The Grant Writing Committee of the P.T.O. first met a couple weeks ago. For researching grants, it formed working groups to focus on three areas: art and music; technology (with a focus on providing computers for the lower grades) and equipment for students with special needs. A fourth group is researching corporations to approach for tax-deductible donations. As part of this, the committee is preparing a file with the school information that funders most commonly request.
"If any parents have expertise in any of these areas, we would love their help. If they feel that their time is too limited, they can just be readers for the grants and offer feedback," says Ivana Espinet, the chair of the committee. "For the research on approaching corporations, if anyone has any connections to companies that we can contact, it would be great if they let us know." Ivana can be reached at ivanaespinet AT yahoo.com.
On Monday Nov. 15, the committee applied for a grant to acquire a salad bar for the school, which it prepared together with the Wellness Committee. Ivana welcomes collaborations of this sort. She asks that anyone who wants to pursue a specific grant, or believes that the school should, to please contact her.
The committee's next meeting will be in January.
-Christine Scanlon and Matt Fleischer-Black
Earlier this month, the city’s Move-to-Improve program awarded P.S. 9 a grant to support fitness breaks in classrooms. The grant will provide up to $2500 for classroom teachers to train in the program, and also will supply classroom exercise equipment, music CDs, activity cards and other teaching aids.
