We are proud to support the faculty and staff of CCPS through the Innovation Grant Awards! Through our MCD Endowment Fund and generous grants from Dupont Spruance, the Hunter Foundation, and Carmax, CEF provides up to $100,000 for teachers to pilot creative, innovative, and replicable programs.
If you are a CCPS faculty or staff member and have an idea that goes beyond traditional methods, let CEF provide you with additional resources that will Fuel Minds Through Opportunity!
Applications for the 2024 Innovation Grants are now open!
Before applying, click here to view the virtual information session.
Session passcode: k1N*8W?r
Please click the Submit Your Application button below to create an account and apply.
Questions: Contact our office at info@cefva.org or 804-639-8774
Completed applications are due by Friday, April 12, 2024 at 11:59pm.
2023 Innovation Grant Recipients
Noreen Dwyer
Project: Inclusive Blacktop Learning Prompts for Whole Child Development
Description: Provide an outdoor space that would provide play opportunities for all students. Expand equipment available for Early Childhood Special Education students and students with mobility equipment. Create a painted blacktop to empower teachers to utilize the blacktop as an outdoor classroom and learning space.
Michael Ashton
Project: Breakout to Nature
Description: The detention center science teacher will leave the classroom and go to a remote location for a day to webcast a virtual outdoor learning experience that is tied to learning standards for students assigned to biology and earth science courses (the most common science courses for students at CJDH). Students will tune in from the classroom and interact with the teacher. Additional innovation: Some of the students at CJDH are allowed to have release time for educational or employment purposes. Assisting at the outdoor site could be one of the options provided for students with those privileges.
Kelsey Hilton
Project: Science and Literacy for ELLs
Description: Science based vocabulary cards, magazines and books that will be used by ESL students to enhance their learning and knowledge of science.
Angie Poole
Project: Special Education Therapy Room
Description: Create a therapy room nearby our 3 medically specialized teaching rooms which will allow alternative positioning and comfort to students that need skin and pressure relief. I plan to add a full (double size) treatment table, positional seating (seating that supports the full body), and passive range of motion exercise equipment to stretch and strengthen students.
Rachael Pifer
Project: Chiefs Drive-Thru Coffee Shop
Description: Purchase materials to expand the school café to provide a drive thru coffee service to parents of Gordon students during morning drop off.
Breena Edwards
Project: Improving Sound Quality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
Description: Purchase sound proofing materials and noise reducing equipment for the classroom in order to improve the sound quality for deaf and hard of hearing students.
Sarah Thomson
Project: Future Business Leaders of Chesterfield County (FBLCC)
Description: Offer an after school business course elective for students in an after-school group to create and sell t-shirts and hats with materials purchased through the grant
Christine Bowen
Project: Chefs Under Cover
Description: With the help of the FACS teacher, we will hold a book club/cooking club once a month. Each month students will be able to read a different book, and then create a dish that connects to their reading. The books that we have planned to cover consist of stories from other cultures and religions and we aim to highlight these through cooking and baking.
Yvonne Terry-Kidney
Project: One Pack Outdoor Classroom
Description: FCES has many areas that can be reimagined into part of the One Pack Outdoor Classroom. Create a vegetable garden with nine raised beds; located between the main building and the mega-trailer beginning in Spring 2023. The first part of our project will also incorporate the existing picnic tables and bleachers as outdoor instructional spaces for all age groups and subjects. In the Fall of 2023, the interior courtyard will be turned into a meadowscape, where students can observe and care for native plants; creating a natural pollinator garden that we plan to have the students register as a Monarch Waystation. The One Pack Outdoor Classroom will provide learning spaces and opportunities for Pre-K through 5th grade students.
Courtney Saunders
Project: Five Houses One Home
Description: Create a house system based on the Ron Clark Academy program. There will be five houses that will support the foundation of social and emotional development of our future community leaders and provide multiple opportunities weekly for our students to pursue their passions and goals.
Kimberly Royle
Project: Experience Beyond the Classroom: a forward thinking approach to using VR for academic and SEL benefits
Description: Purchase VR headsets to fully engage students in virtual reality. Because this technology provides access to content in all subject areas, this purchase is beneficial for all teachers. Students can visit and experience Pearl Harbor, the rainforest, or participate in virtual field trips worldwide. Lessons can be designed to provide students the opportunity to immerse themselves into the ocean and explore shark habitats or travel the path of oxygen or blood. For Physical Education, students can feel what it is like to be a goalkeeper, run a marathon, or compete in the Olympics.
Emilia Evans
Project: Oculus Prime
Description: Purchase 13 Oculus/Meta Quest 2 Virtual Reality sets (headset/controllers + protective case) for use in the library. Each Oculus will be used in pairs as one student will wear + one student will be their guide/handler for safety purposes. This will allow 26 students to participate at once.
Jessica Saunders
Project: Power through Power Standards with Guided Math
Description: Purchase guided math kits that include detailed lesson plans with activities that deepen student understanding of core math concepts.
Cindy Weber
Project: Science is FUNdamental
Description: Purchase tools to teach and reinforce science concepts using different learning styles, such as kinesthetic and artistic, to engage students in the material required by the state standards.
Sherry Nyquist
Project: Drone Coding and Aerospace Engineering
Description: Purchase drones to use in the STEAM resource classroom. K-1 will get to observe drones, 2-3 will learn the basics of coding drones and the careers that use drone technology alone with math and science concepts. 4-5 grades will fly the drones and learn more about coding, circuit boards, flight paths and drone uses.
Renee Mayo
Project: Cultivating Environmental & Community Stewardship
Description: Purchase a Tower Garden and other materials to study Aquaponics
Christina Sienkiewicz
Project: Mariachi Ensemble
Description: Purchase Mariachi instruments, Spanish language music books, and Mariachi master classes
