The Chelsea Education Foundation is making a positive impact

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The Chelsea Education Foundation wants to do even more in its mission to enhance the Chelsea School District's educational experiences.

CEF Board Members went before the CSD Board of Education at the Feb. 13 meeting, to give an overview on the CEF’s mission, strategic direction, and impact of teacher grants and scholarships. It was an opportunity to give the new school board members on what CEF is all about.

Speaking on behalf of CEF was its president Amy Forehand.

Founded in 1990, she said the idea for CEF came from Joe Piasecki, then superintendent of the school district. It was created with the goal to provide funding for a wide spectrum of educational activities to benefit the residents of Chelsea.

Forehand said, "The mission of the Chelsea Education Foundation is to enhance the Chelsea School District's educational experiences by financing projects beyond the resources of the District and by providing scholarships to District graduates."

“We are still going strong,” she said.

A big reason for its success is found in its values. These values include being mission driven, strategically grounded, financially sustainable and community focused.

“Our values help guide us,” Forehand said.

In looking at the community impact stats, there’s no doubt CEF has played a positive role.

Here are some highlights:

  • 52,000 students have benefited from donations made by CEF.
  • 696 Grants awarded for things like the arts, music performances, field trips, physical and mental health initiatives, literacy development and more.
  • 1,016 scholarships awarded to students with outstanding character, community service or academics.
  • $1.17 million donations have been collected to support grants and scholarships throughout CSD.
  • There was $38,000 in scholarships awarded in 2022.

So going forward, CEF has a vision to be a valuable and caring resource to students and teachers as well as a trusted and beneficial conduit for the community.

Forehand detailed some of the future impact goals they have and they include: grow their giving by 25 percent annually; move to larger grants, district wide impact; maintain teacher support; leverage grant analytics; expand education support; diversify funding sources; strong alumni support, sustain endowment investment and growth.

She cited the important help of sponsors and donors in helping with the mission. One highlight from this past fall was the rivalry fundraiser with the Educational Foundation of Dexter in lead up to the football game. CEF brought in just over $50,000 while Dexter took in over $47,000. Another highlight was its book drive.

To learn more about CEF and how to help, go to https://www.chelseaeducationfoundation.org/

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