Release date: 1/4/2021

More than 107,516 students across Ohio are expected to benefit   COLUMBUS - Philanthropy Ohio and the Ohio Department of Education are pleased to announce grants awarded to 29 projects, totaling just over $2.6 million and benefitting approximately 107,516 students across Ohio, through the Collaborative Fund for Educating Remotely and Transforming Schools (the Collaborative Fund) in a second round of funding. In the first round of the grant competition, the Collaborative Fund funded 28 projects totaling $3.1 million and reaching more than 788,000 students. This public-private partnership aims to help schools and districts improve remote education practices and outcomes and to use remote education as a catalyst for re-imagining and re-engineering the delivery of high-quality caring, teaching and learning opportunities for Ohio’s most underserved students.   Among other things, grantees intend to use awards to strengthen professional learning opportunities for educators to deliver high-quality remote, hybrid and blended education; bolster learning platforms so educators can plan and deliver instructional lessons in person or remotely instantaneously and in ways that preserve the sequence of learning; and increase digital literacy opportunities for parents, families and caregivers. Enhancing state support for remote education is a priority for Governor DeWine, the State Board of Education, the Ohio Department of Education and Philanthropy Ohio.   “We are so very pleased to get these significant dollars into the hands of schools and districts striving so diligently to help their students succeed during these challenging months of remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With situations changing almost daily and increasing the demand for remote learning, we are grateful to the Ohio Department of Education and Governor DeWine for their commitment to this partnership, the first of its kind and scope, and its goals,” said Claudia Y. W. Herrold, chief communications and public policy officer at Philanthropy Ohio.   “This year, we’ve seen Ohio schools and educators rise to unprecedented challenges by thinking creatively and innovating new ways to effectively and meaningfully reach students,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria. “Collaborative Fund grants offer important support for growing, strengthening and enriching these efforts that will benefit Ohio students and educators well into the future.” The projects receiving funding are:

• Allen County Educational Service Center
• Auglaize County Educational Service Center
• Canton City School District
• Chesapeake Union Exempted Village Schools
• Chillicothe City Schools
• East Cleveland City School District
• Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West
• Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve
• Findlay City Schools
• Garfield Heights City Schools
• Graham School
• Hamilton County Educational Service Center
• Kenton City Schools
• Montgomery County Educational Service Center
• Morgan Local School District
• Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center
• Noble Local School District
• North Central Ohio Educational Service Center
• Oberlin City Schools
• Osnaburg Local Schools
• Richmond Heights Local Schools
• Shaker Heights City Schools
• Southern Ohio Educational Service Center
• Summit Educational Service Center
• Toledo Public Schools
• Trumbull County Educational Service Center
• Warren City School District
• Youngstown City School District
• Zanesville City Schools

Contributors to the fund include: American Electric Power, Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Berry Family Foundation, Charles D. Berry Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Cleveland Foundation, The Columbus Foundation, The Dayton Foundation, Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Thomas M. Kier Memorial Fund of the Licking County Foundation, Community Foundation of Lorain County, Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, Mathile Family Foundation, The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, The Nord Family Foundation, Nordson Corporation Foundation, The Reinberger Foundation, Sears-Swetland Family Foundation, The Stocker Foundation, The Helen F. and Louis Stolier Family Foundation, Third Federal Foundation, Vectren, a CenterPoint Energy company, The Raymond John Wean Foundation and The Youngstown Foundation.   The Collaborative Fund is a component of RemotEDx, a newly formed exchange, network and suite of supports that seeks to provide more students with high-quality, personalized remote, hybrid and blended education opportunities and to serve more educators with job-embedded professional learning experiences. RemotEDx includes an Exchange that showcases high-quality remote education initiatives, instructional materials and use-case scenarios; a Network and Learning Academy that will enable members to share best practices and lessons learned; Connectivity Champions who are singularly focused on ensuring that schools and students have access to the internet and technology; and a Support Squad who are regionally deployed and provide schools with deep technical support and professional learning.

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