September 21, 2004 --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHARTWELL RECEIVES $115,000 IN GRANTS FROM LOCAL FOUNDATIONS
Seaside, CA - The Board of Trustees of Chartwell School is pleased to announce receipt of five grants from local foundations. The Community Foundation for Monterey County granted $50,000 from the Robert and Virginia Stanton Fund to support the capital campaign for Phase I of the new Chartwell campus. This grant will be matched by the Catherine L. and Robert O. McMahan Foundation as part of a $4 million challenge grant. The Community Foundation also granted a total of $13,000 from the John Marron Fund, Grover Hermann Foundation Fund, and the George P. Kendall Memorial Fund to support Chartwell's outreach programs to benefit the wider community. This amount will be matched by a separate challenge grant totaling $15,000 from the Harden Foundation of Salinas. In addition, the Talbott family has awarded a gift of $17,000 for financial aid. This gift helped fulfill a $20,000 challenge grant from the William McCaskey Chapman and Adaline Dinsmore Chapman Foundation, also for financial aid. Chartwell School has awarded more than $263,000 in financial aid for the 2004-2005 academic year to date. The average grant is 53% of tuition.
"We are honored and humbled to receive these gifts. The Chapman Foundation has helped Chartwell students for many, many years, as has the Talbott family. We will always remember and appreciate the late Audrey S. Talbott's lifelong concern for others and her belief that every child deserves a chance to learn," said Douglas Atkins, Chartwell's Executive Director. "The Community Foundation has played an important role in Chartwell's growth," commented Peter Brooks, Chair of Chartwell's Capital Campaign. "They understood early what it means for a child who is bright and talented to struggle in school because of a learning difference. We are especially honored that the Robert and Virginia Stanton Fund has chosen to make this generous grant, since the new campus will carry forward the traditions of excellence, good design, and innovations to benefit learning that Robert Stanton also practiced in designing schools during his lifetime. It will also carry on Virginia Stanton's generous concern for children who need extra support to achieve their potential."
"We are also very grateful for the Community Foundation's support for our growing outreach programs, stated Bruce Michels, Chartwell's Board President. "With this funding, we can help teachers, families, youth workers, and others who are trying to meet the needs of the 8,000 or more students in our region who are at risk of failing school because of a learning difference. Chartwell is nearing the end of a three-year early-intervention study that shows the value of early intervention for children identified as likely to experience reading difficulties, and we are eager to share what we have learned." Earlier this year, donor advisors at the Community Foundation granted a total of $15,000 to help support work with high school students in Salinas. Teachers at Toro Continuation School and at other high schools have requested additional services, and the new funding and its match will support the continuing partnership. One notable event in this partnership will be a presentation by author Victor Villasenor on October 12, 2004.
"Many educators, both locally and nationally, have noted the connection between unremediated learning difficulties and other problems affecting youth, including the obvious increase in academic failure, and also increased likelihood for school truancy, failure to complete high school, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and involvement with the juvenile justice system, " stated Atkins. "This funding will help more students overcome these odds and reclaim their potential to be lifelong learners and contributing members of our communities."
Commenting on the significant grant for the new campus, Chartwell's Head of School Nora Lee said, "With our enrollment at 101 students, we are very full here at our current site. We have more students on the waiting list, so clearly, we need the new campus. This will move us closer to that goal." Atkins emphasized that, "We are pleased that the Community Foundation has chosen to provide funding for a campus that can serve as a model for schools of the future -- designed to enhance learning, reduce operating costs, and be healthy for children and our environment. It is heartening when people understand and support a new vision. We thank them for believing so strongly in Chartwell, in our students, and in reclaiming children's potential."
Since 1983, Chartwell School has educated students with dyslexia and related language disabilities in a way that provides them with the learning skills and self-esteem necessary to return successfully to mainstream education. Chartwell is the only school if its kind in the tri-county areas of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz with a curriculum designed to teach children with specific language based learning difficulties. Instruction at Chartwell is research-based and emphasizes an explicit, systematic, phonetically-based and multi-sensory approach. Chartwell currently enrolls 101 students, ages 6-14.
The school has acquired 29 acres of land overlooking Monterey Bay at the former Ft. Ord. Working with architectural firm EHDD of San Francisco, who also designed the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the new Monterey Peninsula College Library, and many other well-known buildings, Chartwell has prepared plans for a new campus that, at full buildout, will allow it to expand enrollment to 160 students and add programs for younger and older learners. The school will be especially beneficial for children, featuring healthy materials, careful attention to ventilation and acoustics, radiant floor heating, and ample natural daylight, which has been shown to increase learning by 20% and more. It will also have energy and water conservation features designed to reduce ongoing operating costs, conserve resources, and be a model for schools of the future.
Chartwell School's growing outreach programs include workshops on various aspects of learning for parents, professionals, and community members in Seaside, Salinas, and Santa Cruz, an early intervention demonstration project for K-2 students with Pacific Grove Unified School District, a learning partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, a teacher training partnership with California State University Monterey Bay, and Learning Assistance Advisor services. Chartwell's board and staff engage in active fundraising for a strong financial aid program, and the School will award more than $280,000 in financial aid for 2004-2005.
For more information about Chartwell School, please contact Marli Melton at 394.3468. Websites relevant to this story include www.chartwell.org, www.cfmco.org, and www.ehdd.com. For more on high performance schools see the Collaborative for High Performance Schools at www.chps.net and for more on sustainable design and green buildings, see www.usgbc.org.
###
Back to News & Press
|
