Education

Our giving in Education is focused on providing transformational experiences for New Jersey’s pre-K through 12th grade children who face conditions that limit opportunities for, and access to, educational excellence. As such:

We wish to assist children in transformations that result in:

• seeing a world of opportunity, wonder and beauty;
• a broad worldview that values diversity and appreciates natural resources;
• high aspirations; and
• critical and creative thinking that increases the probability of becoming thoughtful, creative, and responsible citizens. 

We wish to assist educators in transformations that result in:

• skilled practitioners becoming lifelong learners who are themselves critical and creative thinkers;
• becoming part of a community of learners with opportunities for reflection, and collaboration;
• being willing to take risks in the name of educating the whole child; and
• becoming increasingly effective facilitators of student learning.

We wish to assist in transformations that result in schools becoming:

• nurturing, imaginative, fun, supportive, and healthy environments to learn and grow for all children and adults; and
• organized and designed so that diverse learners reach adulthood with the critical and creative thinking skills and dispositions necessary to lead meaningful and productive lives.

Foundation support will be further focused on:

• experiential learning opportunities that connect educators and students to the arts, to the natural world, and to the local and global community;
• schools in their efforts to reinvent themselves by exploring alternatives to the traditional public school model.  Special consideration will be given to alternatives that emerge from intentional collaborations, between schools and outside agencies, dedicated to fostering the emotional, physical, intellectual, and social development of the entire community; 
• high quality pre-school and primary grade programs and initiatives that provide a foundation for success in communities where children face conditions that limit opportunities for and access to educational excellence; and
• programs, initiatives, people, and organizations that are connected across disciplines, build on either previous or current Foundation initiatives, and demonstrate clear potential to be maintained without, or with only modest, Foundation funding after an appropriate, and agreed upon period of time.

If you are interested in applying for an Education grant, please see our application guidelines.

Proposals for Education funding are due by November 1.

 

Image above (from left to right): Students at Camden Children's Garden, Photograph courtesy Camden Children's Garden; A teacher participating in ATI at Arts Horizons, Photograph courtesy Arts Horizons; Students at the New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences, Photograph courtesy New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences.