NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Education Foundation has awarded more than $85,000 in grants across the school district ahead of the 2023-2024 school year, from topics ranging from outdoor activities to anti-racist approaches to education.

Eight projects are being funded across all levels of education from preschool to the high school level.

“The goal of the NEF in general is to fund innovation and enrichment in Northampton Public Schools,” said Josh Bedell, co-chair of the organization’s endowment distribution committee. “The grant proposals sometimes come directly from teachers, but they often come from outside organizations that are involved in the schools.”

The largest of the grants is $22,000 for an “Empowering Youth: How to Be Anti-Racist” program, to be established across all elementary schools and at JFK Middle School. Described as an opportunity to engage elementary and middle school students in anti-racist dialogue, it partners with writer and educator Tiffany Jewell to provide consultation and coaching for anti-bias and anti-racist education.

The grant lists five particular topics explored as part of the anti-racist program, including building shared language around identity, deeper understandings of the definition of racism, and a history of racism and anti-racist resistance.

“We will share and discuss different ways we can all respond to racism and we will each begin to create our own personal and group anti-racist toolkit,” the grant states. “In order for us to be able to dismantle racism and unjust systems of oppression, we need to know what it is we are fighting for. We’ll gain an understanding of solidarity work and accountability and work to create a shared vision for the future.”

Another significant grant is $15,000 for an expansion of the “Take it Outside” program, which features outdoor STEM and literacy lessons for elementary school students. Now in its third year and originally targeted toward K-3 students, the grant this year allows it to expand to have lessons for fourth and fifth graders.

Another $15,000 grant was awarded to the Imagined Worlds program at JFK, a self-described therapeutic art initiative where students will design their own conception of “safe spaces” to be put together as a collaborative mural at the end of the fall and winter semester.

A total of $7,466 was also awarded to an early literacy and learning partnership program between the city’s public schools and community-based early education and care centers and family child care programs across Northampton. Its program aims to promote literacy through phonemic awareness, or identifying individual sounds that make up words. According to the grant, the program will provide direct support to both parents and early childhood educators.

All Out Adventures, a local nonprofit that supports outdoor activities for people with disabilities, received $5,250 to continue its inclusive cycling program at JFK and Northampton High School. Karen Foster, the director of All Out Adventures, said this year would mark the second time the program has been in place at the school.

“Cycling is such a part of school life. You see their bike racks are always full, and if you ever make the mistake of riding the bike path when JFK is dismissed, it’s just wall to wall,” Foster said. “By bringing our bikes and enabling students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to ride, they get to be a part of that culture.”

Other awards include $10,000 to “to empower, attract, and retain diverse educators” across the school district by facilitating sessions for educators from historically marginalized backgrounds; $5,500 grant for a mindfulness retreat at Ryan Road Elementary School to help students reduce stress; and a $5,100 grant for a “homesteading” course for high school students to learn skills such as growing produce, sewing and food preparation.

Funding for the grants is provided via donations made to the NEF’s endowment, which according to Bedell currently totals more than $2 million.

“The only reason we’re able to give out this money for these projects each year is because of the generosity of all the donors,” Bedell said. “What we’re really looking for as a committee is to fund a diverse group of programs that serves the widest slice of our student body as possible.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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