight wards of the city will take part in DC VOICE’s “Ready Schools” community audit of D.C.’s schools. Washington Grantmakers will field three teams of five members each as part of the learning agenda of the Public Education Working Group in collaboration with the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region on their advocacy and organizing work. (Learn more)
"a powerful network of funders, partnering with nonprofits and governments, that is committed to improving the National Capital Region by touching lives and changing communities ... one grant at a time."
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