Foundations in Education

Foundations in Education’s commitment to education is two-fold: (1) To provide tuition assistance, ensuring that all families who wish to send their children to Diocese of Bridgeport-sponsored Catholic elementary schools of their choice are able to do so regardless of their financial situation; and (2) To provide grant funds to encourage innovation in the classroom and professional leadership development among teachers and administrators to help guarantee an even brighter, more stable future for our Catholic schools.

Measurements of success for these two programs include the following:

Bishop’s Scholarship Fund desired outcome:
• Provide tuition assistance grants to students with a defined calculated need, providing them access to an excellent academic experience.
• Retain 80% of the student recipients in the school system through graduation from elementary school.
• Achieve 100% advancement to the next grade level at the successful completion of the school year for all students benefitting from tuition assistance.

Innovation and Leadership Grants program desired outcome:
• Provide a minimum of $125,000 each year to fund grant awards
• Ninety percent of projects will continue beyond the awarded year
• A minimum of 50% of grant applicants will be awarded

Fundraising efforts are ongoing, with individual contributions, proceeds from the Annual Gala and contributions from the Diocesan-sponsored Annual Catholic Appeal raising the majority of the funds for the Bishop’s Scholarship Fund and the Innovation and Leadership Grants program.

In the winter of each year, the Bishop’s Scholarship Fund program invites applications from families in need of tuition assistance. Foundations in Education as well as school Principals communicate with families about the Fund and tuition assistance to build awareness and support families during the application process.

The educational demands of the 21st century must be addressed in a whole new, comprehensive way. In order to accomplish this, educators are challenged to engage this next generation of learners in a more personalized and targeted manner. Our extraordinary teachers are encouraged to implement creative projects and initiatives that will benefit students at multiple grade levels. Their lessons, done well, will have a long-term impact on students’ learning.

Foundations in Education is led by an exceptional Board of Trustees with fundraising, tuition assistance and grant awards, and communications activities managed by a team of four employees headed by an award-winning Executive Director.

In February and March of each year, families who are in need of tuition assistance fill out and submit an application through FACTS Management Company, providing all necessary financial documentation. All applications are vetted and considered by the Scholarship Committee of the Board of Trustees, which assigns awards to each qualifying family and pays the school on the family’s behalf.

Every September, Foundations in Education invites the teachers and administrators of Diocesan-sponsored Catholic schools to submit grant requests for projects aimed at innovation in the classroom or professional development opportunities focused on expanding instruction for students and leadership stability in the system. The Innovation and Leadership Grants Committee of the Board of Trustees considers each application and decides which projects will be granted awards. The award implementation period is from July 1 to June 30 each year.

In the past five years, the Bishop’s Scholarship Fund program has provided needed tuition assistance to students through the issuance of more than 8,200 awards:
• $2,111,052 was awarded to 1,573 elementary and high school students in 2015-2016.
• $2,240,793 was awarded to 1,255 elementary school students in 2016-2017.
• $2,582,000 was awarded to 1,302 elementary school students in 2017-2018.
• $2,540,250 was awarded to 1,380 elementary school students in 2018-2019.
• $2,798,800 was awarded to 1,456 elementary school students in 2019-2020.

The award process for 2020-2021 is still underway, with $2,390,950 awarded to 1,160 students, plus $345,075 awarded to 177 students for COVID-19 Emergency Tuition Assistance as of August 1, 2020.

For the Innovation and Leadership Grants program, over the last 3 years 66 projects have been funded. These grants are intended for innovative projects or initiatives that benefit students and that will have a long term impact on student learning, with many of the awarded projects adapted to distance learning during the 2019-2020 school year. With the ongoing flexibility in instruction required to accommodate distance learning in the pandemic environment, the need for creative instruction solutions is greater now than ever before.