Employee Giving Campaign Identifies Programs to Receive Support in 2018

Across Anne Arundel County, nearly three out of every ten students live in situations where families struggle to put enough food on the table. Such hardships are not only barriers to the physical health of the children they impact, but a lack of nutritious food also affects a child’s ability to learn. The Harvest for the Hungry: Kids Helping Kids Campaign works to eliminate that barrier by rallying the community to contribute both food and money to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank. The support of the Employee Giving Campaign will enable the Office of School & Family Partnerships to continue to contribute to the Harvest for the Hungry Campaign.

In the 2017-2018 school year, over 1,200 students in AACPS experience homelessness. These students need additional support and resources to achieve academic and social-emotional success. With the support of the Employee Giving Campaign, the AACPS Homeless Education Office will purchase shoes and clothing for these students, which can be barriers to their school attendance. In addition, funds will be used to support relationship building activities for the Power of One Mentoring Program, which supports homeless unaccompanied Juniors and Seniors as they pursue post secondary opportunities. Funds will also be utilized to transport parents to educational meetings at their child’s school to ensure that all families can be engaged in their student’s education. As we strive to elevate all students, helping our students and families in need reach their full potential embodies the essence our driving value: All Means All.

In AACPS, 10% of students who enter Kindergarten are English Language Learners and each year we serve over 6,000 ELL students across all grade levels. While our schools provide targeted support for students’ English literacy skills, we also recognize the importance of promoting literacy in the home language, as well. The Office of School and Family Partnerships will use funding from the Employee Give Program will provide resources, workshops, and events to give ELL families the tools they need to encourage and promote reading with their children at home, and in their home language. We want our ELL families to feel welcomed in our AACPS community and to know that we recognize and respect the value of enriching their children’s home language skills so that together we can foster student growth.

Many of our AACPS students are being raised by their grandparents or other relatives. These guardians want to be equally involved in their children’s education, but often do not know where or how to find the resources they may need. The new Kinship Support Group will offer quarterly meetings that bring  resources to them and provide these guardians with a place to get help and share their experiences. Funding from the Employee Giving Campaign will provide supplies, food, and (most importantly) transportation, which can be a barrier for many of our grandparents. This program will directly engage guardians and community stakeholders to ensure that all AACPS families feel welcome and valued in our school community.

Summer Fun n’ Play is four week summer camp (Monday-Thursday), offered in collaboration with Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks, to engage students in arts and crafts, sports, games, field trips and enrichment activities. Participants also receive free healthy breakfasts and lunches via the United States Department of Agriculture Summer Food Service Program. Funds from the Employee Giving Campaign will cover the registration costs for Title I students to attend this camp in Summer 2019.

This Spring, AACPS will be hosting a student conference devoted to showcasing Young Adult Literature to increase relevance and excitement in curriculum and instruction. 300 ninth grade students from across the county will come to Glen Burnie High School to engage with literature and authors, interact and connect with other students, and read and discuss literature with their peers. Author Jason Reynolds (Long Way Down) will be joining the event as a keynote speaker. Funding from the Employee Giving Foundation will offset transportation and conference costs for this opportunity, designed to empower ninth grade attendees to become more engaged and responsive readers.

The mission of the Weekend Food Program is to provide nutritional food for children who may not have sufficient food over the weekend or during brief school holidays. Funds from the Employee Giving Campaign will enable the Office of School & Family Partnerships to fund the Weekend Food Program at one of AACPS’ alternative schools. These schools are specifically chosen because their students come from all over the county and do not have a PTA or PTSO to support a program on their own. As a lack of nourishment has been directly linked to the ability to learn, the hope is that removing this barrier will help these students return to school, both nourished and ready to learn.

Created in collaboration with Maryland Hall for the Arts, CRAB Radio is a local, low-power FM radio station that encourages students system-wide to create and record podcasts, PSAs, interviews, and music for stream and to be played on air on 104.7. Enrichment activities offered through content curriculum and internships allow students to record and produce programs related to the theme of community radio for arts and the bay (CRAB). Funding from the Employee Giving Campaign will provide recording technology that will permit students to produce relevant and meaningful community-based content and messages that connect their learning to the local and regional community.

The Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils (CRASC), the representative organization for all middle and high school AACPS students, was created to develop leadership skills, promote good sportsmanship, and to initiate improvements and activities for the general good of AACPS students. CRASC student leaders become student ambassadors for Anne Arundel County. Funds provided by the Employee Giving Campaign will continue to provide enrichment and leadership opportunities for students to attend a variety of community and state events that allow them to learn valuable advocacy skills and share experiences.

A healthy lunch fuels students for academic success all year long. Following the 2014-2015 Board of Education decision, students without money in their lunch account can still get up to five charged meals. Any negative balance present at the end of the school year becomes the responsibility of the school. In 2017-2018, students accumulated over $20,000 in lunch debt. Funding from the Employee Giving Campaign will be used to offset the debt for all students in all schools. Together, we can create healthy students and healthy schools.

This year, AACPS will be offering two new physical education and dance courses: Unified Dance and Leadership and Unified Physical Education and Leadership. These courses are designed to foster leadership and advocacy amongst students with and without disabilities in fine arts and physical education to ensure that all students have the opportunity to be engaged in movement and expression. Funding from the Employee Giving Campaign could provide interactive journals, dance shoes and costumes, transportation, and other materials and resources to engage students of all levels of ability.