Program areas at PEF
K-12 educational initiatives:classroom grants: each year, over a hundred thousand dollars in grants are awarded to classroom teachers to create programs that are designed to enhance the classroom learning experience and positively affect their students. Grants range from a variety of stem materials, literacy support, gender differentiated studies items, and much more. (continued on schedule o)elevating excellence:elevating excellence provides high-achieving students and their families with a personalized path to college success and includes highly effective psat/sat preparation, individualized academic counseling that involves the parent(s)/guardian and individualized college and scholarship planning and support that includes the parent(s)/guardian. The Foundation's focus with elevating excellence will be on a target population of 1,000 low income and minority students who are 100-150 points away from qualifying for bright futures.an exciting initiative under the elevating excellence program is the creation of the college and career centers at high schools in our district. The college and career centers are the hub of information and support for students and families. Working in collaboration with school counselors, the college and career center teams provide individualized and targeted assistance to navigate the college-going process. The centers are currently in nine high schools and there is a plan to open centers in all 17 high schools in the 22-23 school year. Reading recovery:reading recovery is a highly effective short-term intervention of one-to-one tutoring for low-achieving first graders. Reading recovery serves the lowest achieving first graders the students who are not catching on to the complex set of concepts that make reading and writing possible. In a reading recovery school, 15 to 20% of 1st grade students will receive the intervention based on a reading performance over the course of the school year. Reading recovery is currently in 14 schools that have some of the lowest reading assessment scores in the district. Individual students receive a half-hour lesson each school day for 12 to 20 weeks with a specially trained reading recovery teacher. As soon as students can meet grade-level expectations and demonstrate that they can continue to work independently in the classroom, their lessons are discontinued, and new students begin individual instruction. Reading recovery teachers work with four or five individual students each day and then conduct small reading groups within existing 1st grade classrooms with additional students.academies of pinellas:the academies of Pinellas program is a community-wide initiative aimed at enhancing the high school educational experience by providing an opportunity for students in every high school to prepare for college while, at the same time, pursuing industry-recognized career certifications. The Foundation is passionately committed to providing all students with the opportunity to be successful. It is our belief that we must have a superior educational system to ensure that our school children remain competitive in an increasingly global marketplace. Involving the private sector in our efforts to improve Education is vital to our success.youth connect:the youth connect program provides guidance, support, financial assistance with vocational and academic training, work readiness and job placement services to low-income youth (ages 16-24). Since inception (july 2007) this program has served more than 3,400 students. Students enrolled may also be eligible for the frances stavros career technical Education scholarship. This scholarship may provide up to $2,500 in Education funds allowing students an opportunity to attend vocational or post-secondary institutions.next generation entrepreneurs:the next generation entrepreneurs program is open to all Pinellas high school students. This opportunity allows students to start new businesses, bring an innovative idea to market while working with business community mentors. The program emphasizes adding value to people's lives and the steps involved to being a successful entrepreneur.pinellas early literacy initiative:the Pinellas early literacy initiative (peli) calls for a strategic focus on prioritizing improvements in literacy instruction for pre-k and k-2 students and teachers in eight Pinellas county schools and five community-based pre-k's. Recognizing that a kindergarten readiness gap exists for voluntary prekindergarten (vpk) participants, particularly low-income and minority students, this initiative connects public and private pre-k providers to developmentally appropriate literacy training and coaching being provided in k-12. By leveraging high quality professional development with instructional coaching for both pre-k and k-2 teachers, early student literacy gaps will dissipate more rapidly, effectively preparing students for the more rigorous content of grades 3-5. The need for additional resources in later grades will also be reduced.
Student scholarships:this program provides more than 100 different college scholarships to high school seniors throughout Pinellas county. The scholarships are as varied as the sponsors who fund them. Donors choose their criteria and focus areas such as specific majors, volunteer hours, academic achievement, sports, or financial need. Students apply for these scholarships through the Foundation's website whereby one application runs through a sorting process for all the available scholarship funds. Scholarships may be either one-time awards or renewable scholarships for students who continue to meet the scholarship qualifications throughout college. (continued on schedule o)jump start scholarships:the jump start scholarships are for graduating students who demonstrate financial need and meet the eligibility requirements. Recipients receive a 1-year Florida prepaid college plan to attend a Florida public college, university, or technical college. This scholarship helps low-income students get a jump-start on their college Education.
Take stock in children (tsic) is a long-term initiative that awards low-income 6-9th graders with a college scholarship at high school graduation, pairs them with a caring mentor and connects them to college and career counseling and supports. By maintaining at least a "c" in all classes, meeting with their mentor, remaining drug and crime free, attending college success planning meetings and graduating from high school, students earn their scholarships.since its inception, tsic has maintained high school graduation rate of 96% or higher. The program brought in 185 new students and 220 tsic scholars graduated from high school in 2021-2022.
Community relations and events:the Foundation hosts a series of program events, such as evening of excellence, which is the annual teacher of the year event, and walker's rising stars, an event to honor the district's top student performing artists, visual artists and culinary artists with scholarships.
Stavros institute:the gus stavros institute is a state-of-the-art learning complex dedicated to educating students in the free enterprise system. The institute houses two separate and distinct programs:(1) enterprise village teaches fifth-grade students about america's economic system through hands-on business simulations. Each year, more than 12,000 fifth grade students have the opportunity to run a radio station, publish a newspaper, work in a bank, or manage a utilities corporation. (2) finance park teaches eighth-grade students personal financial management in a reality-based center. Each year, more than 10,000 eighth grade students learn lessons in personal finance management--an introduction to the world of monetary decision-making.
School-based projects:school-based projects include programs that directly benefit individual schools such as the Pinellas county center for the arts program at gibbs high school, st. petersburg high school's green devil alumni fund, the academy of finance program at northeast high school, and the jacobson culinary arts academy at tarpon springs high school.
District-wide initiatives:school enhancement grants and district-wide initiatives provides financial resources directly to Pinellas county schools to enhance their programs and curriculum.