Grant Opens For Coachella Valley Teachers With Innovative Ideas

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA — Coachella Valley-area teachers with innovative ideas for class projects are encouraged to apply for grants through the North Island Credit Union Foundation's spring Teacher Grant program, the organization announced Wednesday.

Ten grants of $500 each will be awarded to area teachers in April, and applications can be filled out online at www.ccu.com.

The grant program is available to full-time teachers in Riverside and San Diego counties or credit union members teaching in California who want to fund special learning opportunities for their students. Projects must have clearly defined learning objectives tied to students' academic needs, be creative, and benefit a significant number of students.

"Providing resources to help teachers and schools thrive and support students is an important aspect of the Foundation's work," North Island Credit Union Foundation President Marvel Ford said. "Our long-time teacher grant program provides those extra funds that enable our dedicated educators to bring creative new projects to their students. We encourage all our teachers to submit their ideas so we can support their great work."

The application is available at www.ccu.com/teachergrant.

The application deadline is March 28.

According to the non-profit charitable corporation, $205,000 in teacher grants have been awarded to benefit students across Southern California since the program's creation in 2012. The last grant program, which ran in the fall, funded many projects, including starting an after-school computer science club, conducting plastic decomposition experiments, creating comic books, and developing art therapy projects.

What would you do with the funds?