AFT LEADERS ANNOUNCE INNOVATION FUND COVID-19 RESPONSE GRANTS
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus issued the following statement announcing the AFT Innovation Fund’s COVID-19 response grants for the 2020-21 school year.
For more than a decade, the AFT Innovation Fund has made millions of dollars of grants available to AFT affiliates to advance teaching and learning, improve schools, and to enhance the communities in which our members live and work.
AFT President Randi Weingarten:
“We started the AFT Innovation Fund in 2009 because we know that educators working together with the resources and freedom to teach will put their ideas, ingenuity and passion to work to benefit their students and communities. Today, while our country grapples with multiple crises, these grants are a spark of hope for educators on the frontlines as they search for solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing schools today.
“From helping fund the personal protective equipment that 90 percent of educators purchase out of their own pockets, to protecting teachers and students in rural West Virginia as schools reopen, to expanding virtual learning academies for parents of English language learners in Washington, D.C., and funding trauma-centered student and family support programs in Florida, this funding is a sorely needed seed for renewal that counters the Trump administration’s failure to tackle the health, educational and economic consequences of this pandemic.
“Our hope is that through the AFT Innovation Fund, we can step up and support the knowledge, care and ingenuity of educators, their unions and their students in this time of unprecedented national turmoil.”
AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus:
“We recognize that during these extraordinary times, educators are working in extraordinary ways. They are going above and beyond to meet the needs of their students That’s why the AFT Innovation Fund is proudly awarding COVID-19 response grants to help support locals’ efforts to mitigate the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 in our communities. Large or small, urban or rural and everything in between, this pandemic has affected all of us.”
The AFT is pleased to announce 13 grantees in this first round of funding, totaling approximately $275,000. A second round of funding will be announced later in the school year.
This round’s recipients are: CONTINUE READING: AFT Leaders Announce Innovation Fund COVID-19 Response Grants | Black Star News
