The CARE Foundation (Contributing Academic Resources to Education) unites the schools, community and businesses to help make a difference by creating better opportunities and success for every student.
The CARE Foundation is committed to innovative learning and education excellence for every student in the Capistrano Unified School District.
The Capistrano Unified School District serves approximately 51,000 students with 58 schools encompassing 195 square miles in south Orange County. CUSD currently boasts 33 schools recognized as “California Distinguished Schools” and 11 schools recognized as “National Blue Ribbon Schools.”
The non-profit Foundation is the only organization that raises funds for all schools and students to bridge the gap created by budget cuts through partnerships with businesses and the community.
Saturday, May 8th
Noon to 4:00 PM
•We will be located on the second floor near the Microsoft Store
•Information available about our district-wide Technology Initiative to improve technology for every student in Capistrano Unified
•Many raffle prize opportunities available each day
•”Fund an Item” opportunity to purchase an item from a menu for a specific school / classroom if donor chooses
Your investment will last a lifetime!
Who We Are:
The mission of the CARE Foundation is to raise money by developing partnerships with businesses and the community to enhance the quality of education for every student in the Capistrano Unified School District.
Founded in 1992, our non-profit organization has raised over $2,000,000 for students, teachers and schools over the last decade, providing much needed resources to enrich student learning experiences that fall outside the district’s budgetary reach. Our volunteer-based, non-profit educational partnership raises funds through a variety of programs and fundraising events throughout the year. But we still have much more to do to ensure that government funding cuts do not have a severe impact on our student’s education.
What We Do:
The purpose of the CARE Foundation is to strengthen education opportunities for children in our community and to build a brighter future for our region.
As a community, we need to continue to work together to make our school district one of the top districts in California. Good schools are a crucial part of a strong community leading to safer neighborhoods and higher property values. Most importantly, a quality education helps students develop the skills that future generations need to be effective contributing members of society.
The CARE Foundation consists of education, business and community leaders who have created public/private partnerships with the schools and businesses to focus on one goal: results.
How We Do It:
Given today’s budget constraints, private dollars are essential to helping the cost of education.
Over the years, we have had tremendous success with local fundraising and partnerships resulting in additional resources for our schools while maximizing exposure for our business donors. This relationship has given business and education leaders alike a sense of community with the common desire to help our students.
As a foundation, we are focused on developing new donor relationships and encouraging a philanthropic spirit for the benefit of our community.
Some of the ways the CARE Foundation supports students in our schools…
“Save the Teachers – Preserve Current Class Sizes for K – 12 Campaign”
Because of the state’s budget cuts, 266 teachers were given their pinkslips at the end of the 2007-08 school year – meaning bigger class sizes for our children. The CARE Foundation raised over $1,000,000 in six weeks in June of 2008 which allowed the district to hire back ALL of the teachers.
Grant Incentives For Teachers (GIFT) Program
The CARE Foundation supports enhanced and innovative teaching programs in our schools by offering grants to teachers who work to enrich the classroom learning experiences of our 51,000 students. Grants were awarded to upgrade technology, fund innovative math and science programs, provide tools for literacy building and much more. Over the past several years, the CARE Foundation funded more than $200,000 in grants to teachers throughout the district.
Arts & Music
Every year in February, the CARE Foundation provides the transportation funds that allows over 3,000 fourth grade students in the district to attend a live symphony by South Coast Symphony. The children experience music performed by a live symphony orchestra, from a variety of genres including classic, jazz, opera, film scores from Hollywood and the music of Broadway.
Every year in March, the CARE Foundation also sponsors the annual Honors Concerts Series, which are three live performances showcasing the talents of over 1,200 elementary, middle and high shcool students from schools throughout the district in choir, and orchestra programs.
Through grants CARE Foundation also funds the purchase of musical instruments, sheet music, stage equipment, drama production rights, ceramic kilns, art class tools and materials, audio systems and microphones, electronic media devices, art books, painting supplies much more in support of the district’s arts and music curriculum.
Technology
The CARE Foundation is launching the first district-wide technology initiative that will improve technology in every classroom and impact every student. Our efforts will include providing resources to ensure that classrooms are retrofitted with the latest technologies for use in computer labs, classrooms, libraries, and science labs. We also feel technology should be made available for our students in a variety of subjects, including arts. Our technology initiative will focus on enhancing our existing programs to include a broader study of arts that are technology-based.
Senior Scholarships
Each year the CARE Foundation has schoarships available for graduating seniors at CUSD high schools from the various endowments that the Foundation manages.
Teacher of the Year
The CARE Foundation is a major sponsor in recognizing outstanding educators at each of the district’s schools at the Annual Teacher of the Year Event every April.
School Safety
The CARE Foundation funded safety supplies for the district’s participation in “The Great ShakeOut” which was the biggest public emergency drill where 5 million people in Southern California practiced a drill for a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Nov. 13, 2008.
School Clubs and Groups
We provide interactive fundraising events and revenue sharing for diverse school groups which have included: Class Size Reduction, Destination Imagination teams, sports teams, drama clubs, music & choral programs, bilingual immersion, pep squads, special education, school site tutoring, and booster clubs.
Over the years, Foundation supports BTSA (Beginning Teachers Support and Assessment,) Professional Learning Communities, student councils, science camps, field trips, school-site laptop programs and many, many more programs that enrich our students’ educational experience
