Saint Paul and Minneapolis Public Schools to Receive $800,000 from Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Foundation
Feb 1, 2000
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (February 9, 2000) -- The Minneapolis Foundation today announced the first grant recipients from the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice, which was established in 1998.
The Saint Paul Public School District will receive $500,000 to establish a state-of-the-art Professional Development and Leadership Institute and a Best Practices School Demonstration Site for its teachers and administrators and the Minneapolis Public School District will receive $300,000 to be used toward the district's Academic Achievement Through the Arts Program. In addition, the National Institute on Media and the Family will receive $57,500 to support its MediaWiseä certification program to be piloted in Minnesota schools for use across the nation.
"The Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation is thrilled to award our first grants in the area of education for our children," said Michael V. Ciresi, senior partner and chairman of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., which represented the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota in the historic Minnesota tobacco litigation. "These grant recipients are leading the way with innovative programs that will positively affect the lives of our children and families."
"These grants represent significant investments toward improving the education of our children and are indicative of the innovation and risk-taking that will distinguish Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi 's grantmaking in the years to come." said Emmett D. Carson, president and CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation, which manages and facilitates the grants and applications on behalf of the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation.
Saint Paul Public School District
The $500,000 grant will be used for the development of a two-pronged approach to staff development.
- The School Leadership Institute aims to overhaul the way that Saint Paul recruits, trains and hires its principals. The district will partner with higher education institutions to provide the coursework that will focus on management, instructional leadership and urban education leadership for any person seeking a position as a school principal.
- The Best Practices School Demonstration Site is an innovative model staffed with "teacher-leaders" who will provide mentoring and training through staff development.
They will provide students with the full range of academic and social services. The school will also address the relationship between achievement and socio-economic factors.
Minneapolis School District
The $300,000 grant will be used toward the $3.2 million challenge grant from the Walter Annenberg Foundation to support Arts for Academic Achievement.
The Minneapolis Public Schools serve more than 49,000 students, who come to the schools with different experiences, cultures and home languages. The district and the Annenberg Foundation believe that integrating arts in all subject areas and training teachers to be more effective will help bridge these differences and result in accelerated learning for all students. Early research results in Minneapolis Public Schools support the national research: eighth graders at schools that have used arts infusion for two or more years passed the Basic Standards Reading test at a 20 percent higher rate than students two years ago.
National Institute on Media & the Family (NIMF)
The National Institute on Media & the Family is an independent, non-profit organization that focuses on maximizing the benefits and minimizing the harm of media on children and families through research, education and advocacy.
The Institute's $57,500 grant will be used to develop and implement the MediaWiseä Certification Program. The program is designed to create a more healthy community approach to media viewing and increase academic performance while decreasing anti-social and violent behavior in youth.
The Minneapolis Foundation
Founded in 1915, The Minneapolis Foundation encourages and facilitates philanthropy in the Twin Cities region. It is the oldest foundation in Minnesota and one of the largest community foundations in the country. Representing thousands of donors who have created more than 575 charitable funds, it serves the community by building and investing a permanent charitable endowment, and using the income to provide grants, loans and other services to non-profit organizations.
With assets of $500 million, last year the Foundation awarded nearly $25 million in grants and loans, primarily in the areas of human service, public benefit, education, health care, and the arts and humanities. Through donor-advised grants, supporting organizations and special projects, the Foundation supports a wide variety of statewide programs. In addition, for the next several years its discretionary grantmaking will focus largely on improving life for children and families in seven of Minneapolis' highest poverty neighborhoods. (Minneapolis Foundation Web site: www.mplsfoundation.org )
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