Aldridge Gardens in Hoover Trail Accessibility
Prior to the reception of the grant, The Aldridge Gardens’ Lake Trail was 90% accessible as defined by the US Forest Service Trail Accessibility Guidelines. In order to be 100% accessible, a new section was installed that bypassed a steep grade.
Banks Academy got a new van, thanks to the Holle Family Foundation!
By purchasing another Van, we will be able to pick up and take home more students. Many of the students at Banks Academy need transportation or they would not be able to attend. The additional van will allow our School to increase our enrollment and will allow our current students to continue their education at Banks Academy.
Blount County Education Foundation One Week Wonders
The BCEF One Week Wonders project was designed and implemented to address the problem of academic summer slide by supporting students of Blount County Schools who were struggling with reading and math. Research is clear that learning and achievement are perishable, so implementing a program of this type to negate the slide impact was important. Even more critical, and not known at the time of the application, this year would be a year of spring AND summer slide due to the dismissal of schools in mid-March due to the coronavirus. In spite of corona challenges, camps were conducted in July across Blount County: Appalachian, Blountsville, Cleveland, Hayden Primary, Hayden Elementary, Southeastern, and Susan Moore. These camps served 420 students total in face to face camps during an extremely challenging time for parents.
While the number served is not the stated goal of 500 students, the project team feels that serving 420 during the coronavirus pandemic is truly an accomplishment. Additionally, pupil/teacher ratio numbers had to be lowered to meet state guidelines for in person activities. The camp dates had to be changed to July to meet state coronavirus guidelines for elementary students. Students participated in sessions utilizing a model of data driven small groups for reading and math, explicit intervention instruction for reading and math, library resources/literacy activities, art, music, STEM/STEAM, Reader’s Theater, and Brain Breaks. The parent outreach component included newsletters, phone calls, and emails allowing this important program component to continue in spite of limitations to in person activities. All $30,000 of the Holle Family Foundation Grant was used to provide staff for the camps around the district, which computes to 1,200 hours of instructional time. These funds were partnered with additional funds to provide adequate staff to serve the 420 students in an acceptable student/teacher ratio.
Community Care Development Network Computers for Students
Due to Covid-19 youth were scheduled to work on school assignments from home. Through the funds from Holle Family Foundation, 20 youth were able to complete their complete school assignments, 5 of the youth through our partnership with Miracle Academy, and the other 15 are in our mentoring program. This benefitted chances to perform while attending local schools.
Freshwater Land Trust Redrock Trail System
The mission of Red Rock Trail System is to enhance the built environment through multi-use trails and bike lanes, providing opportunities for people to lead healthier lives by spending more time outdoors. FLT currently has 120 miles of trail completed in Jefferson County with roughly 1.5 million people using the Red Rock Trail System each year. The JVTE, located between 32nd and 41st Street South, is the most highly anticipated Red Rock trail, linking residents of all socioeconomic backgrounds and ages to the outdoors in an urbanized environment.
Manna Ministries- Remodeling for Distribution Expansion
Since Covid we are now serving over 300 clients weekly in a drive through distribution compared to 150 clients this time last year. We now have handicapped accessible bathrooms and hot water to accommodate our clients and volunteers. We now have central heat and air in the entire building. Plus we have expanded our distribution area, allowing us to package and distribute more efficiently to this client base.
Main Street Alabama COVID 19 Supplies and Training
Provide tools and training small businesses need to reopen and thrive while providing a safe environment for their customers and employees.
Preschool Partners Children and Parents Program
Ninety-Seven children and their families are receiving a quality preschool education with highly qualified teachers. Program also includes children’s books, learning games and teaching materials to prepare them for kindergarten.
Shelby County Board of Education Patient Manikins for Surgical Tech Program
The Chelsea High School Health Science program’s learning lab is a state-of-the-art simulated surgical suite. It includes a day of surgery admissions station, sterile processing department, pre-op holding area, operating room, and recovery room bay complete with patient care simulators, surgical scrub sink, operating room lights, surgical table, electric hospital beds, and an authentic “red line” denoting restricted and semi-restricted preoperative patient care areas. This manikin mimics real life scenarios and gives students hands-on experiences. It was designed to meet educational requirements for clinical nursing skills, from task training through advanced patient care scenarios.
Southern Environmental Center at Birmingham-Southern College Turkey Creek Pavilion
In an effort to make Turkey Creek Nature Preserve independent and self- sustaining, the SEC has begun construction of an educational facility and pavilion at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve that can be used as a meeting location and conference area.
Visionary Ministries Building upgrades/renovations.
Visionary Ministries teaches life and job skills to at-risk youth and wants to start an elderly/ youth mentoring group. The property has lodging as a halfway house. The ministry hosts culinary and interior design classes to provide entry level job experience and entrepreneurship training.
Birmingham Zoo Virtual Field Trips
This initiative has allowed the Birmingham Zoo to provide mission-based educational programming to support teachers and students in throughout the state. Through virtual programming, we have been able to reach students who are typically unable to visit the Zoo due to distance or financial constraints. Stretching from Limestone and Madison counties in the north to Covington and Mobile Counties in the south, the Birmingham Zoo is truly a statewide educational resource with a final goal of providing programming for students representing every county of the state.
The response to the program was overwhelming with a total of 267 teachers from across the state of Alabama applying for scholarships to participate in a virtual program. According to the applications, a total of 7,203 students will participate in these programs. These teachers and students represent 140 different schools from 66 school districts from across the state. The initial round of scholarship applications included representatives from 47 of Alabama’s 67 counties. Additional efforts will be made to contact educators in the remaining 20 counties.
