The Rex Organization continues its ongoing commitment to invest in New Orleans Public Schools when the Pro Bono Publico Foundation awards its 2017-18 grants to 63 recipients. For the third year in a row PBPF grants will total $1 million. Recipients were honored at an open house at the Rex den on Saturday, January 13.
The 63 grants benefit schools serving a total of over 34,000 students and include 9 charter management organizations responsible for 42 schools, 14 individual charter schools and 10 other schools, including several serving children with special needs. The Foundation also supports 24 organizations which provide supporting services to students and schools as well as six policy and advocacy organizations.
The Pro Bono Publico Foundation was formed by members of the Rex Organization as New Orleans recovered from Hurricane Katrina. These grants mark the Foundation’s 11th grant cycle and bring the cumulative grant total to more than $6.5 million. Thanks to the generosity of its donors the Foundation has been able to make a sustained and meaningful investment in support of our community’s public schools and its students.
“Our donors recognize the importance of this investment in our children and our future. The Foundation’s commitment as a key local funder of school transformation helps attract critical national support,” said Foundation Chairman Storey Charbonnet. “We have made tremendous progress but we recognize that there is much work still to do to assure excellence in all of our schools. Our investment of $1 million dollars three years in a row, and $6.5 million in total, is evidence of our commitment to support that work.”
The grants support the commitment of Rex members and the PBPF to assure that all of New Orleans’ children can attend excellent schools. Nearly all of New Orleans students now attend public charter schools. These schools, and organizations supporting their important work, have been the focus of PBPF’s investment, as well as the commitment of dozens of Rex members serving on their boards.
The open house also highlighted the work of Teach For America. Nearly 1,300 TFA corps members and alumni teach and lead across the Greater New Orleans community, and TFA corps members or alumni will be found in seven out of ten Orleans Parish public schools. Teach For America has three components to its approach: to enlist diverse individuals to become teachers in low-income communities and life-long advocates, to train members of its teaching corps to be effective leaders in the classroom and to mobilize as many individuals as possible to strengthen the movement for educational equity.
Quick Facts:
- 2017-18 grants total $1 million and giving since 2007 exceeds $6.5 million
- This is the third year in a row the Pro Bono Publico Foundation has awarded $1 million in grants, and the seventh year grants have exceeded $500,000.
- 2017-18 grants awarded to 63 grantees
- Through a grant to the NORD Foundation, the PBPF continues to sponsor activities at Taylor Playground, adjacent to the Rex Den
- Grants from the Pro Bono Publico Foundation support organizations which serve our community’s children from the “cradle to college”
Grants were awarded to these recipients:
4POINT0 SCHOOLS
Audubon Charter School
Bayou District Foundation
Belle Chasse Academy
Breakthrough N O (Fiscal Agent Isidore Newman)
Bricolage Academy
Choice Foundation (2 schools)
Citizens Committee for Education dba Homer A. Plessy
City Year
College Beyond
College Track
Collegiate Academies (3 schools)
Communities in Schools of New Orleans
Crescent City Schools (3 schools)
Cypress Charter School Association (DBA Cypress Academy)
Edgar P. Harney/Spirit of Excellence Academy
Education Pioneers
Einstein Group, Inc. (4 schools)
Elevate!
First Line Schools (5 schools)
Foundation for Science & Mathematics Education
Greater New Orleans Collaborative of Charter Schools
Greater New Orleans STEM Initiative dba Core Element
Hoffman Learning Center
InspireNOLA Charter Schools (4 schools)
International High School of New Orleans
International School of Louisiana
Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy
Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy
KID smART
KIPP New Orleans Schools (11 schools)
LA Children’s Research Center for Dev & Learn CDL
Lake Forest Elementary Charter School
Leading Educators, Greater New Orleans
Live Oak Wilderness Camp
Louisiana Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools
Louisiana Policy Institute for Children
McMillian’s First Steps Academy
New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Institute
New Orleans College Preparatory Academics (4 schools)
New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy
New Schools for New Orleans
NORD Foundation – Taylor Park Booster Club
Posse Foundation
Raphael Academy
ReNew Charter Schools (6 schools)
Roots of Music Inc.
Special Education Leader Fellowship
St. Augustine
St. Michael Special School
St. Stephen’s
Stand for Children Louisiana
Success Preparatory Academy
T F A Teach for America – GNO
The Chartwell Center
The Good Shepherd School
The Lighthouse for the Blind NO
Tulane University Cowen Institute
Warren Easton Charter School Foundation
YA YA Young Aspirations/Young Artists
Young Audiences
Youth Empowerment Project
Youth Run NOLA
