Foundation Announces 2017 Grants

For the second year in a row, Pro Bono Publico Foundation will award $1 million in grants to the Greater New Orleans education community.

The Rex Organization continues its ongoing commitment to help New Orleans Public Schools when the Pro Bono Publico Foundation awards its 2016-17 grants totaling $1 million to 63 recipients Saturday, Jan. 7 for the second time in a row. The awards ceremony will be conducted during an open house from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Rex Den.

Those 63 grants benefit 10 charter management organizations which include 39 schools; 25 individual schools; and 28 supporting and advocacy organizations.

The 2017 grant total marks the sixth consecutive year Pro Bono Publico Foundation’s grants exceeds one million dollars. Thanks to the generosity of its donors, each year the Foundation is able to provide meaningful support to our community’s public schools and its students.

“The generosity of those donating to such a worthy cause has been tremendous as the Pro Bono Publico Foundation continues to hit this $1 million milestone,” said Foundation Chairman Storey Charbonnet. “We’ve seen continued annual growth in contributions to help invest in our community’s future by supporting a strong educational environment from the ‘cradle to college’ for children.”

The grants exemplify PBPF’s drive to assure that all of New Orleans’ children have access to excellent schools. Ninety-three percent of New Orleans students now attend public charter schools. These schools, and organizations supporting their important work, have been the focus of PBPF’s investment, as well as the commitment of dozens of Rex members serving on their boards.

The Pro Bono Publico Foundation was formed by members of the Rex Organization as New Orleans recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Foundation giving, in its tenth grant cycle since 2007, now totals $5.5 million in cumulative cash contributions to schools.

The open house also highlights the work of Teach For America, which has more than 1,200 corps members and alumni teaching and leading across the Greater New Orleans community. Today, seven out of ten public schools in Orleans Parish have TFA corps member or alumni teachers and leaders in their buildings. Teach For America has three components to its approach: to enlist diverse individuals to become teachers in low-income communities and life-long advocates, to train members of its teaching corps to be effective leaders in the classroom and to mobilize as many individuals as possible strengthen the movement for educational equity.

Quick Facts:

• 2016-17 grants total $1 million and giving since 2007 totals $5.5 million
• This is the second year in a row the Pro Bono Publico Foundation has awarded $1 million in grants
• 2016-17 grants awarded to 63 grant – 54 schools and 28 supporting and advocacy organizations
• Through a grant to the NORD Foundation, the PBPF continues to sponsor activities at Taylor Playground, adjacent to the Rex Den
• Grants from the Pro Bono Publico Foundation support organizations which serve our community’s children from the “cradle to college”

2017 Grantees

• 4POINT0 Schools
• Arise Academy
• Audubon Charter School
• Bayou District Foundation
• Belle Chasse Academy
• Benjamin Franklin High School
• Breakthrough NO
• Bricolage Academy
• Center for Development and Learning
• Choice Foundation
• Citizens Committee for Education dba Homer A. Plessy
• City Year New Orleans
• College Bridge New Orleans
• College Track
• Collegiate Academies
• Communities in Schools of Greater New Orleans, Incl
• Crescent City Schools
• Cypress Charter School Association DBA Cypress Academy
• Education Pioneers
• Educators for Quality Alternatives/NET Charter School
• Einstein Group, Inc.
• First Line Schools
• Greater New Orleans STEM Initiative DBA Core Element
• InspireNOLA Charter Schools
• International High School of New Orleans
• International School of Louisiana
• Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy
• Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy
• KID smART
• KIPP New Orleans Schools
• Lake Forest Elementary Charter School
• Leading Educators
• Lighthouse for the Blind in New Orleans
• Live Oak Wilderness Camp
• Louisiana Alliance of Charter Schools (East Bank Collaborative)
• Louisiana Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
• Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools
• Lycee Francais de la Nouvelle-Orleans
• McMillian's First Steps
• New Orleans Center for Creative Arts Institute
• New Orleans College Preparatory Academics
• New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy
• New Schools for New Orleans
• NORD Foundation for Taylor Park Booster Club
• Policy Institute for Children
• Raphael Academy
• ReNew Charter Schools
• Roots of Music
• St. Michael Special School
• Special Education Leadership Fellowship
• Stand for Children Louisiana
• Success Prepartory Academy
• Teach for America GNO
• The Chartwell Center
• The Foundation for Science & Mathematics Education
• The Good Shepherd School
• The Posse Foundation, Inc.
• Tulane University Cowen Institute
• Warren Easton Charter School Foundation
• YA YA - Young Aspirations/Young Artists, Inc.
• St. Augustine High School
• St. Stephen's Catholic School
• Youth Empowerment Project