Arizona Community Foundation and Helios Education Foundation Award $900,000 to Beat the Odds Institute & Stand for Children

PHOENIX - August 18, 2009 - The Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) and Helios Education Foundation recently awarded $900,000 to two nonprofit organizations in order to expand education reform efforts in Arizona over the next three years. The recipients are Phoenix-based Beat the Odds Institute, an initiative of the Center for the Future of Arizona, and Portland, Ore.-based Stand for Children, which will expand to Arizona thanks to the grant funding.

The grants are being paid from the new Accio Education Fund, a "venture capital" type of charitable fund created by ACF, and Helios to support the development and expansion of innovative education reform efforts to benefit Arizona students.

Beat the Odds Institute, an initiative of the Center for the Future of Arizona, began as a research study aimed at learning ways to get great results in schools with mostly low-income, minority students. The findings, published in 2006, pointed to six keys for success and called for the implementation of these best practices into every school in Arizona.

The Beat the Odds Institute and the BTO School Partners Program were established in 2007 by Lattie Coor under the umbrella of the Center for the Future of Arizona to disseminate information, offer training and provide support to schools and districts implementing the Beat the Odds principles.

The Accio grant will be used to expand the BTO School Partners Program from the current 59 participating schools, all of which are in the Greater Phoenix area, to 90 schools in 2009-2010 by adding Pima and Pinal counties; 120 schools in 2010-2011 by adding the Flagstaff and Yuma areas; and to at least 200 schools-"two-thirds of the total number in the state that fit the demographic model-"by 2015.

Stand for Children is a non-partisan, grassroots nonprofit organization building effective local and statewide networks of parents, educators and concerned community members who use the power of grassroots action to help all children get the excellent public education and support they need to thrive. Following specific priorities affirmed by state members, the group focuses on securing adequate funding for public schools and reforming education policies and practices to help children thrive academically.

The Accio grant will allow Stand for Children to establish an affiliate in Arizona. Currently it has affiliates in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Colorado, all of which advocate for education reforms in a respectful, non-partisan way.

"Along with the state and national experts who reviewed the applicants, we felt that Beat the Odds and Stand for Children had the greatest promise for significant impact on statewide systemic reform based on their organizational track records and glowing comments from people on the ground who have already been impacted by their programs," said Jim Pitofsky, ACF-Ts education director.

The two recipient organizations were chosen after a thorough six-month selection process.

The Accio grants will be paid over a three-year period and will include intense staff engagement and technical and strategic assistance provided by ACF and Helios. Each organization will also receive support from a full-time AmeriCorps*VISTA member.

"In alliance with our great partners at Helios, we will provide significant funds and time to support the outstanding leadership of these two organizations to improve the expectations, learning and results for Arizonas students," said Pitofsky.