MIAMI, Fla. — Four Fayette County organizations, including the Fayette County Public Schools, have been awarded nearly $2 million in grants from the national John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to improve the education and development of preschool-age children from minority and low-income families.
These grants are the latest in a series of long-term investments by the Miami-based Knight Foundation to organizations in Lexington working to ensure that all of the community’s children get a quality education.
Responding to the substantial achievement gap between poorer students and their more affluent counterparts, as well as white students and students of color, the organizations aim to tackle the problem from all sides, addressing issues confronting parents, teachers and students themselves. Students attending seven Fayette County schools will be the primary beneficiaries of the grants, which will be distributed over the next three years.
Youngsters ages three to five are the target of the groups’ efforts to close the educational equity gap. Experience in the community and nationwide has shown that reaching children at the youngest age possible is the best way to ensure academic success.
”To make it an equal playing field, we need to start with preschool. And we need to engage the parents and teachers, not just the students themselves, if we really want to create the means necessary to change their lives,” said Vivian C. Neal, Knight Foundation’s community liaison program officer in Lexington.
Knight’s board of trustees has approved the series of grants to the four organizations: One Community, One Voice; Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence; Success by Six; and Fayette County Public Schools.
One Community, One Voice, which will receive $395,000 over three years to provide intensive parental outreach and teacher training, has been the driving force behind Fayette County’s efforts to help its students succeed in school. In 2002, One Community, One Voice – a panel of educators, parents, and government and business leaders – convened to develop ways to improve the academic achievement of students of color and those from lower-income neighborhoods. One Community, One Voice has embraced an aggressive goal of making sure that by 2007, every child enters the fourth grade able to read proficiently.
One Community, One Voice will play a key role facilitating cooperation between the grantees. “Everything we’re focused on is improving student achievement and closing the gap, and the way to do that is to collaborate to leverage our resources and work effectively and efficiently together,” said Arnold Gaither, chairperson of One Community, One Voice.
Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS), the recipient of a $547,850 grant, will develop two centrally located, full-day model preschool centers for three- and four-year-old children, beginning in fall 2005. One center will be an important part of the FCPS and University of Kentucky model school partnership at The Academy and Booker T. Washington Elementary schools. The second preschool center, located at the Family Care Center, will be greatly enhanced. The second-largest school district in the state is committed to closing the achievement gap by the third grade and getting every student to overall proficiency by 2014.
Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, which will receive $539,000, is implementing a three-year program to train parents to become more involved and engaged in their children’s schools. The program’s goal is to create parent leaders who will work in the schools, spreading their knowledge and encouraging involvement by other parents.
”Our goal is to enhance the quality of early care programs and encourage in parents the habits of participating in their children’s education, early,” said Robert Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee.
Success by Six will use its $442,950 grant to expand its intensive public and mental health outreach services. The program focuses on increasing parents’ knowledge of immunizations, nutrition and other medical issues affecting children. The program has already made progress in reducing rates of child abuse and neglect, creating safer homes and improving parenting practices and knowledge of child development.
Earlier Knight funding had allowed the four organizations to embark on pilot programs to discover the best methods to improve children’s performance. The new, more substantial grants will enable the groups to reach an expanded number of students and focus their efforts on those programs proven to be most effective.
The latest grants build on Knight’s long commitment to Lexington. The foundation has awarded more than $25.3 million in grants to organizations serving the region since 1974. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities.