BEF Receives Community Partnership WE Award
BEF NEWS
BEF Receives Community Partnership WE Award
Monday, November 1st, 2021
The Beaverton Education Foundation (BEF) is honored to be selected as a WE Award recipient by the Beaverton School District in recognition of our work to prepare Beaverton students for online learning success last fall. BEF’s leadership helped organize a supply drive and raise funds so that 16,000 Beaverton students could receive Student Success Kits. The District’s WE Awards annually recognize community partners who support Beaverton schools; this year’s ceremony was held virtually on October 28.
The Beaverton Education Foundation is the only community-based nonprofit partner that focuses solely on the needs of Beaverton’s public schools, educators and students. Money raised by BEF in the community is reinvested locally and reaches all 54 schools across the District. Last year, 34,000 students benefited from BEF-supported classroom projects and academic enrichment programs.
“This award harks back to Summer 2020 when we realized schools would not be returning in-person,” remembers Kristine Baggett, BEF’s executive director. “We already knew from the spring that students were struggling to connect to distance learning. We were asked by the District to partner in a comprehensive approach to support Beaverton students.”
BEF quickly launched a multi-faceted Back-to-School Campaign – which included Equip, Connect and Engage components each addressing specific areas of concern.
Back to School Supply Drive
The Equip Campaign, which the WE Award recognizes, focused on Student Success Kits. In August 2020, BEF partnered with the District to help students in need with kits that contained pencils and pens, glue sticks, spiral notebooks, colored markers and art supplies, highlighters and black sharpies. Over two days, community members brought donated supplies to Beaverton High School. The District purchased additional items with financial support from BEF and other community partners.
“Beaverton families struggle with a range of challenges. A bag of new school supplies really made a difference for many families,” reflects Baggett.
“It was a herculean task getting these kits together. BEF’s Equip Campaign, which raised $35,000, enabled the District to purchase key supplies for our families in need,” says Christina Mackin, the District’s community engagement coordinator.
Re-engaging Students
In addition to the school supply drive, BEF spearheaded pandemic learning support throughout the year. “As important as those pencils and notebooks were, we work all year to break down barriers that keep students from doing well in school,” says Baggett. “Educators come to us with great ideas to help their kids, and we make them happen.”
Following school supply distribution, BEF supported a variety of activities to re-engage students with school. BEF purchased mobile equipment for tech teachers to take ‘tech on the road’, helping families in outdoor community spaces learn how to access distance learning platforms. School principals connected with students who had been missing from school since March 2020 through intensive, 1:1 coaching around learning from home and by providing new ‘good fit’ books to inspire students’ love of reading.
“It wasn’t that we hadn’t reached out to families, we had,” remembers Kate Kelley, family outreach and engagement specialist at Vose Elementary School. “When I finally tracked down one family whose kindergartener hadn’t been in school since March 2020, her mother didn’t know about school starting in September.”
With BEF’s help, not only did this student receive a Student Success Kit, the school spent time with the mom to help her master technology. “She was finally able to log her first grader onto class thanks to this help,” continues Kelley.
Then when schools moved to hybrid instruction, BEF was responsive to educator needs. “As soon as we heard that schools were going back into hybrid online and in-person, we knew educators would approach us for help,” says Sarah Fisher Beachy, BEF’s teacher and community partner coordinator. “Within a few days we had over 70 requests from teachers, all really creative ideas for making hybrid work better for their students.”
“As important as those pencils and notebooks were, we work all year, every year to break down barriers that keep students from doing well in school,” says Baggett. “Teachers have so many great solutions, and we help bring them to scale for more Beaverton students.”
By empowering change from the bottom up, Beaverton Education Foundation is able to support innovation and reach into more classrooms and more schools across the District.
