Return to Headlines

one-five Foundation awards 15 mini-grants across 12 District 15 schools

one-five foundation mini grant winners

For the last several years, District 15’s one-five Foundation has offered an annual mini-grant program open to all staff members in Community  Consolidated School District 15. The grants can support a wide range of opportunities for students of the District with a focus on programs and technology. 

Over its lifetime, the one-five Foundation has donated more than $2 million to District 15 to enhance classroom learning opportunities. 

This year, there were fifteen mini-grants awarded across twelve District 15 schools:

  • Joanna Rzepka - Implementations of Social-Emotional and Trauma-Informed Strategies: Calming Corner and Flexible Seating
  • Tammy Martin - Special Education: Achieving Technological Equality
  • Sharon Fink - Yoga and Wellness Club
  • Carol Coutts-Siepka - VEX for the Win!
  • Laura Robinson - Classics Done The Visual Way
  • Alessandra Kennedy - Classroom Transformations
  • Jenny Kendall - Delightful Decodable Detectives
  • Allison Bruhn - Extra! Extra! Read All about it!
  • Kate Marrs - Recess Reading @ Stuart R. Paddock
  • Katie Burns-Wojtalewicz - Sundling Goes Pro With The GoPro Hero 11 Creator Edition
  • Jacquelyn Erickson - Dual Lingo
  • Faith Fiorito - LEAP - Materials Allowing Flexible Learning
  • Lauren Christ & Sheri Beattie - Communicate to Learn!
  • Katie Nawrot, Annice Coughlan, & Heather Klikas - Early Childhood Special Education Core Curriculum Manipulatives
  • Elizabeth Letellier & Jackie Kravitz - A Voice For All

Mini grants awarded to staff

The Foundation is able to fund these mini-grants for staff through donations and the community’s participation in its fundraisers and events. Currently, the one-five has a 50/50 raffle that runs from February 14 through March 17. Last year’s winner won $19,350! 

About the one-five Foundation 

one-five Foundation logoThe mission of the one-five Foundation “is to acquire resources to be used for programs and projects to enhance and supplement the educational experience of District 15 students.”

The Foundation was founded in 1989 under the name, District 15 Educational Foundation, by a partnership of parents, community members, and local businesses, and it is governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees from the District 15 community. To date, it has invested nearly $2 million+ toward advancing the educational experience of District 15 students through various programs and events. The one-five Foundation is in large part funded through the community’s support through fundraisers and events. 

One large initiative that the one-five Foundation has helped fund is Blessings in a Backpack. This program helps ensure children have food on the weekend throughout the school year. According to the Blessings in a Backpack website, “On average, $150 will feed one child on the weekends for one 38-week school year through the Blessings in a Backpack program—the results: nourished kids ready to learn.”

Another large initiative of the one-five is flexible seating in our schools. The Foundation has a goal to raise nearly $200,000 to outfit all of District 15’s school libraries with flexible seating, so these spaces can be used more effectively, resulting in improved outcomes for District 15’s students.

If anyone is interested in donating or joining the Foundation as a trustee, they can visit https://www.one-five.org/. 

March 2023