Fall 2016 Grants

Augustine Literacy Project

Charlotte, NC

General operating support for a literacy intervention program delivered by highly trained volunteer tutors serving 125 students in high-poverty elementary schools $25,000

BELL

Charlotte, NC

Program support for a national summer learning program, serving 200 CMS scholars in rising kindergarten to third grades $75,000

EducationNC

State Level – NC

General operating support for independent research and reporting on K-12 education to build public will for teachers and school leaders and to expand educational opportunities for all children in NC $30,000

Heart Math Tutoring

Charlotte, NC

General operating support for a math intervention program that reaches over 600 students and provides curriculum and on-site support for volunteer tutors in high-poverty CMS elementary schools $80,000
(over 2 years)

International House

Charlotte, NC

Program support for the Rising Readers program, which provides intense literary support over the summer months to a growing population of English language learning students in CMS $40,000

NC Early Childhood Foundation

State Level – NC

General operating support for a collaborative effort to define NC’s measures of success, beginning at birth, that put children on a pathway to grade-level reading success by third grade $60,000
(over 2 years)

New Leaders

State Level – NC

Program support for a partnership with Public Impact and the Northeast Leadership Academy to expand Opportunity Culture, the distributed school leadership model, into Edgecombe and Vance County public schools $450,000
(over 3 years)

Profound Gentlemen

Charlotte, NC

General operating support to retain male educators of color in the education profession through community building, professional development, and additional classroom support $50,000

Renaissance West

Charlotte, NC

Program support for a Literacy Center that will provide individualized literacy intervention services to improve reading levels of students at the pre-K – 8 Renaissance West Academy, scheduled to open in 2017 $150,000
(over 3 years)

Research Triangle Institute

State Level – NC

Program support for the North Carolina Large District Consortium for the 10 highest population districts’ Superintendents and Chief Academic Officers with resources to deepen their knowledge and implement evidence-based policies and strategies to ultimately improve outcomes of NC students $40,000

UNC Charlotte Cato College of Education

Charlotte, NC

Program support for a 4-day summer institute facilitated by Deans for Impact to better prepare teacher candidates with a focus on coaching and more effective student teaching $233,131
(over 2 years)

Urban Promise

Charlotte, NC

Program support for a literacy focused summer learning program at two sites of Urban Promise, a year-round program for low-income students that provides out-of-school-time academic and spiritual development $25,000

YMCA of Greater Charlotte

Charlotte, NC

Program support for the Y Readers summer program, closing the achievement gap and preventing summer learning loss for 720 students at ten Charlotte-area school sites $75,000

Atlanta Speech School

Atlanta, GA*

Program support to bring K-3 teacher training and coaching taking place in classrooms in Atlanta Public Schools onto the Cox Campus online learning platform at the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy $60,000
(over 2 years)

Horizons

Atlanta, GA*

General operating support for Horizons Atlanta, a regional Horizons affiliate, that offers summer learning programs to 400+ students from high-poverty schools $60,000
(over 2 years)

Birmingham Education Foundation

Birmingham, AL*

Program support for SAIL (Summer Adventures in Learning), a collaborative funding consortium, which increases access to high-quality summer learning opportunities for 1,500 students in Birmingham $200,000
(over 2 years)

* Historically, The Belk Foundation awarded grants in communities throughout the South, with more recent emphasis in Atlanta, GA and Birmingham, AL. In May 2016, the Foundation Board decided to hone its focus on its home state of North Carolina. We are deeply grateful for the many partners and educators that we have learned from and engaged with over the years and will invest in a small group of Atlanta and Birmingham-based organizations through 2018.

Spring 2017 Grants