EDGE for Tomorrow, LLC

Serving grades K through 5, EDGE After-School provides two hours of structured programming four-days/week. Current enrollment is a minimum of thirty-three children. The children are split into three age groups based upon grade level; Kindergarten through grade 1, grades 2 and 3, and grades 4 and 5. Because we often have a waiting list of students, parents are asked to commit that, once enrolled, all children attend the two (2) hour program four days/week. Staff consists of an Administrator for curriculum development, daily staff support and parent contact, a reading specialist, three teachers and two floating aides.
EDGE believes parental engagement is critical and works closely with parents and guardians to provide support for educational, social, and economic needs, and offering opportunities to develop stronger parenting skills through workshops offered at different points throughout the year.
The EDGE After-School curriculum is focused on the following objectives:
- increased physical and emotional health;
- educational achievement;
- good citizenship and positive peer engagement; and
- positive self-esteem.

With these ends in mind, children receive homework help, learn social skills, engage in active play, and enjoy healthy snacks in a supportive, caring environment. In 2018 and 2019, thanks to an aggressive fundraising campaign and new community partnerships, EDGE After-School enhanced and again expanded our program to include more children, and has incorporated a number of program components to help us address the challenges many of our students face having had Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's). This includes music instruction, a 14-week drug prevention program through the Lion’s Club, and ACEs awareness training for EDGE After-School and the Covenant Preschool through Trauma Aware, DE and Wilmington University. Weekly STEM activities are also a part of the 2019/2020 school year, made possible by a Laffey-McHugh grant and Summer Collab partnership. EDGE attains parental permission for access to student records, allowing us to set measurable goals for student progress. Each student is different, but we have found that 75 to 80 % of students show measurable improvement in math and reading, as well as in their classroom behaviors. In collaboration with community partners, the EDGE curriculum for the 2019-2020 school year parallels a new virtues-based curriculum being introduced at Mount Pleasant Elementary; building on and reinforcing the behavioral skills taught during the regular school day. Adding new aides as we increase enrollment is critical to EDGE’s success in meeting students’ needs. The 6: 1 ratio means that teachers and aids can provide the one-on-one assistance required to address learning challenges and minimize negative behaviors that many of our students display in a larger classroom environment.

EDGE plans to spend $2500 on training for teaching staff and $14,000 to hire two additional teachers’ aides by start of the 2020/2021 school year. To expand the program to accommodate up to 45 students, EDGE plans to add one more teacher and provide corresponding training at a cost of $12,000.

To raise awareness around EDGE for Tomorrow’s offerings, and to help drive individual fundraising efforts through social media and email, EDGE has begun designing a stand-alone website (currently a tab on the Church of the Covenant website) to be complete by end of year 2020. A portion of revenue is designated to support general operating funds as we build organizational capacity for 2022 and beyond.

The EDGE classrooms and shared spaces are in need of several upgrades, the most urgent being better flooring. Current flooring dates to the 1950s, and make for very loud classrooms for children who are already easily distracted at the end of the school day. EDGE plans to install flooring conducive to the teaching environment, and enabling students to sit on the floor more comfortably. Additional classroom upgrades for painting are planned, providing fresh spaces that benefit both students and staff. This provides a sense of privilege and pride in working and spending time in a comfortable and attractive environment.

EDGE has engaged in a multi-year push to build our capacity for growth, which began in 2016 when EDGE After-School expanded to 4 days/week and 28 students, and has progressed to include many advances in our programmatic offerings, including:
- The 2018 addition of a dedicated Reading Specialist;
- A partnership with Summer Collab to bring STEM activities, a dedicated coach and materials to EDGE 2 times per week (2019/2020);
- ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) awareness building with community members and partner organizations and training for both After-School and Covenant preschool staff (2019/2020);
- The addition of a Math Specialist in 2020;
- Increasing number of days Reading Specialist is on-site (2020/2021);
- The creation of a lending library (2020);
- Increased fundraising to support the above enhancements and additions achieved in 2019, with grants from Laffey-McHugh Foundation, Christmas Shop Foundation, Longwood Foundation, Marmot Foundation, Robin Foundation, Chichester duPont Foundation, Kenny Foundation, Ignite, New Castle County, and our community partners over the next 3 years; and
- Expanding our two mailing campaigns, one targeted to local community and ecumenical partners in the Spring and one targeted to EDGE parents, the Covenant community, Board members and their contacts in the Fall.

In addition to our fundraising efforts, EDGE has begun the process of exploring potential endowments for long-term investment income and stability.

EDGE continues to build partnerships with other community groups in order to prevent duplication of services, providing a win-win outcome for all parties,

Much of the fundraising successes and subsequent program expansion since 2018 can be attributed to the strong support of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, which has made annual contributions of $8,000 to $50,000, to in-kind and facilities allocations, and to grant writing support. Since EDGE for Tomorrow hired Shoestring Solutions for Nonprofits in 2019, EDGE increased the number of grant applications submitted by 200%, and while 27.4% of the grants we have applied for are still pending, we have received 52.4% of the dollar amount requested, and only 20.2% of dollars were denied.

EDGE believes that future support from DANA

EDGE for Tomorrow (originally founded as EDGE Ministries) began in 2009 as an outreach ministry of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant (PCOC), located in close proximity to the Edgemoor Gardens community of Wilmington, Delaware. The outreach originally focused on offering spiritual and physical assistance to members of this once thriving blue collar community in the aftermath of lost jobs and income due to the recession. In 2019, EDGE became an independent 501c3 and solidified our current focus on education, empowerment and encouragement of parents in taking greater control of the social, economic, and educational needs of their children.
EDGE for Tomorrow has made an indelible mark on the children and families it has served since 2009. In 2012, EDGE opened free after-school programs for K-5 students two days/week. Seven children enrolled and grew substantially each year. With a Longwood grant in 2016, the after-school tripled enrollment, staffing and grew to a four day/week program. As the organization embarks upon its second decade, community children and their families are still very much in need of EDGE’s services. Continuing to provide EDGE After-School and allowing more children to participate in our after-school program are critical to EDGE’s strategy moving forward. A two-year grant from the Longwood Foundation for $150,000 will allow EDGE for Tomorrow to set the stage for the 2021-2022 succession of Executive leadership and continue to meet the needs of the community, with a series of upgrades to the facilities, the creation of a stand-alone website, additions to the EDGE After-School staff, and increased overall fundraising.

Capacity Building
When Ginny Jones founded EDGE Ministries in 2009, it was an outreach arm of Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, and a fully volunteer effort. 11 years later, the organization has evolved and grown, and Ginny receives a salary of $26,500 for her full-time job as Executive Director. While EDGE receives significant support from PCOC, including the use of the church building itself to run its programs, EDGE is now an independent 501(c)3 with a student population nearly five times what it was just 4 years ago, and a constant waiting list. Knowing the need is great, and understanding that Ginny is preparing to retire from the organization she built, EDGE’s leadership expects to need to raise significantly more funds in coming years to support the hire of a new executive director, the continued expansion of the student body, and commensurate increase in teaching staff to support them. In both years of the grant, we expect to spend $10,000 on grant writing and fundraising expenses.