[EDEQUITY Dialogue]

From: Erin Trahan (etrahan@nokomisfoundation.org)
Date: Tue Oct 31 2000 - 15:57:46 EST


Regarding a few recent questions:

* K-12 partnerships and teacher prep

There are a huge range of national, regional and local organizations that
promote K-12 and community partnerships --- using everything from
"school-to-work" to community service to facilitate those connections.
Campus Compact and its state affiliates strongly advocate and support
university/community partnerships through service-learning
(www.campuscompact.org). There is a small group of university faculty in
Michigan that work specifically in teacher education on service-learning
issues. I have been searching for a while now for university faculty who
are working on feminist service-learning, and they seem to be few and far
between. I know of a model in Michigan where women's studies
undergraduates
mentor and tutor sixth grade girls. I have not observed the program
firsthand but it sounds wonderful in theory. We have a few faculty members
exploring similar models in West Michigan. I would love to see more
community service and service-learning funding targeted to women's and
girls' issues (as
opposed to service for service's sake).

* General funding needs - girls' programs

As program staff at a foundation that funds organizations that serve women
and girls, I would say more "universal" foundation dollars need to be spent
on gender related issues. Though the number and size (endowment) of
women's
foundations are rapidly growing, programs need to secure non-gender
specific
dollars in order to sustain long-term growth. In addition, few programs
can
rely completely on foundation support. Cultivating an individual donor
base
is just as important for most non-profits.

Other major gaps in ed-equity funding include localized data disaggregated
by gender and time and money
for program development. Many programs have to be fully developed in-house
(without financial support for that development) before they can receive
foundation dollars. I also echo the need for students and educators to
know and understand Title IX as well as to know how to access resources to
enforce Title IX. The latter has been especially clear in Michigan, where
we lack ANY state infrastructure to support ed-equity.

Erin Trahan
Nokomis Foundation
616 451 0267 phone
etrahan@nokomisfoundation.org



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