Dear Community,
A Quarterly Report on Impact: December 2023
A letter from an educator
Dear community,
We want to express a heartfelt thank you to DPS Foundation and all donors who help make a difference in our students’ lives! Your support matters. In our more than 30 combined years with the district, building our afterschool program has been one of the most meaningful because of the impact it has had on children and families. It might sound hyperbolic to say that this program helped Charles M. Schenck Community School (CMS) achieve all of its Unified Improvement Plan goals this year, but it obviously did: 100% of the children who attended the programs offered through the Lights On After School grant (which was over half of our school population) showed high percentage of daily school attendance, sustainable engagement during classroom instruction, as well as improved their social emotional skills, all of which had a direct and significant impact on their academic performance. Thank you for supporting students and schools!
Molly Eldredge, Family & Community Liaison and Teacher, After School Program Coordinator, CMS and Néstor Bravo, Principal, CMS
Funding from the Denver Public Schools Foundation provides safe, enriching and academically supportive afterschool programs for more than 2,400 DPS students every year. Compared to their peers not enrolled in such programs, students enrolled in regular DPS afterschool programs exhibit: better school attendance, lower suspension rates, higher academic growth across reading, writing and math. To date, DPS Foundation has contributed more than $11.2 million to afterschool programs!
CLASS Framework
The DPS Foundation’s new Community Leads and Students Succeed (CLASS) framework implements a strategy to improve student and school outcomes across Denver public schools. The framework covers student & academic growth, life skills and social emotional learning, family engagement and supports, and educator leadership development.
CLASS Framework Key
Student & Academic Growth
Life Skills & Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Family Engagement & Support
Educator Leadership Development
A to Z Fund Grants for Classroom Teachers
DPS Foundation awarded $178,166 to 76 schools and departments during the first cycle of the 2023-24 A to Z Fund. Educators can apply for up to $3,000 in grants each semester. A to Z Fund has now awarded more than $2.95 million since its inception in 2006 (we will hit $3 million next cycle!). An estimated 16,414 students will be supported with these dollars – an average of 215 students per grant. This cycle’s grants will support a variety of projects and programs, musical instruments, transportation expenses for field trips and other travel, culturally responsive books, and so much more. The need: We received 101 applications this cycle, totaling more than $260,000.
Rose Community Foundation
Rose Community Foundation donated $75,000 to support the alignment of social-emotional curriculum, common language, and practices before, during, and afterschool so students could receive consistent support in all educational spaces.
The work: By providing professional development and Transformative Social Emotional Academic Learning (TSEAL) curriculum training to after school staff at the 11 participating schools, the following outcomes were achieved: improvements in staff reporting was evident in various areas (especially around building relationships and developing knowledge of TSEAL concepts and skills), as well as significant growth in students’ Transformative Social EmotionalAcademic Learning competency assessment scores.
The Village
The Village at the Contemporary Learning Academy (CLA) was launched in Fall 2021 after community engagement identified a need for support. The Village provides students and their families with wraparound supports that meet students where they are on their educational and career journeys by connecting them with mental health counseling, financial literacy, housing, food and clothing support, LGBTQ+ support, work opportunities and more. The Village serves six Pathways high schools which admit students who are at risk or offtrack to graduate and provides them with intensive academic and emotional support. The Village is made possible in part thanks to DPS Foundation and community support.
Mobilizing the community in support of DPS students
DPS Foundation has been very active in the community, including presentations both locally and nationally on the Community Leads and Students Succeed (CLASS) framework, a regional meeting discussing philanthropy’s role in addressing career and college readiness for students of color as early as elementary level, a panel of school foundations sharing how to advance school district strategic initiatives and more.