The St. Croix Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its Sprint To Excellence Grant Initiative which will provide targeted grants to public and small private and parochial schools on the island of St. Croix.
As an extension of the Foundation’s Model Schools Initiative, the Sprint to Excellence Grant Program will award competitive grants up to $10,000 for high impact, academic-based projects that serve to enhance student achievement. Schools will have an opportunity to apply for grants in the following priority areas:
1) Innovative Instruction and Professional Development
2) Literacy Enrichment and Assessment
3) Classroom Management & Discipline
4) Mentoring and Personal Development
Eligible schools include all public schools on St. Croix and small private or parochial schools that meet established eligibility requirements. The Foundation has also developed strict reporting guidelines and phased grant award disbursements to ensure the highest degree of accountability and focus in meeting outlined goals and timelines.
While much of the Foundation’s educational programming has focused on supporting our Community’s public schools, it is acutely sensitive to the dire financial straits that many of our small private schools are also facing. As such, it is the Foundation’s hope that the flexible funding offered through this Grant Initiative will assist teachers and principals throughout the District in accomplishing some of their school improvement goals.
With a focus on innovation, the Foundation hopes that this Initiative will spur models of educational excellence which can be shared and replicated amongst our schools for the benefit of all our students. The ultimate goal of the Sprint To Excellence Initiative is to help students leapfrog over longstanding achievement gaps which far too many of our schools are contending with.
According to the Foundation’s Chief Operations Officer, Deanna James, “the Virgin Islands has a long road ahead of us to ensure that every student in the Territory has access to the highest quality of educational opportunities- whether they are in private or public schools.” “As a means to that end, the Foundation is committed to providing innovative grant opportunities and to supporting our education partners in thinking outside of the box to raise student achievement,” James continued.
In the future the Foundation hopes to expand the Sprint To Excellence Initiative to include all schools throughout the Territory. For now however, only St. Croix schools are eligible to apply.
The Foundation wishes to extend special thanks to the donors who have made this program possible including Tropico Management, LP, Mustafa Mehmet Corporation, and the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust. They also wish to encourage Corporate and Individual Donors to contribute to the Sprint To Excellence Fund so that local funds can be pooled to provide larger, more high impact granting opportunities. Donors who are interested in supporting the Sprint To Excellence Initiative can call the St. Croix Foundation for more information, at 340-773-9898.