Nehemiah Foundation and Springfield City School District Win Competitive Grant to Support Mentoring
The Nehemiah Foundation has been awarded a $99,838.00 Community Connector Grant from the Ohio Department of Education for the 3rd consecutive year. Nehemiah Foundation (NF), which is a non‐profit organization, submitted the grant on behalf of a group which included Springfield City School District (SCSD), the CareerConnectED Consortium, Hatch New Media Studios, Upward Brand Interactions, United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties, City of Springfield Police Division, and Itinerant Studios.
The grant will enable SCSD and NF to continue adapting the Connected Mentoring Model to bring new clarity to mentors’ roles and to support training and coordination of mentor activities. This effort will ensure that mentors are better prepared to support students and link those students to the wide range of college and career readiness activities in the Springfield City School District and at the The Dome: Springfield’s Center of Innovation. SCSD and NF will continue to develop programming to support interest-based learning for Springfield youth.
“We are thrilled to be able to continue our work with the connected mentor model so we can better support the wide range of mentors in Springfield," said Shelley Lopez, Executive Director of the Nehemiah Foundation. "Working with Springfield City School District and our business partners on this work has expanded our capacity to serve Springfield youth.”
In addition to the mentor training and support, the business partners in the grant, Hatch New Media Studios, Upward Brand Interactions, United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison Counties, City of Springfield Police Division, and Itinerant Studios have committed to provide career exploration activities and real‐world problems for students at CareerConnectED at The Dome and/or at their business locations.
“It’s really inspiring to see such a varied group of Springfield organizations joining together to provide even more opportunities to our students. This kind of collaboration to prepare our students for success is just what CareerConnectED was formed to do.” said Dr. Bob Hill, Superintendent, Springfield City School District.
Posted July 20, 2017