The Valley Alliance for Education Creative Classroom Grants program has been established to promote educational excellence in the region by funding special instructional projects. These projects encourage creativity in the classroom and increase cooperation between the public school systems and the private sector in the community.

All public school teachers and staff who have direct instructional responsibility for students (including librarians and guidance counselors) in grades K-12 in the public schools in the cities of Staunton and Waynesboro and the County of Augusta are eligible to apply. The deadline to apply each year is March 15; the application will be available here in January.

Grants of up to $1,000 are available for special teaching/enrichment projects designed for:

• Implementation in an individual classroom or with a special student group.
• Implementation in multiple classrooms as a departmental, interdepartmental, or school-wide project.
• Individual, departmental, or school-wide projects with a particular emphasis on the understanding and use of computer hardware, software, or other technology resources.

New! Creative Classroom Grants Application for 2011-2012(Word, 106 kb)

Frequently Asked Questions about the Creative Classroom Grant (Word, 144 kb)

Tips for Successful VAE Grant Writers (Word, 28 kb)
From a presentation by Dr. Jim Perkins

The Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge has closed nominations for the 16th Annual Dawbarn Awards. The Dawbarn Awards were created to reward individuals in the region who work to improve public education by demonstrating a strong commitment to inspiring an education ethic, encouraging good citizenship, and fostering learning among young people in the public schools of Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County.  Because of the negative effect of the teenage pregnancy rate in the region, recipients of these awards can also be individuals who, by effective mentoring and training, have encouraged young women to remain and succeed in school. Nominees are not limited to teachers, but may be any individual who works to improve the education of our public school children including guidance counselors, secretaries, bus drivers, custodians, school volunteers, tutors and community leaders.
 
This year, ten Dawbarn Award winners will be selected, and the individuals honored will also receive a cash award of at least $6,000. Individuals may be nominated and receive awards in consecutive years, but may not receive more than one award each year.  A regional selection committee will review all nominations and will identify those individuals most deserving of recognition.
 
Nominations are available to anyone. Nomination forms can be obtained below or from the Community Foundation at www.communityfoundationCBR.org.  For additional information, contact the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge at (540) 213-2150 or Christiana Shields at cshields@communityfoundationCBR.org.

The Dawbarn Education Awards Nomination Form (pdf)