Innovation Grants
Investing in innovative
student, educator & family-led projects
DPS Foundation Innovation Grants fund projects aimed at increasing equity, accessibility, resources, and opportunities within DPS schools. Innovation Grants are open only to DPS students, teachers, staff, administrators, and family members for projects that directly center and impact their school or school communities.
The DPSF Innovation Fund awarded $121,257 to 42 projects at 27 schools for the 23-24 school year.
We also awarded an additional $112,392 to 27 projects at 26 schools for the WHOLE Schools Fund, and we’ll be offering that grant program again in 2023-24. Click here for more info on the WHOLE School Fund, for projects specifically related to mental health.
Our grants process is a cohort model, therefore we integrate support, connection, collaboration, and peer-based learning into this grant process. Each month we will offer check-ins for the full cohort to meet virtually and engage with a topic that is related to the process. This is also a space for grantees to connect with each other and provide updates on their progress or barriers they’re encountering in their work.
Follow along @bullcityschools as we share these amazing projects throughout the year.
Burton Elementary School
$3,600 for i-Pads for Successful Readers
In an effort to support the new reading intervention program, UFLI, English Second Language and 1st Grade Teachers at this school requested I-pads to support with instruction. This programs aim is to support students by working on targetting skills they are currently struggling with. Utilization of tools such as a word work mat, blending boards, and more will all support this!
Burton Elementary School
$2,200 If I Ran the Zoo(Final Blast before we Dash)
To allow for one big trip before this group of execeptional children graduatte from the school, they will be dashing to the zoo! These students wanted to expereince the zoo after being taught about animals, their life cycles and habitats. Having this field trip will allow for the students to experience social interactions beyond home and school settings.
Burton Elementary School
$4,500 for Exposure through Knowledge and Empathy
To support the exceptional children within their school, this project aims to integrate assistive technology into their classrooms. This includes specialized software, tablets, other assistive devices to support with improving communication, reading, writing, and organizational skills. In partnership with these resources, staff will be provided with a training on how to properly integrate these new resources into lessons and individualized education plans (IEP's).
Burton Elementary School
$2,000 for Fifth Grade Goes To Fort Fisher
Students apart of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) will take a field trip to Wilmington, NC for the Stanley Rehder Carnivirous Plant Garden in Wilmington, NC and the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher.Students will learns about conservations efforts in organism's native environments. Such as, students will interact with endangered species such as pitcher plants and venus flytraps. They will present their finding to the school community and Durham community to allow for student agency and reflect on their environmental impact.
Carrington Middle School
$2,225 for Journey Through African American History: Exploring the African American Museum in Washington, D.C.
To foster understanding, empathy, and appreciation for African American history and culture, students will be able to visit the African American Museum in Washington, DC. Students will encounter issues of social justice, inequality, and discrimination to ignite a sense of personal responsibily and inspore students to stand against injustice in their own lives and communities.
Durham Public Schools Hub Farm
$3,000 History at the Hub Farm: Indigenous Traditions and Land Use
The Hub farm will host workshops focused on bringing students indigenous-led, culturally relevant, and educational hands-on activities. It is important ot acknowledge the history of Indigenous people, and the space that they utilize was one time home to various tribes. Activities will include storytelling, language exercises, arts & crafts, social dances, and more.
Durham School of the Arts
$2,225 for Funding for North Carolina Thespian Conference Field Trip
Students attending the North Carolina Thespian Festival are given the rare opportunity to showcase their talents to a group of adjudicators, participate in workshops, talk to colleges, and make connections from across the State of North Carolina. This field trip would allow for students at DSA to be exposed to this great opportuntity.
Eastway Elementary School
$4,000 for Reading is a Family Affair!
This program is intended to get parents/families actively involved in their children’s reading. It is also a celebration of reading to help make reading an enjoyable experience for both students and families. This will include a kick-off event to get families excited about starting and following through with the program. Families will be encouraged to read together with their children, build and improve reading comprehension by asking their children questions during and after reading, and make reading at home a regular family activity. Families will also receive books intended for reading together with their children.
E.K. Powe
$3,500 for Knowing our Ancestral Roots
The hope of this grant is to learn about the connection to Latin American indigenous cultures and explore the connection with North American indigenous people. They will meet four times between October and November. They will be studying Columbus Day and Thanksgiving to help the students look at history with a more analytical lens. To tie together everything, they will take a one night trip to DC to visit the National Museum of the American Indian.
George Watts Montessori Magnet Elementary School
$4,500 for Building an LGBTQ and Gender Inclusive School
George Watts will establish a Rainbow Club - a safe space for LGBTQ and gender diverse students (and allies) to build connection with one another and explore topics including: self identity (including gender identity and expression, race, abilities, and diverse family representation); recognizing similarities and differences; recognizing unfairness; and developing advocacy skills to speak up for themselves, peers, and others. Rainbow Collective for Change (RCC) will provide the materials to support the Rainbow Club, training for Rainbow Club advisors and interested staff, and family workshops to engage families in these discussions.
Githens Middle School
$3,000 for The Githens Docent Project
The ‘Project’ will be a transformative process, moving the student artist to community art activist, educator and collaborator. Young artists will be provided with free, extra-curricular opportunity to advocate for their passion in the Arts and share the Durham Public Schools strategic plan. It will provide an opportunity for the young artist to immerse in the exhibit experience at 14 events: 8 Githens Performing Arts shows, 3 Family Engagement Nights, 8th Grade Celebration, 6th Grade Pride Camp and Githens Finest Art Show, in total running October through May. These events are in addition to the DPS art showcases scheduled.
Githens Middle School
$1,500 for Lit Like Me
"Representation Matters! Githens 6th grade ELA needs our students to see their lives in action. To know that their story is worth telling. To understand that they can explore different genres. To claim the authorship of their own tales, and that perhaps one day, they too, will be immortalized in a tome. Books have power, and if students see themselves in a book, hopefully they will feel empowered as well."
This will create classroom libraries for 6th grade ELA classes that are representative of their students. This will cover new texts that not only offer a variety of content but allow access to quality content at lower reading levels.
Hillside High School
$2,225 for Village University Takes D.C.
The purpose of Village University Takes D.C. is to conclude their educational years on a higher note than how it started. Several of these students may decide to continue their education, but each has expressed their wish to see more of what careers offer that are not normalized, such as the FBI, college professors, and becoming a politician. The tour of D.C. will include Quantico and taking a tour of how the agency hires and recruits' agents or those that work for F.B.I., the African American museum, and tour of Howard University. This will give them the opportunity to take a college tour to be excited about some of the choices some of them may make.
Hillside High School
$5,000 for Threadz: A group for the Creative Mind
There is a unserved community of creatives within the DPS Community, a group that the project lead was once apart of (NHS 2007). This group will uplift future Creatives; Costume Designers, Hair and Wig Designers, maybe even another Vogue Fashion editor like Andre Leon Talley (HHS 1966). There are currently 5 clothing lines created by current students at Hillside High School, Threadz will be transformative; this group not only will provide our students a safe place for Hillside students this would be preparing students to teach future students.
Holt Elementary School
$1,000 for Computer Chargers and students headphones
This request is to fund the purchase of computer chargers and headphones for all 3rd graders at Holy Elementary.
Holt Elementary School
$2,225 for A Trip to the Aquarium
The students will be taking an end of year trip to Loggerhead Marinelife Center to view sea life in natural habit. Students will have an understanding of the habitat of sea life. This trip allows students to interact with sea life instead of just looking at pictures or virtual movies.
Hope Valley Elementary School
$3,000 Latinx Parent Group for Hope Valley Elementary
A group for parents who want to be part of new initiatives that will help support the expanding Latinx community at our school has launched. They will meet quarterly and would like to invite guests to speak to their families, create workshops, promote literacy, family engagement, and other activities that will increase children’s academic performance and support their socioemotional wellbeing. During the activities/events, they will have door prizes, such as small fidgets, school supplies, books, and educational games.
JD Clement Early College High School
$6,000 for YouthVibra: Where the Youth Connect
YouthVibra will be a transformative initiative that seeks to empower and uplift young entrepreneurs, providing them with a comprehensive platform, resources, and a vibrant community to thrive in the dynamic world of business. Rooted in the belief that the voices and potential of young entrepreneurs are often underrepresented. YouthVibra is dedicated to creating a space where these budding visionaries can amplify their ideas, connect with mentors, access educational materials, and prioritize their overall wellbeing.
Jordan High School
$1,408 for Jordan Innovation Lab - camera equipment
This past Spring, Jordan started a new digital storytelling program, called the Jordan Innovation Lab. Students learn the foundational skills of book publication, podcasting, and documentary filmmaking. In the first semester of this program, we published several class anthologies, created 70 short films, and created 27 podcast episodes highlighting some of the many innovative things that our students and staff are involved in. Digital storytelling is a powerful way to communicate the narrative of a school to its community. The primary goal of the Jordan Innovation Lab is to shine a positive light on the many innovative things that our staff and students are involved in.
Jordan High School
$2,225 for AVID Sophomores Sound 2 Sea: Exploring Environmental Education through Experiential Learning
This is a collaboration between the DPS Outdoor Learning Specialist and the JHS AVID Program. AVID sophomores will partake in a residential Environmental Education Program called Sound to Sea located on a 58-acre preserve at Pine Knoll Shores. Through the experiences they will be exposed to diverse, ecological environments coexisting on a barrier island on North Carolina’s coast. A long-term goal of the program is to develop ways to get more AVID students engaged in the outdoors and expose them to a variety of environmental stewardship practices, as well as show them a variety of possible environmental career pathways.
Jordan High School
$1,000 for Using Service Learning and Peer Mentorship to Foster a Love of Science in Young People
AP Environmental students at Jordan High School will design and implement educational demonstrations and hands-on activities for elementary students, using what they have learned in class. They will then take those and host a Science Day at a selected elementary school. Additionally, the demonstrations and activities would cover a wide range of ages and would be open to all students to participate at the elementary school.
Jordan High School
$2,225 for See, Taste and Learn
The Career Technical Education (CTE) Department along with the Culinary Arts Team at Jordan High School are hosting a field trip to New York City. This opportunity will expose students to careers in culinary, hospitality and tourism on a metropolitan level to broaden their knowledge and field of study. Plans are to visit the Food Network Channel, China Town, Little Italy, Hunts Point Market, Fresh Direct, Brooklyn Grange and also dine at a fine restaurant such as the NBC Rainbow Room.
Lakeview School
$3,000 for Positive Behavior Matters-PBIS Programming
The goal is to increase positive behavior throughout the school environment by encouraging and rewarding positive behavior on a consistent basis. PBIS is a research-based proactive approach designed to improve school safety and promote positive behavior for all students. Numerous programs have been desgined to reward students such as Caught Being Good, PRIDE awards, Character Trait Recipient, Attendance Raffles, Student of the Week and Student of the Month, Field Trips, and weekly PRIDE celebrations. We also include staff in our weekly PRIDE celebrations and we have an Extra Effort Award to acknowledge teachers who incorporate PBIS in their classrooms. PBIS programming is implemented on the first day of school and continues throughout school year and each and every school year.
Lyons Farm Elementary
$390 for Let's Get Those Brains "Poppin"!
BrainPOP is an innovative digital educational resource that has the potential to transform the learning experience for our fifth-grade students, ensuring equity, engagement, and educational excellence. It offers a wide range of interactive educational content across multiple subjects. With short animated videos and quizzes, BrainPOP provides an engaging and effective way to reinforce classroom instruction, catering to various learning styles and abilities.
Lyons Farm Elementary
$1,000 for Headphones for 2nd Grade
Student headphones are essential for daily classroom activities. All students have been provided with a personal Chromebook and charger to use. However, students are not given headphones to use with these Chromebooks. The responsibility of getting headphones is left to parents and teachers. Without headphones students cannot fully access online resources. This project will aid in providing equitable access to digital tools and resources for learners within the classroom.
Mangum Elementary
$2,225 for Exploring our Nations Capital
Supporting students to visit Washington, D.C. is an investment in their education, character development, and future contributions to society. It equips them with knowledge, values, and experiences that will benefit both them as individuals and the nation as a whole. This project will allow for students to particpate in the trip that express financial need.
Mangum Elementary
$1,500 for Art Club Community Art Project
The mission is to provide art club members with an opportunity to express their individuality through the creation of artworks and give back to our community, school, and others, using our talents and gifts in unique ways. One focus of the art club for this upcoming year is to allow students to create community art. One of the projects will be a school mural, artwork that will be hung on the playground on the fences with positive quotes, and other types of inspiration.
Merrick Moore Elementary School
$603 for Less Trash, More Dirt Please
This year, Merrick Moore is helping students to understand what are land fills?, where are they located? and how we can help decrease what fills them and why? This project hopefully inspires how the adults and students think about littering and how it ends up in our shared streams and creeks. Dry products will be gathered from our very own woods and trails, and raw fruits and vegetables.
Middle College Highschool @ DTCC
$2,000 for Student Council and National Honor Society Presents: End of year Bash
Student Council and National Honor Society are teaming up to organize a memorable end-of-year celebration that promises fun, relaxation, and a sense of achievement. This event will take place at the Durham Tech campus, making use of both indoor and outdoor spaces, including the cafeteria and outdoor patio. The goal is to create a vibrant and engaging atmosphere for everyone to enjoy. The event will include an array of board games, concession stands with snow cones and cotton candy, outdoor activities like mini golf and a game truck.
Multi-School Grant: E.K. Powe, C. C. Spaulding, and Y. E. Smith Elementary Schools
$9,990 for Creating Young Published Authors
This grant application will enable Melissa Rooney, to conduct 6-week writing and publishing residencies for DPS elementary classes spanning first through fifth grades at three DPS schools in Spring 2024. Rooney’s engaging and individualized attention to the young authors facilitates healthy revelation, acknowledgement and sharing of often unexpressed emotions while incorporating practical writing skills in real time. The workshops include 1 printed copy of the class’s published anthology per student and a celebratory release party (if the teacher desires) at which the students receive their books. This mirrors the real-world traditional publishing process.
Multi-School Grant: Lowe's Grove Middle School, Hillside High School, Shepard Middle School
$6,000 for Empowering Education Fellowship
The Empowering Education Fellowship was inspired by peer to peer and place-based change models. It seeks to apply these models to 1st generation, lower-income students in Durham Public Schools, aligning with DPS Foundation’s goals of promoting equitable solutions. The Fellowship provides students with an opportunity to participate in service learning that develops leadership, sense of self, civic identity, and long-term community-based relationships. This academic year, the Empowering Education Fellowship will launch with 6 DPS juniors attending Hillside High School. The Fellowship’s model is structured in a way that seeks to align with the DPS Foundation’s value of supporting sustainable, transformative, and feasible projects.
Riverside High School
$2,225 for Riverside High School "Many Outings"
Funding will help provide affordable opportunities for Riverside Exceptional Children students to attend annual field trips and new adventures. Field trips help to support hands-on learning experiences for students and provide social-emotional daily living skills. The class has a vocational field trip they go on each month and afterwards they take the students out to eat to help develop sociable skills on how to interact with their friends and store employees that are servicing them. Other field trips include an outing to the NC State Fair, Hillside High School Plays, Palace Pointe, Durham Bulls Education Day, Education Day at nearby colleges (UNC, NC STATE, NCCU), and whenever the circus is in town.
School for Creative Studies
$3,000 for Science Olympiad Club (Science Olympiad is an international non-profit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest)
Science is transformative. It builds upon students' sense of curiosity and exploration. Being part of research projects with a team cements lifelong problem-solving skills. Programs like the Science Olympiad utilized research-based curriculums. This club will meet weekly and go on to compete in the regional, state and potentially the national competition.
School for Creative Studies
$1,250 for LatinX Building Bridges
The goal of this project is to increase our Latino Attrition rate by establishing a club and tutoring program meeting 2x a month during early release for in-house clubs days. This group will have guest speakers to discuss relevant topics for Latinx, tutoring in all subjects by bilingual teachers and student buddies, and field trips to relevant museum exhibits and bringing cultural celebrations into the building. Additionally, there will be family resource events where they can feed families and provide them with the assistance needed for their child to excel in school.
Shepard IB Magnet Middle School
$2,225 for We ENGAGE: Empower New Generations with Access to Growth and Equity
"We ENGAGE: Empower New Generations to Access Growth and Equity," is a project designed to transform the educational landscape at James E. Shepard IB Magnet Middle School within the diverse context of Durham Public Schools. Students will engage in activities and discussions that promote self-awareness of their own cultural identities and biases through partnership with staff, faculty, school administration, Black & Belonging and our ESL committee. This will encourage them to reflect on their perspectives and recognize their role in creating an equitable environment. Parterned with this is 2 important field trip going to the National Museum of African American History and Culture & the National Museum of American Latino in Washington, DC.
Shepard Middle School
$4,000 for Panther Photography and Visual Arts Club
In this art and photography club, students will learn how to utilize technology to refresh images and create beautiful visual art pieces and how to use manual cameras to take powerful images, and have the opportunity to teach/ be taught various techniques within photojournalism, portrait photography, landscape photography, and experimental photography. Students will also take fieldtrips to museums and other venues to see art as well as natural landscaping.
Southern School of Energy & Sustainability
$4,077 for Blackout for School Safety
A blackout shade on each classroom inside window for lockdown shade protection. Each shade completely blocks classroom view from and person in the hallways. Teachers will not have to worry about the paper they currently have being taking away from classroom windows because the Fire Marshall sites it as a hazard. All windows in the building would be uniformed so an intruder will not be able to distinguish one room from another.
Southern School of Energy and Sustainability
$4,000 for Beyond Representation: Their Own Lens
Beyond Representation: Their Own Lens is a visual arts-centered project that will equip the photography, art, and yearbook classrooms at Southern School of Energy and Sustainability with updated cameras and tablets for developing creative skills essential to having a voice in today's indisputably digital, online world of creative expression. Whether the media be photography, photojournalism, illustration, animation, or graphic design, to name a few, it is not possible to teach this relevant media to students without access to appropriate equipment and tools.
Southwest Elementary
$3,000 for Building Community through Mural Art at Southwest Elementary
The project will create a welcoming learning environment that celebrates diversity of culture at Southwest Elementary School, through the creation of two vibrant murals, designed by the professional artist Kate Mitchell of Greensboro, NC, in collaboration with the school’s art program and students. Mitchell will lead a total of eight workshops with two classes of Dual Language 3rd graders, the entire graduating 5th grade cohort, and also with students who attend both the GSA “Rainbow Club” and “Kings & Queens” program, to gather student drawings and inspiration. Upon completion, these murals, measuring approximately 280 square feet in size, will become a transformative focal point for the community as students will finally be able to see their cultures and identities celebrated on the school walls, just as the school takes on its Dual Language magnet designation under the district’s Growing Together initiative.
Southwest Elementary School
$3,214 for Cracking the Code with Ozobot Evo Coding Robot
This Ozobot Evo kit comes with 18 robots, allowing students to collaborate as they embark upon their coding journey. Using this kit will be utilized in every K-5 classroom at Southwest during STEM specials class. Kits can be checked out by classroom teacheres, and even shared among schools to reach more students. These robots can be used screen-free with markers, and online with OzoBlockly visual programming. Ozobot.com provides teacher training, educator tools, a K-12th grade multiple subject lesson library, and real-time information about student engagement. Ozobot Evo robots allow students of all coding abilities to grow their coding knowledge, every student will be able to call themselves a “coder.”
Y.E. Smith Elementary
$3,000 for Preparing our Youth for entrance into tomorrow's workforce
Student development and exposure to unfamiliar environments are components that work unilaterally in the building of positive additions to tomorrow's workforce. Bringing together the classroom and exposure to the work has broad benefits, but can prove challenging to do in practice. This project will allow the ability for students to visit, experience, and be immersed in the work environment of these collaborating partners. We would accomplish this by visiting the campuses and and workplaces of our partners. It would also be used to possibly provide our students with materials that could possibly be used to simulate real work experiences and environments.