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Priorities
EQUITY/OPPORTUNITY FUNDS
IDEATION FUND
DESIGNATED GIFT FUND
Equity/Opportunity Funds
Students need a variety of supports in order to reach their full potential.
Houston’s diversity is a tremendous asset. As Rice University demographer Stephen Klineberg has observed, “It is a big part of what will make Houston a world city. How we invest in the education of Latino and African-American communities will determine whether ethnic diversity increases our competitiveness or tears us apart. Here, more than anywhere else, the future depends on education.”
Research shows that mentoring and family engagement are two powerful ways to support students and remove barriers to success. Mentors not only help young people achieve social-emotional well-being and reduce risk behaviors but also achieve academically and acquire the skills that help them pursue their goals. Intentional efforts to engage families in their children’s education – for example, by expanding their access to information about district programs and resources – also yield long-term rewards.
HISD believes deeply in expanding students’ access to mentors and families’ access to district supports. The HISD Foundation supports funding designated to alleviate inequities related to PTO, staffing, fine arts, extracurriculars, athletics, field trips, after-school clubs, and new teacher funds. The HISD Foundation does NOT support bond-aligned items, operational/ongoing expenses, high-resource schools, maintenance, base salaries, and cash through the Equity/Opportunity Fund.
Students need a variety of supports in order to reach their full potential.
Ideation Fund
We must provide the resources that students and schools need to turn new ideas into reality.
Innovation is crucial in a rapidly changing world; it is what keeps businesses thriving and helps solve our world’s most pressing challenges. Students and teachers therefore need opportunities to formulate promising ideas and develop new ways to address pressing real-life challenges. In the process, they gain an array of valuable skills, such as problem solving, project management, budget management, and the ability to work effectively in teams. In today’s difficult fiscal environment, it is a challenge for school districts to fund the materials and resources associated with innovation at scale. HISD is committed to making innovation a core part of students’ education experience, and the HISD Foundation is supporting these efforts by providing vital resources for innovative projects. HISD Foundation supports projects through this fund that engage with district partners to find great ideas, launch pilots, and do small scale experiments with new ideas. The HISD Foundation will not support multi-year projects if results are not measured.
Designated Gift Funds
We must connect the students of HISD with the leaders of the Houston community.
Today, schools across the U.S. are under tremendous pressure to provide a high-quality academic experience to all students. While reading, writing, and arithmetics are clearly very important, so are mental, social, creative, and physical development. In today’s world, students need to be able to think critically as well as creatively, evaluate vast amounts of information, solve complex problems, and communicate well. Additionally, as children are exposed to a variety of stressors – including natural disasters such as Hurricane Harvey, bullying, school shootings, and other tragedies. Many organizations have the resources, innovation, and network to leverage the Houston community to its full potential. The HISD Foundation partners with local and national funders for specific and restricted funding purposes based on the funder’s specific interest.