Carver Volunteer Grant Cellar to be honored by The Community Fund of Darien
Grant Cellar, a Darien student, will be honored during The Community Fund of Darien's thirty-eighth annual Volunteer Recognition Day for your outstanding contributions to the Carver Foundation of Norwalk.
The Community Fund of Darien celebrates Darien's community spirit of volunteerism for individuals and projects that have made a significant difference in the area over the past year. Nonprofit agencies and organizations involved in the Darien community were invited to select a volunteer or project to honor at their luncheon and Carver chose Grant. We are pleased that Grant will be honored during this special day.
The event will be held on Tuesday, May 23rd at the Darien Community Association. They will honor the volunteers and then have a special presentation by their guest speaker, author and entrepreneur, Jonathan Fanning. Fanning has spoken in over 45 states and on 3 continents. His recent TED Talk won best speaker at the conference. He will also be signing copies of his book Who Are You Becoming? A light luncheon will be served.
“I am an 8th grader at Middlesex Middle School in Darien CT. My favorite subjects are math and science. The sports I play are lacrosse, basketball, and football. My favorite basketball team is the OKC Thunder and my favorite football team is the NY Giants. One of my passions is giving back to the community. In addition to working with the kids at Carver, I have volunteered with The American Red Cross and The Bridgeport Rescue Mission. My favorite organization to volunteer at is the Carver Center. It is my favorite because I love the kids that I help, they are very kind and always let me help them. At their young age, they need role models to look up to and I try my best to be one of them. ”
Here is Grant today helping our students in our technology center.
Since 2005, 100% of Carver seniors graduate high school on time
Juneteenth to be celebrated at Carver
Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is a holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865 announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, and more generally the emancipation of slaves throughout the Confederate South. Celebrated on June 19, the word is a combination of "June" and "nineteenth". Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in most states.
The holiday is observed primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and readings by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou. Celebrations may include parades, rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests.
On Saturday, June 10, 2017, the Carver community will be inviting everyone near and far to join us for the celebration at the Carver Community Center! Please join us!
Support Carver's summer camp campaign at The Impact Vine!
See our campaign at The Impact Vine crowdfunding site to send 40 Carver summer campers on the schooner SoundWaters for a scientific adventure: we need to raise $1,095!
Summer programming at the Carver Community Center and at Columbus Magnet School is among the most affordable and high-quality programs available to Norwalk students ages 5 through 13 years old.
The summer literacy program, facilitated by certified teachers, uses the Lexia Reading Core 5 software to provide personalized learning. Certified teachers also teach math sessions. Summer camp program partners include Girl Scouts, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and The Norwalk Seaport Association. Field trips reinforce learning, e.g., Peabody Museum, CT Science Center, Discovery Museum, NBC Studio Tour, Stamford Nature Center, Beardsley Zoo, Bishop Orchards, New York Botanical Gardens and Maritime Aquarium.
And now with your help we would like to add the schooner SoundWaters to our field trips!
From their web site, “The Schooner SoundWaters is The Teaching Vessel of Long Island Sound. A representation of a 19th century sharpie schooner, the SoundWaters is an ideal platform for learning and experience for both students and adults.
For students, this three-masted, 80’ ship, typically serving forty students, is a teaching platform for the Science of the Sound, a hands-on, science-infused learning experience aboard the Schooner SoundWaters.”
Carver kids will experience the Long Island Sound, and schooner SoundWaters educators will lead students through grade-appropriate on-board labs focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (S.T.E.M.) data-collection activities. Carver summer campers will learn science by using real scientific equipment to perform experiments while connecting to the natural world.
Cost to send 40 Carver summer campers on the schooner SoundWaters for a scientific adventure: $1,095
Norwalk Daily Voice: Top-Rated Carver Foundation of Norwalk Raises $420,000 for Kids' Programs
See the article here by Meredith Guinness at Norwalk Daily Voice
See our blog post here with all the details about the 16th annual Child of America gala.
NORWALK, Conn. — The Carver Foundation of Norwalk, recently ranked among the state’s top nonprofits, raised $420,000 at its 2017 Child of America Gala.
The event, held at the Wee Burn County Club in Darien, honored Marcus Mabry of CNN and Austin McChord of Datto.
Lead by gala co-chairs Leah Glover and Jacqueline Novotny, the event included cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and fellowship, as well as dinner and exciting live and silent auctions conducted by Michael Nuzzo.
Gala committee members were Wendy and Rich Baskin, Alexandra and Rich Baudouin, Erin and Sean Berry, Marilyn Altman Fider, Craig Glover, Joan and John de Regt, Margaret and Patrick Steele, Mary Ellen Walsh, Meggan and Joe Warren and Barbara and Richard Whitcomb.
Carver is the largest provider of after-school programs for middle and high school students in Norwalk. Carver’s college-prep Youth Development Program is conducted in the Carver Community Center, in Norwalk’s four middle and two comprehensive high schools and in Side by Side Charter School.
On May 1, Charity Navigator announced Carver as one of 41 Connecticut nonprofits to receive its highest rating, exceeding industry standards for financial health, transparency and accountability for donors.
Only 17 charities in Fairfield County received the 4-star rating. Nationwide, fewer than 25 percent of rated nonprofits receive 4-star status.
Carver also received GuideStar’s Platinum Seal for organizational transparency and performance measurement. GuideStar is the world’s largest source of information about nonprofit organizations.
“These hard-won ratings will help demonstrate responsible programmatic growth to Carver’s donors, parents and to the general public,” said Novelette Peterkin, Carver’s executive director. “We understand that donors have many choices when it comes to giving funds to support important causes, and we want everyone to know that Carver uses all donations responsibly and with accountability.”
KeyBank Foundation Supports Carver's Afterschool Program
KeyBank Foundation approved a grant of $5,000 to support Carver’s Youth Development Program. “We are so grateful to our friends at KeyBank for advocating for and supporting the success of our students,” said Carver’s Executive Director, Novelette Peterkin. “Carver is able to accomplish so much day after day only because of our many supporters such as KeyBank Foundation who believe in Carver’s vision that every Norwalk child graduates from high school on-time and college-ready.”
“At KeyBank, we believe all students should have access to high quality education and programs that support their academic success,” said KeyBank Market President Jeff L. Hubbard. “We are impressed with depth and breadth of afterschool enrichment programs offered at Carver, and the outstanding results their students achieve year after year. KeyBank is proud to support Carver’s efforts in helping Norwalk students’ prepare for college and career success.”
Carver serves nearly 800 Norwalk students after school in the Carver Community Center, in Norwalk’s four middle and two comprehensive high schools, and in Side by Side Charter School. Carver’s programming offers Hands-on, Project-Based Academic Enrichment (e.g., Literacy, Math and STEM Education); Tutoring & Homework; Health & Wellness programs; SAT, PSAT and SBAC Prep; Paid Internships; and College tours. Regular CT State Department of Education audits find that our daily attendance rate remains among the very highest among after school programs in the state. 100% of Carver seniors graduate on time (since 2005) and almost all Carver graduates become first generation college students with 85% of our college students graduating within six years.
“Carver recently received news that the nation’s largest evaluator, Charity Navigator, awarded Carver its highest 4 Star rating,” added Peterkin. “We are one of only two charities in Norwalk and 41 charities in Connecticut with this rating. This along with Guidestar’s Platinum Seal indicates that Carver’s financial health, transparency, accountability and performance measurement are ahead of industry standards. We are grateful to KeyBank Foundation for entrusting us with their financial support.”
FactSet Joins Forces with Homefront to Revitalize the Carver Community Center
On Saturday, May 6, FactSet joined forces with HomeFront to revitalize the Carver Community Center. “FactSet employees have participated in an annual HomeFront project for 19 years,” said Laura Ruhe, S.V.P of Corporate Social Responsibility at FactSet. “This year over 50 employees painted the inside of the Carver Community Center, built sturdy wooden benches that encircle Carver’s outdoor basketball courts, and created a covered outdoor space that will serve many community events and will be especially appreciated by the kids in Carver’s summer education program. FactSet and Carver have had a long partnership as FactSet has supported the Carver annual college tour as a part of our strategic focus on education.”
“Carver is grateful to Laura, who also serves as a member of Carver’s Board of Directors, and to all the FactSet employees who care about the success of our students,” said Novelette Peterkin, Carver’s Executive Director. “We were thrilled to work with Carver to enhance the facilities that support the amazing work Carver accomplishes for the K-12 students in Carver’s after-school and summer programs,” added Laura Ruhe. “We are so impressed by the clear and measurable impact that the Carver programs have on the students in the Norwalk community.”
This was the 30th annual HomeFront Day that unites volunteers from faith communities, civic groups, and corporations to help homeowners and nonprofit organizations. The first HomeFront Day completed 16 projects in Norwalk in the spring of 1988.
LiveGirl and Bankwell join forces for Carver students!
Sheri West, Founder & Chief LiveGirl, standing with Chivily, Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for Bankwell, standing with Carver's Joe Gallagher, and Carver students.
"We coach girls to embrace their original, quirky selves and to understand that self-confidence comes not from others liking you, but from you loving yourself. Our mentors show them that when they truly believe in themselves, they will become unstoppable and astounding things will happen!" -- Sheri West
New Grad Nation Report
U.S. at Risk of Not Reaching 90 Percent Graduation Rate Goal by 2020
Since 2001, 2.8 million more students have graduated from high school rather than dropping out. In an economy that prizes educational attainment more than ever before, these rising rates have created enormous benefits for individuals, communities and our entire nation. But even now with the current national graduation rate at 83.2 percent, it is becoming more evident that the nation will be unable to meet its high school graduation rate goal without intensifying efforts to reach the students who have historically faced the greatest challenges. The country remains off-pace to reaching its goal for the second year in a row.
Today, Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University, in partnership with America's Promise Alliance and the Alliance for Excellent Education, released the 2017 Building a Grad Nation report, the eighth annual update on the progress and challenges in raising high school graduation rates. The four organizations lead the GradNation campaign, a nationwide effort to boost on-time high school graduation rates to 90 percent by the Class of 2020. The 2017 report is presented by lead sponsor AT&T and supporting sponsor State Farm.
This year's report marks five years since states have used the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR), a common formula for collecting graduation statistics across states, and among a variety of subgroups. With just five years of federal data remaining until 2020, the data also make it clear that the rate of progress must increase significantly if the country is to reach its goals. Only half of America's states are on track to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020.
"National high school graduation rates increased four percentage points from 2010 to 2015. That's more than just a data point – it means hundreds of thousands more young people are in a better position for post-secondary enrollment. These increases, reflected across all states and student subgroups during that five-year period, are a profound achievement for our nation," said Robert Balfanz, director of the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education and co-author of the report. "Now, as we move into the last leg of the campaign, we must double our progress if we are to meet our goal. This report offers a blueprint for how to get there."
"In 2015, about half of the country reported high school graduation rates of 85 percent or higher, putting more states on track to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020," said John Bridgeland, president & CEO of Civic Enterprises and co-author of the report. "But our country must do more to achieve equity across state lines. It's time to sharpen our focus on the hardest to reach populations and work to elevate them to success."
Skepticism Over the Authenticity of Graduation Gains. Rising rates have been met with heightened scrutiny. Issues range from the collection and reporting of data, the increase in the number of alternative schools with lower graduation standards, multiple high school diplomas with varying standards of excellence and the question of whether increasing high school graduation rates are actually translating into gains in post-secondary enrollment and attainment. These pockets of concern for specific states or particular types of schools are cause for careful review. But the data also show that these challenges do not outweigh the rising national trend.
"More must be done to curtail errors in data collection, states and school districts must continue be held accountable for the students in their care, and a watchful eye must be kept on alternative high school programs that are often working with the most disadvantaged students," said Jennifer DePaoli, senior research and policy advisor at Civic Enterprises and co-author of the report. "This year's report should drive key stakeholders to renew their commitments and invest in best practices to improve educational outcomes for the most marginalized student groups."
Key Findings. The Building a Grad Nation report is based on the most recent comprehensive data from the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education (2014-15). A close look at the data shows disparities in graduation rates in five key areas.
- Low-income students: Nearly half of the country's 2015 graduating cohort – 48.2 percent, a slight increase from 2014 – came from low-income families. Nationally, the gap between low-income students and their middle- and upper-income peers now stands at 13.7 percentage points. In nearly half of all states, the gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers is 15 percentage points or greater, and in 18 additional states the gap is at least 10 points.
- Black and Hispanic/Latino Students: Graduation rates for Black students have increased 7.6 percentage points and 6.8 percentage points for Hispanic/Latino students since 2011 – some of the highest gains of any student subgroup. However, Black and Hispanic/Latino students comprise 54 percent of all students who did not graduate on time.
- Students with disabilities: Thirty-three states reported high school graduation rates for special education students below 70 percent, and nearly half of those 33 states had graduation rates for students with disabilities below 60 percent. Four states – South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Nevada – graduated less than half of their special education students. Nationally, the graduation rate gap between students with and without disabilities now stands at 21.1 percentage points. In 29 states, students in the general education population graduate at rates of 20 percentage points or more than their special education peers.
- English Language Learners: The number of ELL students in America's public schools is climbing, increasing from 8.8 percent (an estimated 4.2 million students) in 2003-04 to 9.2 percent (an estimated 4.5 million) in 2013-14. The 10 states with the highest proportion of ELL non-graduates comprised 66 percent of all ELL non-graduates in the country, while over one-third of English Language Learners who did not graduate on time are located in California alone.
- Low-Graduation-Rate High Schools: Since 2002, the number of large, low-graduation-rate high schools (enrolling 300 or more students) has been cut in half and there are now fewer than 900,000 students enrolled in them – down from 2.5 million. There were 2,249 low-graduation-rate high schools (enrolling 100 or more students) in 2015, making up just 12 percent of all public high schools enrolling 100 or more students. Two out of three students in low-graduation-rate high schools are Black or Hispanic/Latino. Six in ten students in low-graduation-rate high schools qualified as being low-income in 2015, meaning that there is little economic diversity in the nation's most challenged high schools.
Policy recommendations. The report recommends policymakers: 1) Create high-quality Every Student Succeeds Act implementation plans; 2) Create evidence-based plans to improve low-graduation-rate high schools; 3) Get the cohort rate right by improving uniformity and transparency in the ACGR; 4) Report extended-year graduation rates; and 5) Strengthen accountability for non-traditional high schools.
In a recent letter to the U.S. Department of Education, GradNation campaign leaders offered some of these same recommendations in the wake of the recent repeal of ESSA regulations by Congress.
"Graduation rate progress is primarily a state and local responsibility, but federal oversight remains a critical component of making sure that traditionally underserved students receive the support they need," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Educationand former governor of West Virginia. "By implementing and supporting policies that strengthen accountability and transparency, we avoid potential loopholes that can be devastating to many young people."
The Road to 90. The 2014-15 school year marks the second year that the country is not on track to reach its goal. To stay on track, the national graduation rate must increase by 1.4 percentage points annually. For 2015, the rate went up just 0.9 percent.
"We need a real breakthrough on equity if we are going to get more young people across the graduation stage over these next few years," said John Gomperts, president and CEO of America's Promise Alliance. "To help accelerate progress, the campaign going forward will focus more on supporting targeted strategic statewide and local plans that will work toward leveling the playing field and moving the needle to help more young people and schools succeed."
Authors and sponsors. The 2017 Building a Grad Nation report is co-authored by Jennifer DePaoli, John Bridgeland, Erin Ingram and Matthew Atwell of Civic Enterprises and Robert Balfanz and his team at the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. AT&T, lead sponsor, has supported the Building a Grad Nation report series through AT&T Aspire, the company's $400 million commitment since 2008 to graduate more students from high school ready for college and career. State Farm is a supporting sponsor.
Full report. To read the full report, access graphics, state-by-state data and other resources, visit: www.gradnation.americaspromise.org/report/2017-building-grad-nation-report.
Join the Livestream. A livestream of the Building a Grad Nation report release event will be available on May 3 from 3-4:30 PM ET. The event will showcase the release of research by Civic Enterprises and The Everyone Graduates Center, followed by a moderated panel conversation to address the key challenges associated with raising graduation rates, featuring voices from leaders on the ground and researchers in the field. Join the conversation here: http://www.americaspromise.org/event/state-our-gradnation-what-will-it-take-get-90-percent-grad-rate-all-students.
Civic Enterprises is a public policy and strategy firm that helps corporations, nonprofits, foundations, universities and governments develop and spearhead innovative public policies to strengthen our communities and country. Created to enlist the private, public and nonprofit sectors to help address our nation's toughest problems, Civic Enterprises fashions new initiatives and strategies that achieve measurable results in the fields of education, civic engagement, economic mobility, and many other domestic policy issues. www.civicenterprises.net
The Everyone Graduates Center at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University seeks to identify the barriers to high school graduation, develop strategic solutions to overcoming these barriers and build local capacity to implement and sustain the solutions so that all students graduate prepared for adult success. www.every1graduates.org
America's Promise Alliance leads the nation's largest network dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth. As its signature effort, the GradNation campaign mobilizes Americans to increase the on-time high school graduation rate to 90 percent by the Class of 2020 and prepare young people for postsecondary enrollment and the 21st century workforce. www.AmericasPromise.org
The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those who are traditionally underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship. www.all4ed.org