APRIL NEWS
Presidents Corner: A Message from Pamela Moore
Happy Spring! Spring is a time of growth and new beginnings and that is what we are seeing at DPSCD. Evidence of the District's progress was made clear last week at Superintend Dr. Vitti's  State of the Schools  address. We have much more work ahead, but I am pleased to report that partnerships through DPSF and DPSCD are increasing. Our precious children deserve our time, talents and resources. Look out for our upcoming Educate! DETROIT Public Schools campaign, which we are running to ensure our students are well prepared for college and career! What a privilege!
Cycle 2 Grantee Highlight: Moses Field iPads
Moses Field School, a DPSCD special education center for students with moderate to severe cognitive impairments and Autism Spectrum Disorder, received a grant for iPads to assist with learning, thanks to funding from the Holley Foundation. These iPads met a technological need, as students often have limited motor skills and cannot use traditional computers. Now students can sit in their wheelchairs and access computer programs on the iPad with the screen at eye level.

Students are well on their way to achieving a 5% increase in math and reading levels, which is a goal within the Moses Field School Improvement Plan. A Severe Multiple Impairment teacher stated: "It is great that all of my students now have their own iPads to complete their work. They have made great gains." And when a nonverbal student was asked what he thought of his iPad, he began clapping and smiling!
Blog Spotlight: American Heart Association Scholarship
In February, the American Heart Association honored the winners of their One Bold Girl, One Bold Thought Scholarship Contest at their Go Red for Women luncheon. The first place winner, Samiya Muhammed, is pictured on the right with her parents; the second place winner, Zharia Akeem, is pictured with her mom in the middle; and the parents of the third place winner, Eleanor Aro, are pictured on the left. Scholarship winners are juniors at Cass Tech, Renaissance and Western International high schools, respectively. They each wrote an essay about how to improve the health culture in the City of Detroit. Samiya knows about the importance of access to medical care from her own personal experience, which inspired her idea of a mobile urgent care. Eleanor and Zharia examined the importance of access to fresh foods. We are inspired by these young women's innovative ideas and dreams for the future!
Current Campaigns
Detroit College Promise (DCP) —Many of our students could not afford to attend their Michigan higher education institution of choice without scholarship funds. The DCP scholarship, created by former Board Member Dr. Nat Pernick, was designed to offset the cost of tuition, books, housing, meal plans and/or technology essentials to increase access to higher education for DPSCD students. Please give to help support our graduating seniors!
CLOZTALK — We are excited to partner with CLOZTALK, a company that works to promote non-profits and social impact organizations through branded apparel. CLOZTALK will gift us a portion of the proceeds from our apparel sales, which will help us support DPSCD students while increasing our network reach.
Mahindra and NGSX Teacher Training
A huge thanks to the Auburn Hills-based Mahindra Automotive North America for their $4,500 donation, which is funding the four-day Next Generation Science Exemplar (NGSX) training for twenty-eight DPSCD STEM teachers. This training is providing our educators with resources to adapt to new Michigan Science Standards, which encourages three-dimensional learning and crosscutting concepts across lessons. NGSX provides educators with hands-on instruction, as well as a web-platform with activities to which they can later refer.
Save the Date
April 27th: Level Up High School Expo - preparing middle school students for high school.
May 17th: Due date for our Cycle 1 grant applications - submit for programs that require funding between July 1st, 2019 and November 30th, 2019.
We are grateful for our recent donors: