Chesterfield Public Education Foundation, Inc.

Public education has an important role to play in equitably preparing all students to lead successful and happy lives. Research and experience has proven time and again that students and schools thrive when enveloped in community support. By working together, we can enhance the potential of students, cultivate positive relationships, promote excellence in teaching, and inspire innovation in education.

Chesterfield Education Foundation works with our diverse stakeholders — teachers, families, school board and administrations — to design and deliver programs that move the needle. Collectively we are building an equitable educational environment in which all of Chesterfield’s students are prepared to succeed.

Over the next three to five years, Chestefield Education Foundation aims to:
• increase awareness about CEF and the needs within Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS)
• close education gaps by leveraging resources to provide access to equitable educational opportunities in Chesterfield county
• pilot and help sustain innovation in the classroom and the division
• build capacity to increase fundraising to $2 million annually and expand program development

Bolstering Chesterfield County Public Schools’s strategic embrace of an infinite learner mindset, Chesterfield Education Foundation sponsors programs that have a two-fold purpose. The first is to enrich the learning experience of our students and the second is to provide tools for teachers as a way to promote innovation and creativity while reinforcing safe, supportive and nurturing learning environments.

Here are a few of the ways we champion students and teachers to embolden authentic learning:
• MCD Awards
CEF’s classroom innovation grants foster innovation in the classroom with particular emphasis on engaging students in STEAM.

• summer literacy programs
CEF’s Chesterfield STAR (Summertime Access to Reading) program is designed to reduce summer learning loss by providing targeted 3rd - 5th-grade students in every CCPS elementary school with self-selected summertime reading materials

• supplies
CEF annually collects and distributes over $20,000 in donated school supplies for those in need.

•mentoring
Through the Mega Mentors we provide vital social-emotional supports with small group mentoring to at-risk middle and high school students of color

•PSAT/SAT for all
CEF’s new partnership with the College Board removes the time, cost and transportation barriers that have limited access to this important college entrance exam for economically disadvantaged students.

Since 1989, CEF has helped garner community support and engagement that has catapulted Chesterfield Public Schools into one of the most respected and successful public school districts in the country. As a robust public-private partnership, CEF funds innovative scholastic programs, enables teacher recognition and enrichment programs, supports mentoring programs and hosts the Bravo! Awards which celebrate outstanding alumni of CCPS. We work closely with the Superintendent and school administrators to implement strategic growth while meeting ongoing basic needs of schools, classrooms, teachers, and students.

For example, in the spring of 2020, CEF mobilized the community with the establishment of the Emergency Response Fund to address urgent needs. The necessary turn to remote learning magnified an already deep schism in resources as low-income and minority students without internet access were de facto locked out of the virtual classroom, perpetuating educational inequities for groups of students who have historically lagged behind. CEF worked with the school district to ensure that each student had a device and a way to get online so that learning — for all — could continue during this unprecedented time.

Before COVID-19, CEF strived to close gaps and open opportunities for students from low-income families; now our mission is more vital than ever. The pandemic exposed bare inequities of a digital divide disproportionately impacting low-income families and people of color. CEF worked with the school district to ensure that every student has the basic tools of learning in a digital —a device and reliable internet access: the pen and paper of this century—tools that too many students are not yet able to take for granted. Beginning in March 2020, Chesterfield Education Foundation established the Emergency Response Fund to support the needs of Chesterfield County Public School students, staff and families as a result of the pandemic including needs related to internet access, resources to print/mail packets and supplies to students, weekend meals for students who are hungry, and more. We were positioned as the lead organization for donors to invest in to support students during this time and as a result have worked with the county to make remarkable strides in closing the digital divide ensuring that all K-12 students had