Joe Manko, Program Officer for Education at The Abell Foundation, shared recently that he describes Springboard Collaborative as a “triple good,” benefiting students, families, and teachers.
The Abell Foundation is a private foundation focused exclusively on Baltimore City. Each year, they provide $15.5 million in grants to nonprofit community partners, fund research to better inform civic conversation, and make catalytic investments in new businesses that offer significant social and economic benefits. The Foundation’s seven focus areas include Health & Human Services, Community Development, Education, Workforce Development, Criminal Justice & Addiction, Environment, and the Arts.
Springboard Collaborative has been a grantee of the Abell Foundation since 2019, nearly as long as we’ve had a partnership with the Baltimore City Public School District. In that time, Springboard Collaborative has served over 27,000 young people and their families and has helped students achieve remarkable results.*
Joe is a former classroom teacher and was an elementary school principal for over ten years before joining the Abell Foundation in 2020. His experience working in schools is invaluable as he reviews applications from organizations seeking support. Joe understands what makes a program successful, especially with a focus on family engagement. Reflecting on his time as Principal at Liberty Elementary, Joe shared that he was most proud of the tight-knit community of educators and parents that was established. Part of the relationship-building involved Springboard Collaborative’s program utilizing the FELA method, which brings families and educators together to collaboratively help children achieve learning goals.
When speaking about what sets Springboard Collaborative apart and allows the Abell Foundation to invest in our work in Baltimore, Joe cited the incredible outcomes and gains in literacy skills that students achieve while participating in our program.
Joe describes Springboard Collaborative as a “triple good,” which benefits:
students by putting them on the path to reading proficiency,
families by engaging them in their child’s learning and giving them tools to be confident reading coaches at home, and
teachers by providing ongoing professional development in literacy instruction and family engagement.
Joe has seen firsthand the impact and importance of all three of these key components. Joe’s wife, an art teacher in the District, became a Springboard Collaborative teacher and gained knowledge and familiarity with literacy instruction because of the program’s professional development.
This is the triple good that all of our partners–philanthropic supporters, as well as schools and districts–know to expect from Springboard Collaborative.
Springboard Collaborative is grateful to our philanthropic partners, including the Abell Foundation, for supporting our programs in Baltimore City and across the country as we work to close the literacy gap and provide children with the requisite literacy skills to access all of life’s opportunities. Thank you to Joe Manko for talking with Springboard and for being a champion for Baltimore City students and families.
*During our winter/spring 2024 program, Springboard Collaborative worked with over 2,600 students across 36 schools. Students achieved an average of 3.4 months of reading growth in essential early literacy skills in just 1.8 months of program participation. These results handily outpace the expected growth goals in that amount of time.
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