Grants from the Fund
We would appreciate hearing from any public charity whose activities are consistent with the Cat MacRae Fund’s mission, particularly from those charities whose primary objectives are to support, educate and incentivize underprivileged children in the Northeast region of the United States. If you would like to solicit the Cat MacRae Fund for a grant, or learn more about it, then please contact us.
The Fund has made several grants to educational charities in the New York region. The more significant ones include the following:
Brooklyn Jesuit Prep
Brooklyn Jesuit Prep (“BJP”), a Crown Heights middle school that opened its doors this September, is an offshoot of Nativity Mission Center, whose success has been so spectacular that over 40 schools nationwide have been established as Nativity models. The “Nativity model” includes small classes (10-12 students), minimal tuition, a summer program, a Leadership Camp, mentoring from prior Nativity graduates and relentless cost efficiency. The Fund has provided a grant to BJP to establish the Cat MacRae Library, which will provide books, reading materials, fixtures and computer access so that students can elevate themselves up to and beyond their grade reading level. To learn more about Brooklyn Jesuit Prep and the Nativity Mission Center, please visit http://www.nativitymission.org/.
Student Sponsor Partners
Student Sponsor Partners (“SSP”) places high-risk public school students in private high schools and provides the financial and mentoring assistance to guide them to graduation. Since 1986, SSP has graduated over 2300 students, 90% of whom continue on to college. SSP is funded by a network of individuals and corporations who serve both as financial sponsors as well as mentors to assist the students in the dramatic transition from New York’s public schools to parochial schools. Cat’s Fund has provided SSP with the Funds necessary to provide several students with a four-year parochial education far superior to what they would receive in their current public schools. In addition, Ann MacRae is a mentor to one of these students. To learn more about Student Sponsor Partners, please visit http://www.sspnyc.org/.
READ
The Reading Excellence and Discovery (READ) Foundation was established in 1999 to address the high proportion of low-income students demonstrating below grade level reading skills. READ’s founders sought a research-based educational approach, which would yield measurable results for students and address reading difficulties before they became barriers to learning. READ’s core elements include individualized instruction, cross-age tutoring provided by trained peers, phonics instruction and positive reinforcement. The Fund has provided two years of funding for 42 teenagers to tutor kindergarten, first and second graders after school. At their graduation ceremony last June, the children were thrilled to receive individual certificates as well as their own paperback books geared to their reading level. To learn more about READ, please visit http://www.readnyc.org.
GO Project
Founded in 1968, the GO Project is an academic assistance and social service organization dedicated to serving over 200 underprivileged, at-risk, elementary age public school students in Lower Manhattan. The GO Project's mission is to help these students performing below grade level to improve their academic foundation, to build self-esteem and to develop the skills necessary to achieve lasting success. The GO Project provides year-round intensive academic assistance, enrichment programs and a variety of social services through three programs: GO Summer, GO School, and GO Families. The Fund established the Cat MacRae Expository Writing Program at the GO Project based at the Grace Church School in Manhattan. Now in its second year, our Writing Program encourages young children to write about specific topics on a regular basis, so that they gradually gain the much-needed confidence to enjoy reading and writing. It is particularly meaningful to us that the children take the "Cat MacRae Oath" -- to write in their journals when the program is not in session. To learn more about the GO Project, please visit http://www.goprojectnyc.org/.
City Squash
CitySquash is a not-for-profit after-school enrichment program based in the Bronx at Fordham University that provides motivated and talented young people from economically disadvantaged households with a nurturing and structured team environment. CitySquash’s mission is to help at-risk students fulfill their academic, athletic and personal potential. Founded by Sanford Schwartz and launched in 2002, CitySquash began its fifth season in the fall of 2006 and will serve sixty-five elementary, middle and high school students during the 2006-2007 academic year. For CitySquash’s middle and high school students, CitySquash is a year-round, three-to-four days per week commitment that lasts up to seven years and combines squash, tutoring, mentoring, travel, community service, nutrition education, independent school placement and college prep. CitySquash increases its enrollment by ten students a year. The Fund has provided support for a College Prep Program. To learn more about CitySquash, please visit http://www.citysquash.org.
Creative Classroom Visual Arts Program
Another new project created by the Fund is the Bookmaking Program: Connecting the Arts and Literacy. An exciting opportunity for elementary and middle school students in three New York inner-city parochial schools, this project is administered by the Creative Classroom Visual Arts Program and includes actual books made by the children, using their own written words as well as their illustrations. Many recent studies, evaluating different ways in which children learn, consider linking the arts and literacy to be highly effective.
Children’s Storefront School
The Children’s Storefront School, founded in 1966, is an independent tuition-free school in Harlem that serves 170 high-risk students from pre-school through eighth grade. 93% of Storefront students graduate from high school as compared to the district rate of 33%. Despite the Storefront’s success, its math program was fragmented and in need of revitalization. To that end, the Fund has established the “Cat MacRae Math Program” which will provide the necessary funds for a comprehensive overhaul of the current textbooks, manuals, manipulatives and other tools necessary to raise the standard of mathematics education at the school. To learn more about the Children’s Storefront, please visit http://www.thechildrensstorefront.org/home.htm.