Innovation and commitment abound in our school communities! Every year BPEF both receives and distributes funds destined to support an array of unique programs to support teachers and students. Opportunities created by these resources range from music instruction to teen peer health education, from teacher professional development to a scholarship fund for future high school graduates. Funding comes from within and outside our community, from multiple or single sources, and for specific or broadly defined purposes. Facilitating this array of projects, which averages around $200,000 in additional resources for our district each year, is a service BPEF enthusiastically performs for our donors and recipients.

Below is a list of current funds and projects:

Bayer HealthCare Science Enrichment, funded with generous annual contributions from BayerHealthCare, supporting:

Bayer HealthCare helps support Lawrence Hall of Science programs in K-5 classrooms.

• Classroom Grants to K-12 teachers
• Trips to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for Every Berkeley 5th grader
• Elementary and Middle School Science Fairs

Berkeley High School Funds, a variety of funds created by grants and private donors, supporting:

• Community Partnerships Academy—for computer equipment and general program support • Communications Arts & Sciences—for general program support• Herb Singer Green Scholars—to encourage successful entry into green jobs• Outsiders’ Club—to support BHS teen participation in this recreational and vocational program at Berkeley-Albany YMCA• Parent Resource Center—for general program support• Photography Department—a gift of professional equipment to BHS, supplemented with annual program support• Chorus Club—to encourage vocal study and performance • Band and Orchestra—to provide resources for instrument purchases, student activities, and participation in a 2010 music festival

Students such as these young women participate actively in peer health education at Berkeley High School.

Berkeley High School Health Center — BPEF provides fiscal sponsorship of government and foundation grant-funded projects, supporting:-

• Peer Health and Safety Education (9th Grade)
• Substance Use Prevention Groups
• STD/Infertility Education & Prevention
• Youth Advisory Board/Peer Health Education (10-12th)

BUSD Music Districtwide—to support a variety of activities and needs across BUSD, including the Music in the Schools program of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra

The majority of funds listed below are sustained by contributions from multiple donors:

Champions for Kids—City of Berkeley Workplace Giving that in 2009 supported staffing for the Berkeley High Student Court and books for the BUSD elementary summer literacy program.

The Cheese Board Collective– Intern Scholarship Fund for college expense support.

Early Literacy Intervention—focused on supporting Districtwide teacher professional development and strategic interventions for struggling readers

Hamrick Bequest for the Arts—funding for visual, performing and music arts enrichment across BUSD

Joffe/Boatwright Music Study Scholarships—to encourage promising middle school instrument players through private instruction

LeConte Neighborhood Scholarship Fund—to encourage LeConte graduates to keep on track and strive for college

Martin Luther King Middle School Band—King parent contributions to support an additional band instructor

Mayor’s BUILD Citywide Summer Reading Program—to provide books and tutoring at recreation sites to encourage summer reading

Oxford Elementary Principal’s Supplemental Programs Fund—supporting arts enrichment and student support services.

Rosa Parks—Back-to-School Backpacks—an annual school kick-off organized by City Councilmember Daryl Moore to provide entering students with school supplies

Whole Foods' Nick Heustis presents a check for Berkeley school gardening efforts to BPEF's Molly Fraker and BUSD's Melanie Okomoto

School Gardens Fund—created from the Whole Foods 5% Day and bag refund program to support garden teacher professional development and curriculum needs.

UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Partnership Grant – “Vision 2020: A Total Community Approach to Educational Achievement and Equity,” a project of United in Action to bring the voice of the whole community into eliminating the achievement gap.

Willard Mathworks Tutoring Fund—an after-school program engaging Berkeley High students to help Willard 6-8th graders with math