Give Back Featurette- Food for Thought!

Greetings, Classers!

[gif: Singer Adele saying, “Hello”]

Thanks for joining us again. In this post, we’re going to put a bit of focus on school feeding in public schools.

So let’s talk about that. There’s been a lot of recent buzz and debate surrounding student lunch debt and the responsibility of schools to make sure that children are served nutritious and wholesome meals on a daily basis. The conversations are important because there’s no way there should be any concept of “school lunch debt” especially for children in a public school setting.

[gif: Lea Michele giving a ‘Uhm what?” face]

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Give Back Featurette- Home Away From Home!

Hi Classers! How’s it hanging?

[gif: Sebastian Stan saying “Hey! Hi! How’s it going?”]

We were really excited to introduce our first featurette of the “Give Back” segment where we touched a little bit on the disability presence in K-12 schools and how DonorsChoose allows for an outreach platform. In today’s post, we will take a look at homelessness in K-12 schools and a few meaningful ways we can help give back.

So to begin, if you recall, in New York State, 51% of all K-12 students are enrolled or eligible for reduced/free lunch. Additionally, about 5% of enrollment is either homeless, in transition, or displaced. Now, I know you’re thinking that 5% might not seem like such a big number, but remember that this is just a percentage of that year’s enrollment (2017-18). This does not account for children already enrolled.

[gif: Bradley Cooper saying, “Wow! WOW!]

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Give Back Featurette- Disability Access Matters!

Classers, lovely to have you back!

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In this post, we’re going to start taking a look at projects. As you recall from our earliest posts, we will initially be focusing on projects based in New York and New Jersey. As we blog more, we’ll then diversify our focus on outreach for classrooms and projects in other locations across the US.

In Our New York Quick Facts post, we learned that about 17% of all students enrolled in K-12 have disabilities. In an article reported by the NYDailyNews in 2018, more than 80% of schools in New York City are inaccessible to students with disabilities and special needs. In some districts, like District 16 of Bed Stuy, not one school is fully accessible. Schools fail to provide accessible buildings and classrooms, bathrooms, playgrounds/play areas, cafeterias, gymnasiums, and accessibility resources such as ramps, elevators,  accessibility signage, closed captioning and sign language interpretation tools, proper PA systems, wide doorways, large print materials, Braille, and/or raised lettering signs/labels.

[source: https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/0956/images/landscape_page1_9symbols_419x233.gif]

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The Process for Success!

Hello classers! Thanks for returning.

[gif: Bill Nye saying “Hey, welcome back!”]

Before we go into actual fundraising projects, I wanted to do a special post giving some special details on project funds allocations. When you choose a project to support over at DonorsChoose.org, there are a great number of things you can learn about the project:

  • The teacher/school behind the project
  • Some background on the students/classroom this project will help
  • The project’s goals and objectives
  • The progress of the project- # of donors so far, funds raised so far, the remaining amount needed for fulfillment, etc.

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Adoption is a Class Act!

Heya classers, appreciate you joining us again!

[gif: Spongebob Squarepants walking into a pub saying, “Howdy, partners.”]

In our previous post, we gave some basic background on DonorsChoose.org, one of the biggest classroom fundraising, non-profit ventures in the US today. Today, we’re going to visit another of its counterparts in that competitive space.

AdoptAClassroom.org is a non-profit organization that- similarly to DonorsChoose- connects sponsors and donors on their platform. They service K-12 schools, as well as private and charter schools nationally. Their mission is simple- to provide a platform that allows teachers and schools to request and receive funds toward fulfillment.

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