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$25,000 Grant winner
Posted on 08/31/2017
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Westgate challenged its existing 31 Central Florida grantees to work together in groups of two or more to create innovative new ways to fulfill the Foundation’s mission of Strong Families | Strong Workforce. Proposed projects tackled issues within the focus areas of family and youth homelessness, education, domestic violence, and veteran employment.

Four final teams were selected based on their ability to demonstrate how the collaboration would maximize existing resources, better leverage each nonprofit’s area of expertise and, ultimately, create a job-ready pipeline.

“As one of the largest private employers in Central Florida, building a strong workforce and community is critical to our success,” says Mark Waltrip, Chief Operating Officer of Westgate Resorts. “We support that through our hiring and development opportunities, as well as extensive community investment. These four grants are an important final piece of our Foundation’s $1 million commitment for 2017.”

Four grants of $25,000 each were awarded and City Year Orlando and the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools is one of them:

• City Year Orlando and Foundation for Orange County Public Schools for the “Accelerated Teacher Pipeline Program.” Mentorship and training program for City Year Orlando AmeriCorps members who are interested in a teaching career with a high-needs school within Orange County Public Schools.

“This collaborative opportunity brings out the best in both our organizations,” says Debi Pedraza, Senior Director, Foundation for Orange County Public Schools. “It helps us ensure that students in our fragile schools have energetic, prepared and dedicated teachers who believe deeply in each child’s potential. And it helps City Year Orlando ensure that corps members with a passion for education are able to accelerate their career trajectories. That’s a win for everyone!”