Pasadena Educational Foundation Gives Nearly $200,000 in Grants to Pasadena Unified Principals, Teachers

The Pasadena Educational Foundation presented $184,000 in grants to 160 Pasadena Unified Schools District teachers and principals at the annual PEF Teacher Grants reception Tuesday evening at the Altadena Town and Country Club.

The grants will benefit thousands of students in Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre.

“This year is special because we are able to give away grants and more money to teachers for innovative class projects and to principals for school-wide projects,” said Pasadena Educational Foundation Executive Director Patrick Conyers.

The grants were made possible due to the support from the Tournament of Roses Association, College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation, and the generous support of the community that awarded grant funding to every PUSD school—for the first time in the more than 40 years of the Teacher Grants Program.

For more than 40 years PEF has been committed to building dynamic community partnerships to support the public schools of Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre by providing essential resources and enrichment opportunities to every public school student in the district.

Whether it be through the arts, music, health centers, gardens, or STEM programs the foundation supports, PEF is dedicated to creating a better future for our students and for our community, according to its website.

“We have been committed to educated over the years, but we have just made a new alliance with the College Football Playoff system where we can start working on matching grants for teacher programs and scholarships and grants within he Pasadena Unified School District. The future of our youth is very important and we want to mentor them right and also be able to give them the skills so that they can be productive members of society as they head in and take over for all of us who will one day be moving off to the side,” said Tournament of Roses Associated Executive Director William Flinn.

PEF is supported by funds from the community and exists to support the public schools of the PUSD through various programs—a main one being the Teacher Grants Program.

“The Pasadena Educational Foundation fills the gap in the classroom to provide things that teachers need so we can give our students the best opportunities for learning and engaging and to teach them 21st century communication skills or whatever it is the teacher received their grant for,” said John Muir High School Multimedia Journalism teacher Andrew Silk.

Teachers received checks for $1,000 to support special classroom projects while principals were awarded checks up to $10,000 to benefit entire campuses.

“We know what a thousand dollars is not going to transform a classroom, but it provides something critical, a little push to get a classroom just up over the top and to enrich the students’ experiences within those classrooms. It’s something that’s important to us in the work that we do at the Pasadena Education Foundation to support the schools of the PUSD. Tonight’s just a special night,” said Conyers.

Click here to view Complete List of Grantees.

For more information about PEF, visit http://www.pasedfoundation.org.