Outside grants helping schools' funding needs
View original at paducahsun.com
BY GENEVIEVE POSTLETHWAIT gpostlethwait@paducahsun.com
At a time when schools statewide are straining to bridge gaps between falling funding and rising expenses, grants from outside sources are allowing districts to continue offering students new educational opportunities.
"Grants can provide programs or resources that just wouldn't be possible otherwise, and it's always been that way," said Adam Shull, grant writer for McCracken County Public Schools. "But there is more attention on seeking and getting grants these days because of dwindling funding of education at the state and federal level. It's more of a priority now than when funding was stronger."
Since joining McCracken County Schools as grant writer in 2013, Shull has worked with district and community partners to secure more than $2.7 million in grants for new programs, upgrades and initiatives throughout the district.
Just over $2 million of that haul was in the form of three fully funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers at McCracken County High, Hendron-Lone Oak Elementary and Reidland Intermediate. Funded by the Kentucky Department of Education, the 21st Century grant program provides before and after school academic support and enrichment activities for students.
The district has been awarded two other 21st Century grants in the past - one for a Community Learning Center at Reidland Middle, which is in its fifth year, and another at Heath Elementary in its third year. Through the Learning Centers, students get help with homework and one-on-one tutoring if they need it, plus chances to explore non-academic, enriching activities like photography and archery.
It's Shull's job to get McCracken's hat in the ring, so to speak, in the fierce competition for these grants. They come from a wide range of benefactors including state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and charitable foundations. But Shull doesn't do it all on his own, he stressed. Support from West Kentucky Community and Technical College, the McCracken County Cooperative Extension Service, the Paducah Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and others have made the district's grant applications stronger.
Monica Bilak, Paducah Public Schools Transitional Student Services coordinator and occasional grant writer for the district, also mentioned the support she's received from community partners, as well as other grant writers.
"The grant writers in this region are really super helpful," Bilak said. "We all work together to make this community better."
Bilak has been voluntarily writing grant proposals for the district because as she put it, grant writing is just one of the tools she happens to have in her bag, and she saw it as another way to help kids. All told, she's secured the district over $200,000 in grant funds to support everything from reading programs to technical upgrades at the middle and high school.
Paducah administrators saw so much value in the grant process that the school board recently approved the creation of a grant writer position beginning with this school year. Bilak is thrilled, and hopes she can get it.
"I am a community developer by trade, so to match needs with resources in the community and to bring people together is very gratifying," she said. "It's just a matter of being able to express a need and finding partners who are passionate about making it happen."
Both McCracken County Schools and Paducah Public Schools have been awarded Project Lead the Way grants to help establish engineering and biomedical programs for students, a major award in both districts' eyes. Bilak said she's been focusing a great deal on bringing in programs like Project Lead the Way that will help students gain valuable skills that will hopefully lead to quality jobs for them in the future.
"These programs cost money," Bilak said, "but they're great for our kids. They're well worth the investment."