It’s gift giving season and one of the best gifts we know of are AEF Mini Grants for our teachers. Our dedicated teachers often spend their own money on things their students need. In California, teachers annually spend $664 out of their own pockets – more than any other state. This is definitely an equity issue as teachers in wealthy districts or parts of town are more likely to have access to resources than those in less affluent areas.
No one knows better what students need than the professionals who work directly with them. That’s why AEF is continuing to provide Mini Grants allowing teachers to purchase instructional items to meet specific unmet needs unique to their classrooms or even to lift up that one special student. Mini Grants have also been given to special programs such as translation services and mental health events. AEF approved 17 Mini Grants in October 2021!
Some of the efforts being supported by these grants include:
» Read more about: AEF Mini Grants Support the Front Lines »
This is a post AEF made in 2014 showing how Supervisor Wilma Chan was a long term supporter of Alameda Education Foundation, along with numerous other community organizations. She will be missed tremendously.
Supervisor Chan recently donated $3500 to the Equipped 4 Success school supply drive. Early childhood education is a critical element in Supervisor Chan’s “New War on Poverty” initiative. Supervisor Chan’s donation will support incoming Alameda low-income kindergarteners with backpacks and age appropriate supplies so they are ready to learn the first day of school.
What the pandemic and remote teaching and learning made painfully...
by Vicki Sedlack, Executive Director of AEF
Equity is a word we hear a lot these days, even more so since the pandemic.
But what exactly is equity? How do we achieve it? And how do we know if we have?
It is easier to say what equity is not, and it is not equality. The illustration below is often used to make this distinction.
But does this illustration truly depict equity?
AEF recently awarded a mini grant to AUSD student support services to purchase a bicycle for a student in need. Here’s the scoop from the program manager:
“AUSD’s Coordination of Services team is so proud of the way this student has begun the school year—so positively! She recently got a job and she really wants to arrive at school and work on time this year. She mentioned to our attendance clerk that she is frustrated that she doesn’t have a lot of say of when she gets places,
The pandemic and remote teaching and learning made teachers, students and families painfully aware of just how vital technology is to student learning. No longer just optional, today technology is a crucial interface for learning.
» Read more about: Alameda Municipal Power a Valued Partner in Technology Support »
AEF is proud to announce that students at Paden Elementary school (Ruby Bridges has dropped out of the program) will be raising their voices and singing out proud in the 2021-22 school year with Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir’s Community Voices Choir. Through engaging songs and community-building musical games, students will build an understanding of their voice, musical skills in rhythm and matching pitches, and learn to read music.
