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Recently, United Way was approached by DonorsChoose.org with an exciting opportunity that we would like to share with you – and make $7,500 available to worthy education projects in our community.
DonorsChoose.org is an online charity that makes it easy for people to help meet classroom needs and/or support classroom projects all across the country. And, thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DonorsChoose.org is partnering with local businesses and civic organizations to fund classroom projects in Hillsborough County.
Our United Way has agreed to help distribute these electronic gift cards to the public. The eCards are absolutely free to you. The only restrictions are that they need to be redeemed online before April 11, 2011, and that they have to be used to support classroom projects from Hillsborough County Schools as per the Gates Foundation, who provided the grant for the program. The first 300 people signing up will receive a $25 eCard to use for educational programs at local classrooms. You get to choose the school and program.
To get one of the eCards (sent to you via email) all you need to sign up with our Raise Your Hand for Education initiative. This campaign is uniting people from all walks of life to show their support of Tampa Bay kids learning and earning their high school diplomas. United Way believes education is the best path out of poverty and recognizes that everyone in the community should have the opportunity to get more kids through school and to high school graduation.
To sign up go to www.UnitedWayTampaBay.org/pledge It takes about three minutes to sign up and pledge your support for education. By signing up, you will receive periodic information and recommendations on how you can tutor, mentor and volunteer to help students throughout Tampa Bay. As well, you could even win an iPad for signing up!
After enrolling, you will receive a confirmation and within a few days, you’ll receive an email with the DonorsChoose.org eCard.
To use the gift eCard:
1) Visit: www.donorschoose.org/hillsborough2011.
2) Enter the code you receive in your email.
3) Choose a classroom project to support.
Remember, be sure to spend your gift card before it expires on April 11, 2011.
On behalf of United Way of Tampa Bay, DonorsChoose.org and the Gates Foundation, we are thanking all who participate!
On March 31, United Way is asking America to do just that. We’re hosting the United Way Education Town Hall (10 am – noon ET). We’ll have a live conversation – online and offline – with hundreds of Americans who care about education. We’ll join parents, students and teachers to talk with national education leaders, including U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC.
The conversation will kick off the national report we’re unveiling, Voices for the Common Good: America Speaks out on Education, which will contain findings from a listening tour of communities across the country, focus groups and a national survey on education. We’ll also talk about what United Way could do in response, especially in terms of recruiting people with the passion and commitment to make a difference.
Hosted by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, the Education Town Hall will be a chance for anyone to be part of this conversation. The event will be webcast at the town hall website, but you can join the conversation in progress! Visit the United Way Town Hall website.
Michelle Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and leaders from a number of national nonprofits and service organizations gathered this afternoon for the National Mentoring Summit in Washington, D.C. Hosted by one of our partners, MENTOR, the goal of the summit is to help organizations combine their strengths and develop strategies for using youth mentoring programs to boost academic achievement.
To start things off, Obama proposed The Corporate Mentoring Challenge. It’s a call for U.S. companies to launch new mentoring programs, expand existing employee mentoring programs, and provide resources to support local mentoring programs that help youth gain leadership skills, achieve their educational goals, and increase their confidence. A few of our corporate partners already plan to answer the call — Bank of America, Deloitte, and AT&T among them — and United Way will be working hard in the months ahead to help channel this Live United spirit into schools and communities across America.
We’ve seen the power of mentoring and one-on-one tutoring first-hand, and we applaud the First Lady for voicing this much-needed initiative. To learn more about our work in education, and find out what you can do to help, click here.
At 9:00 a.m., Thursday, October 22, 2009 at the Doubletree Hotel in Tampa, local business executives, educators, community impact organizations and government leaders will meet at Graduation Pathway. Participants will learn how to positively influence high school graduation rates in Hillsborough County.
Convened by the Children’s Board, the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County Public Schools and United Way of Tampa Bay, Graduation Pathway offers area business leaders critical information to keep teens focused and graduating from high school.
Graduation Pathway addresses the issue as a community-wide challenge, not just that of schools or parents, and is designed for CEOs, COOs, senior executives, entrepreneurs and human resource directors.
Dr. Bill R. Daggett, president of the International Center for Leadership in Education, is the keynote speaker. His presentation, The New 3 R’s: Rigor, Relevance and Relationships focuses on the impact of high school graduation on the future Tampa Bay workforce.
Dr. Daggett has also collaborated with education groups in several countries, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Governors’ Association, and other national organizations. He is recognized worldwide for his proven ability to move education systems toward more rigorous and relevant skills and knowledge for students. He has assisted several states and hundreds of school districts, including Hillsborough, with their school improvement initiatives, many in response to No Child Left Behind and its demanding adequate yearly progress provisions.
Also presenting is MaryEllen Elia, superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools, the eighth largest school district in the United States with more than 189,000 students and almost 26,000 full-time employees. MaryEllen has been superintendent since July 2005 and draws on a deep reservoir of educational experience in her CEO responsibilities.
Dr. Daggett will facilitate a panel discussion on strategies proven to increase graduation rates. The prominent panel participants are Joe Follman, Executive Director of Learn & Serve Florida; Gordon Gillette, CEO of TECO & People’s Gas; Judy Nee, Executive Director of the National Afterschool Association; Joe Radelet, VP of Mentoring for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America; and Chuck Saylors, President of the National PTA.
Breakout sessions on these strategies include Service Learning, Parent Involvement, Business Mentors, Out-of-School Time, and Ready for Work or School follow the panel. A complimentary luncheon provided by our sponsors follows with welcoming remarks by Mayor Pam Iorio, City of Tampa.
Graduation Pathway is free; attendees will receive lunch and program materials. Interested individuals must register online.
Graduation Pathway is underwritten by State Farm Insurance, Humana and America’s Promise. Without their generous support, it would not be possible. The Tampa Bay Business Journal is the exclusive media sponsor.
Program gives free books to all Hillsborough kids (St. Petersburg Times)
Free Books Exercise Imagination (TBO.com)
Fox News Video about Imagination Library
United Way and the Imagination Library Hillsborough County Partnership launched an early literacy initiative to put books in the hands of young children, helping 
prepare them for kindergarten.Hillsborough County’s kindergarten class of 2011 – infants born on or after September 1, 2006 are eligible to participate in the program.
Parents can call 813-272-5017 to register their child.
For more information go to http://www.unitedwaytampabay.com/imaginationlibrary
