Today, United Way of Acadiana announced its first grants cycle targeting educators and schools in Lafayette Parish public schools.
The funding for the grants was made possible by the merger with Lafayette Education Foundation (LEF) in 2021.
In the merger agreement, United Way of Acadiana assumed the responsibilities of the LEF endowment, investing the earnings in educational programming for the benefit of Lafayette Parish students. The funds will be overseen by an advisory committee made up of five former LEF board members for at least five years.
Classroom based grants have a maximum of $1,000, and school-based grants (where four or more teachers must be involved) have a maximum of $5,000.
Grants are due on June 4, 2022, and they will be awarded prior to the start of the school year.
“Those familiar with the LEF grants will recognize many of the same elements in this request,” said Carlee Alm-LaBar, President/CEO of United Way of Acadiana. “As we said with Teacher Awards, the leadership at the Lafayette Education Foundation paved the way for so many good things in education in Lafayette Parish, we are excited to build off the strong model they created.”
“We want to encourage our teachers and administrators to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Our educators can be creative and explore new possibilities to best utilize these funds in their classrooms and schools,” said Superintendent Irma Trosclair. “We are excited to see United Way of Acadiana continue their support of public education with this grant cycle. Supporting our educators translates into supporting our students.”
The application can be found on United Way of Acadiana’s website at www.unitedwayofacadiana.org/lafayetteeducationgrants [unitedwayofacadiana.org].
