Community Corner
Evanston Community Foundation Receives Matching Funds for Kindergarten Readiness Program
An announcement from the organization.
A notice from the ECF:
The Evanston Community Foundation (ECF) has received an offer of matching funds from an anonymous donor for its Communityworks Fund program “Every Child Ready for Kindergarten, Every Youth Ready for Work”(“Every Child”). This donation adds to the Grand Victoria Foundation matching gift challenge which ends September 30, 2011. ECF will now receive two dollars for every dollar donated between September 15 and September 29, 2011. These funds will build a permanent endowment to $6 million for its Communityworks initiative.
This threshold will both sustain ECF’s innovative pilot program, “Every Child Ready for Kindergarten, Every Youth Ready for Work” (“Every Child”), and expand its model to a broader range of services that support early learning and kindergarten readiness. Launched in 2007, ECF's “Every Child” initiative focuses on providing crucial services and support to at-risk families with babies 0 to 36 months. This successful initiative is built upon cutting-edge academic research that links early learning experiences to kindergarten readiness -- and to future successes in school and life.
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Currently, the pilot project supports home visits with 50 families a year, developmental screening for over 160 children and educational drop-in sessions attended by over 150 families. The program has had a 67 percent retention rate despite the recession's effects on those most vulnerable to loss of jobs, housing, and subsidized services.
ECF's opportunity to build its Communityworks endowment through a 1:1 match is provided by the Grand Victoria Foundation. Grand Victoria launched the development, implementation and endowment-building phases of the program in Evanston. In this final phase, Grand Victoria extended a $2 million dollar matching gift grant to help ECF secure a stronger platform for its far-reaching change initiative. ECF needs to raise an additional $63,000 before Sept. 30, 2011.
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The Evanston Community Foundation has received a matching gift offer from an anonymous donor for its Communityworks Fund program “Every Child Ready for Kindergarten, Every Youth Ready for Work”. This donation will add to the Grand Victoria Foundation matching gift challenge. The new challenge ends September 29, 2011. These funds will build a permanent endowment to $6 million for its Communityworks initiative.
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