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The NASP Children's Fund
Purpose
The NASP
Children's Fund is a tax-exempt, non-profit, independent charity. The Fund
accepts and disburses monies for charitable purposes that are consistent with
the Fund's priorities. These include:
1. Advocating
for the essential rights and welfare of all children and youth;
2. Embracing
individual and group differences in children and youth based upon gender and
diverse ethnic, cultural, language, and experiential backgrounds;
3. Promoting
learning environments which facilitate optimal development; and
4. Producing
effective interventions that address both learning and social/emotional issues
that impede a child's success and happiness.
Structure
The Children's
Fund is administered by a board of ten trustees elected by NASP Delegates at
Delegate Assembly that occurs in conjunction with the NASP annual convention. Two representatives are elected
from each of four regions and two others are elected as at-large members.
Trustees serve staggered four-year terms.
For more
information about the NASP Children's Fund, please consult the NASP Children's
Fund Annual Report (PDF) or contact one of the current members of the Board
of Trustees listed below.
Donations and Membership
Anyone may
donate to the Children's Fund. The Fund accepts cash donations and gifts of
goods or services for their auction at the NASP annual convention. NASP members
may add a cash donation to their NASP membership application/renewal form or
send a check payable to the "NASP Children's Fund" to NASP,
4340 East West Highway, Suite 402,
Bethesda,
MD
20814.
There has been
some confusion in the past regarding how to become a member of CF. The
easiest way to become a member is to send $10 to Judy Martin, CF Treasurer,
stating that you want to become a member. A donation alone does not
constitute membership in CF. The same can be done through the NASP
office as long as a statement of intent to become a member is included.
Board of Trustees
Northeast Region
Jeff McNish (New Hampshire) nisher@comcast.net
Janet Friedman
(New Jersey) jannasp@comcast.net
Southeast
Region
Delores Terry (
Virginia) dterry1@comcast.net
Dixie Bryson (
Arkansas) dbryson959@aol.com
Central
Region
Juliette
Madigan (Ohio) Julmadigan@aol.com
Judy Martin (
Wisconsin) MARTIJUD@salem.k12.wi.us
West Region
Shelley Oswood
(Montana) shelleyoswood@yahoo.com
Joelene Goodover (Montana) Joelene_goodover@gfps.k12.mt.us
At-Large
Fulvia Franco (Utah) fulvia.franco@jordan.k12.ut.us
Joe Gerard (Alaska) jgerard@gci.net
Current Projects
Community
Outreach
In 2002, during
the Chicago Convention, the Children's Fund initiated a project in
Chicago to give something
back to the community in which the NASP convention takes place. With the
cooperation of school psychologists from
Chicago,
two schools were located and over 250 books were distributed to preschool and
primary level students. Each book was personalized with the name of the
first name of the student, two friends, the child's teacher, school and
principal. Board members and NASP leaders visited the schools to hand out
the books and spent time in the classrooms reading and visiting with students.
The project was
so successful that the Board decided to do the same thing in
Toronto,
Dallas,
Atlanta,
Anaheim, and
New
York City. The Board decided last year that funds in
New Orleans would be
directed towards a project that would have a lasting impact on the community.
CF was the lead sponsor for a playground build that was conducted during the
New Orleans Convention week in February 2008. The Board was excited to
participate in this event with community leaders, NASP members, and children
and parents of the community school. Information can be found regarding the
build on this website and past issues of the Communiqué.
Thanks to all
who participated in this wonderful project and donated their time in the
interest of children and community. Without
all of you it never could have happened!
Youth
Empowerment Mini-Grants
The Children's
Fund continues to support student-initiated projects based on the work of Peter
Benson and the Search Institute. Youth Empowerment Mini-Grants are designed to
support student projects that promote asset development.
Benson's
research identified 40 "developmental assets" embedded in
relationships, supports, and values that youth experience in their homes,
schools, and neighborhoods. Youth who possess 30 or more of these assets are
highly likely to be successful and less at risk for making bad decisions. On
the other hand, a higher risk for difficulty in life is associated with access
to 10 or fewer assets. The Children's Fund believes that young people are
acutely aware of the strengths and needs of their community but may not have
the resources or encouragement to effect change. The intent of the Mini-Grant
Program is to empower youth to build better communities by giving them the
means to design and implement ideas that will create access to assets. If
you have questions, contact Janet Friedman. Click on the links to read a
brochure, see a
list of the assets, or download
a copy of the application.
Tiny Grants
for Kids
Tiny Grants
provide small grants - up to $150 directly to NASP members to help meet
children's welfare, educational, or mental health needs. Items that help
meet basic needs of children at school are acceptable: such things as clothing,
eyeglasses, book bags, school supplies, etc. Mental health Tiny Grants
are intended to encourage school psychologists to enhance their own
capabilities to provide mental health services within their schools. Acceptable
purchases could include therapeutic video tapes and games, relaxation tapes,
classroom guidance materials, books for bibliotherapy,
etc. To learn more about Tiny Grants and to complete a brief online
application, click
here. As long as funds are available and your intent is within guidelines,
you will receive an e-mail acknowledgement within a day or two. That e-mail
will explain a simple reimbursement procedure.
Service
Project Support Available from NASP Children's Fund
The NASP
Children's Fund encourages school psychologists and others to apply for funding
(up to $2,500) for service projects that directly benefit children. Download
the application (PDF) or contact Shelley Oswood (Service Projects
Chair) or any Children's Fund Board member for more information.
Proposals may be submitted at any time although funding for accepted projects
will depend on availability of funds at the time of acceptance. Watch the
Communiqué for articles from recipients describing their projects. Please
see the 2007-08
Annual Report for last year's funded grants.
Children’s Fund Summary
(2007-08 Overview)
Everyone is aware of the KaBOOM! build at Live Oaks
Elementary School in New Orleans. This NASP Children’s Fund
project brought together school psychologists from across the country to fund, plan
and build a playground to support the resiliency of children in the area hit by
Hurricane Katrina. The NASP Children’s Fund received support for the KaBOOM! build from many state associations, the NASP 5K
run/walk, and many individuals. NASP
Children’s Fund, Inc. took in over $14,000.00 in donations to the KaBOOM! build. Thank you to all who donated to this project.
Other projects supported by
the NASP Children’s Fund, Inc., included Service Projects, Youth Empowerment Grants, and Tiny Grants for Basic Needs or Mental Health resources. The Fourth Grade Kindness
Retreat at
Bridgewater
Elementary School was a rousing success thanks to the $1710
grant from the NASP Children’s Fund. One hundred and fourteen students had the
opportunity to develop their skills in identifying and responding to bullies and bullying and
at the same time increase their sense of how a school can be caring and kind towards
every student. The display of kindness boomerangs was very moving. Another
service project that was funded was the Parent and Student Resource Center for
Gifted Education in the
Miami-Dade
School District. The $1,900 grant was used to
provide resource materials from parents and teachers to better meet the needs of gifted
students. Former Children’s Fund trustee, Phil Bowser, was instrumental in writing a
grant for his school in
Roseburg,
OR, to receive a $2,500 grant to sponsor a “Challenge
Day”. The grant focused on a series of activities that raised student awareness of
bullying, name-calling and social exclusion. Dianne Martin’s grant called Wishing Well-Center
Based Mental Health Initiative was completed with a final award of approximately $890
and Gerri Ann Hartnett received $1,205 for her Bully Project. JoAnne Morgan has received
$1,160 for her Families Investing in Readiness for School
Today.
The Youth Empowerment Grant program
provided four grants this past year. The students at South Oceanside
Elementary used their $479 to plan and carry out a school wide Olympics. The program was
designed to address school involvement, healthy lifestyles, and fitness. Another
$500.00 YEP Grant went to Rachel Coronado for the Interactions
of Peace at her school. The American Red Cross received $225 for training that they provided as part of a
grant dealing with teen resiliency.
School psychologists
received over $12,000.00 in Tiny Grants ($150 each) to meet the basic needs or the mental health
needs of children in their schools. Tiny grant funds have been used to pay for glasses for
a needy student, for graduation items for a child who was homeless, and for socks and pants
for children who get wet at recess. These funds are available to NASP members who ask for
them.
NASP Children’s Fund, Inc.,
trustees thank Pearson Publications for their continued support of the Children’s
Fund auction at the NASP annual convention. Their contribution to this enjoyable event
adds to the resources available for various projects of the Children’s Fund. The
trustees also thank the NASP Board for their support and financial contributions.
Membership---The NASP-CF is continuing
to work on establishing consistent procedures for membership. It was
determined that CF membership would coincide with the start of the NASP
membership, thus the Children’s Fund Membership year will be from July 1st to June 30th. NASP-CF Membership from
7-1-2007 to 6-30-2008 totaled 446 members and 48 other
individuals gave donations. We will continue to recruit CF members and encourage all delegates
to join.
Disaster Relief--- The NASP-Children’s Fund
Sponsorship of the
New Orleans Community Recovery Project
Each year, in conjunction
with the convention, NASP supports a local service Project to promote the education and
well-being of children in our host city. The goals are to make a tangible difference and to
highlight the needs of children that have a negative impact on healthy learning and development.
This year NASP - Children’s Fund was the lead sponsor of the NOLA Community
Recovery Project.
NASP-CF spearheaded a KaBOOM Playground Build at Live Oak Elementary School in the
NOLA
Recovery
School District which had
been affected by Hurricane Katrina. NASP-CF made a significant
financial commitment, ($75,000.00) to the project. NASP and CF members, as well as
other convention attendees were asked to support the project throughout the year via monetary
donations and/or volunteer to work on site in some capacity during the build at the
NASP Convention, (date of the playground build was Saturday, 2-9-2008).
Additional information was provided in issues of Communiqué, on the NASP and KaBOOM websites, as well as at the NASP Convention Program.