Bessie Minor Swift Foundation awards grants to Carson City schools, programs

The Bessie Minor Swift Foundation, formed by the owners and founder of Swift Communications, awards grants to programs that promote literacy, reading and writing skills as well as programs that focus on languages, sciences and interdisciplinary areas. Since 2008, more than $620,000 has been awarded to deserving organizations in the communities where Swift Communications conducts business.

This year, applications were of exceptional quality and more than $83,156 has been awarded to 37 deserving organizations. The Bessie Minor Swift Foundation thanks the many groups that took the time and energy to apply and encourages those that were not selected to submit applications in the future.

The Foundation grant criteria calls for detail about the number of people who will be impacted by the organization’s project and how significant a role the Bessie Minor Swift Foundation will play in the program. Further, applicants must provide a complete description of the project including objectives and strategies to meet those objectives, explain how the project will be evaluated and submit a budget. Recipients will report on their results and insights from their program once the projects are completed.

Applications will be accepted again starting Jan. 1 with a deadline of Feb. 15. For information, visit the Bessie Minor website at www.bessieminorswift.org.

Swift Communications is the owner of the Nevada Appeal, The Record-Courier, the Lahontan Valley News, the Tahoe Daily Tribune and the Northern Nevada Business View serving Northern Nevada and Lake Tahoe’s South Shore.

Carson City and Lyon County winners were:

Advocates to End Domestic Violence: Awarded $500 for an innovative reading program, Lap Time Learning, encourages parents to become actively involved in reading to their children while staying in a 51-bed shelter and to help children to develop a love of reading. Through Lap Time Learning, children in the shelter will choose a book weekly that they can keep. The Parenting Coordinator will work with parents to develop a nightly routine of reading with their children. Funds will be used to purchase age appropriate books.

Bordewich Bray Elementary: Awarded $3,000 for hands on STEM activities supplement the fifth grade Nevada Computer Science Curriculum. Approximately 120 students will learn to program Tello EDU Drones using an iPad mini. This will provide students with a valuable introduction into several coding languages as well as a chance to collaborate with peers to strategize, problem solve errors in the codes and troubleshoot hardware. Funds will purchase drones, extra propellers and tablets.

Pioneer High School: Awarded $3,000 for conversion of the old student lounge at Pioneer High School into a recording studio. Students will research, order, and install all necessary equipment to create a working recording studio. Additionally, software will be purchased so that students can produce and record their own beats and songs. Funds will all be used for equipment for the recording studio, and elements of the mathematics curriculum along with music education will be integrated into the program.

Pioneer High School: Awarded $2,000 for an innovative program encouraging more student engagement in chemistry by tying it to art. Use of materials from the American Chemical Society would show students practical application of chemistry to something many of them are passionate about – art. Funds will be used to purchase art supplies and testing materials to conduct experiments.

Fremont Elementary School: Awarded $3,000 for teacher support as they instruct students at the level of complexity required by the Nevada Academic Content Standards for reading and social studies. Funds will be used to purchase primary source kits and allow access to digital materials for use by 16 kindergarten through third grade teachers who will teach 330 children. This program will help children in a school where over 50% of the Kindergarten through third grade students are deficient in reading based on the criteria of the Nevada Read by Grade 3 Act.

Get in the Act! Arts in Action in Dayton: Awarded $2,650 for a two-week interdisciplinary school program scheduled for January 2020 that will advance art and science learning for 300 elementary students at Bordewich Bray Elementary School. Using all their senses in the learning process, students dramatize science concepts in scenes with their peers, quickly connecting these concepts to their everyday world. Because students have a memorable experience acting-out these scenes, they can learn and retain the science content associated with these scenes. All funds will be applied toward direct delivery of the “Get in the Act” Arts in Action program at Bordewich-Bray.