Program areas at Education Foundation of Eagle County
Efecs mental health programs identify and activate solutions for students and educators mental health. Efec seeks to ensure that every Eagle county school is staffed with a mental health professional and the resources they need to be effective. Additionally, efec funds and coordinates non-profits providing mental health support services and social-emotional learning in k-12 schools called the behavioral Education providers. Four local non-profit organizations received $109,170 in funding from efec. The missions of the organizations include: suicide prevention; prevention & intervention of domestic violence and sexual assault; reduction of teen pregnancy. Included in the expenses, $12,939 was spent on teacher appreciation and educator mental health supports and $157k was paid to outside helpers to relieve teachers of supervising recess and lunch periods. See schedule o for exciting changes to this program.
Efecs effective teachers program focuses on recognizing and retaining top teacher talent which is critical to student success. Efec provides grants to educators for continuing Education, awards outstanding educators on a monthly basis, and hosts recognition events. This fiscal year, at the annual evening of stars ceremony, 13 educators from 10 different schools were awarded scholarships totaling $18,030 to assist them financially to advance their professional knowledge and skills in educational areas and obtain advanced degrees or certificates. On a monthly basis, parents, students, and colleagues are given the opportunity to nominate teachers who have gone above and beyond to positively impact students. This year, 13 teachers from 12 schools received $500 each.
The equitable classrooms program provides funding to schools through a grant application process. Principals, teachers, and students request funds to meet specific needs of their classrooms. Grants are awarded in three categories: stem, arts & music, and equity. The Education Foundation of Eagle county (efec) granted the Eagle county school district $50,033 of which $13,777 was for stem, $9,392 was for arts/music and $26,864 was for equity. Efec distributed significant funding of $84,000 to 9 local elementary schools and 1 pre-school through a subprogram called wild west day.
Community engagement encompasses projects such as advocacy, leadership development, and project graduation for battle mountain high school.