RENO, Nev. — The Bessie Minor Swift Foundation today (May 1) announced it is donating nearly $84,000 to 37 organizations throughout the company's coverage areas, including eight in Northern Nevada.
Each year the foundation — formed by the owners and founder of Swift Communications, which owns and operates the Northern Nevada Business View —awards grants to programs that promote literacy, reading and writing skills as well as programs that focus on languages, sciences and interdisciplinary areas.
Since 2008, more than $620,000 has been awarded to deserving organizations in the communities where Swift Communications conducts business, including California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Applications will be accepted again starting Jan. 1, 2020 with a deadline of Feb. 15, 2020. For more information, visit the Bessie Minor website at www.bessieminorswift.org.
Below is a breakdown of the eight Northern Nevada nonprofits and schools that received a piece of the $83,156 awarded this year.
2019 Bessie Minor Swift Foundation Grants for Nevada:
Incline Elementary School, Incline Village, $3,000: Delivery of a workshop by Get in the Act! Science Theater at Incline Elementary School. Topics will be aligned to Incline Elementary School "STREAM" curriculum and to Next Generation Science Standards. Students participate in single and multi-day topics such as energy, light, rocks, and weather to explore science through word and movement. Funding will provide workshops for over 200 students.
Sierra Nevada Journeys, Reno, $2,787: An estimated 450 children and their families will participate in three Family STEM Nights in northern Nevada. Family STEM Nights invite K-6 students, their parents, and siblings to attend a fun evening with engaging stations that reinforces STEM concepts learned in the classroom and fosters curiosity, innovation, and teamwork. Funds will be used for coordination and delivery of the program, supplies and education team transportation.
Advocates to End Domestic Violence, Carson City, $500: An innovative reading program, Lap Time Learning, encourages parents to become actively involved in reading to their children while staying in a 51-bed shelter and to help children to develop a love of reading. Advocates to End Domestic Violence is the only domestic violence program in Carson City, Nevada. Through Lap Time Learning, children in the shelter will choose a book weekly that they can keep. The Parenting Coordinator will work with parents to develop a nightly routine of reading with their children. Funds will be used to purchase age appropriate books.
Grace Bordewich Mildred Bray Elementary, Carson City, $3,000: Hands on STEM activities supplement the 5th grade Nevada Computer Science Curriculum. Approximately 120 students will learn to program Tello EDU Drones using an iPad mini. This will provide students with a valuable introduction into several coding languages as well as a chance to collaborate with peers to strategize, problem solve errors in the codes and troubleshoot hardware. Funds will purchase drones, extra propellers and tablets.
Pioneer (Alternative) High School, Carson City, $3,000: Conversion of the old student lounge at Pioneer High School into a recording studio. Students will research, order, and install all necessary equipment to create a working recording studio. Additionally, software will be purchased so that students can produce and record their own beats and songs. Funds will all be used for equipment for the recording studio, and elements of the mathematics curriculum along with music education will be integrated into the program.
Pioneer (Alternative) High School, Carson City, $2,000: An innovative program encouraging more student engagement in chemistry by tying it to art. Use of materials from the American Chemical Society would show students practical application of chemistry to something many of them are passionate about - art. Funds will be used to purchase art supplies and testing materials to conduct experiments.
J C Fremont Elementary School, Carson City, $3,000: Teacher support as they instruct students at the level of complexity required by the Nevada Academic Content Standards for reading and social studies. Funds will be used to purchase primary source kits and allow access to digital materials for use by 16 kindergarten through third grade teachers who will teach 330 children. This program will help children in a school where over 50% of the Kindergarten through third grade students are deficient in reading based on the criteria of the Nevada Read by Grade 3 Act.
Get in the Act! Arts in Action, Dayton, $2,650: A two-week interdisciplinary school program scheduled for January 2020 that will advance art and science learning for 300 elementary students at Grace Bordewich Mildred Bray Elementary School in Carson City, NV. Using all their senses in the learning process, students dramatize science concepts in scenes with their peers, quickly connecting these concepts to their everyday world. Because students have a memorable experience acting-out these scenes, they can learn and retain the science content associated with these scenes. All funds will be applied toward direct delivery of the "Get in the Act" Arts in Action program at Bordewich-Bray.
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