The Dunes Learning Center and the Foundations of East Chicago (FEC) have a history of working together to help the people of East Chicago. This past year has been no different.
For the 2015-2016 school year, the Dunes Learning Center and its collaborators received an FEC grant for their Comprehensive Environmental Education program. Grant funding helped educate approximately 625 East Chicago students on environmental responsibility.
The program also educated 14 teachers on how to deliver the program’s curriculum to the students and helped the schools with funds to assist with transporting students to study trips and compensation for substitute teachers.
In the 2014-2015 school year, the first year of the program, the collaboration received a $10,000 FEC grant which was used in the education of about 360 East Chicago students in the Mighty Acorns portion of the program. These students were from 15 different classrooms at Washington, Harrison and McKinley elementary schools. Thanks to the grant, the students were able to go on 22 study trips during the school year.
This first year also saw 11 East Chicago teachers participate in professional development. This was not only beneficial to the first year students, but was also an investment in the future of the program.
This past year, the program almost doubled in size and there have been several new offerings to students of all ages up through high school.
For more information on the program or its history, visit foundationsec.org.
