$2.25 million Faine/Grandview project moving forward

An ambitious new program to offer innovative in-school and afterschool programs to students at two Dothan elementary schools with high poverty and high minority populations will get underway toward the middle of the 2008-2009 school year.

The Wiregrass Foundation announced in July a three-year initiative that will pump $2.25 million into Faine Elementary School and Grandview Elementary School, creating quality after school, pre-k, arts and parental involvement programs. About 95 percent of Grandview and Faine students live in poverty. The Faine/Grandview project will provide additional support for these schools to overcome obstacles to learning posed by these children’s socioeconomic status.

Thomas Harrison, education director for the Wiregrass Foundation, said a recent meeting was held between school and foundation members to clarify program expectations and to assess progress. Harrison said the program’s field trip activities are starting soon, its before and afterschool, intervention, and volunteer programs will start before the end of the first semester and that the arts infusion program will kick off near the beginning of the second semester.

“The message is that the schools understand our expectations and they’re excited,” he said.

The Wiregrass Foundation is providing the majority of the funding for the project – $500,000 per year. The remainder of the funding is being provided by the
Dothan City Schools and by in-kind services by community partners like the Cultural Arts Center and the Wiregrass Museum of Art.

Faine Principal Deloris Potter said the programs will help the children in the Dothan City Schools whose needs are the greatest.

“No one has ever reached out to help like this before,” she said.