A Look Back at This Year’s Educator Grants

Throughout fall 2017, the Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants program helped innovative projects across the country take flight as anti-bias educators embedded inclusive, affirming and just practices into teaching and learning at their schools.

You can read about some of the initiatives we’ve supported in the past on our Grants page, where you can also explore the story behind our featured grantee project and peruse the winning projects in the “Select Grant Award Winners” section.

Here’s a look at a few of projects we’ve supported this fall.

Playing Together

In August, we interviewed special educator Fran Krackow, a 44-year veteran teacher of students with profound disabilities. Krackow’s students, all in wheelchairs, were unable to enjoy their recess due to a wheelchair-inaccessible playground.

Krackow used the grant to buy playground equipment that her students could use with their peers. “Right now, my kids are just sitting and watching in a wheelchair,” she told us when she received the grant. “Soon they’ll be able to play with other kids, literally, on inclusive playground equipment.”

Cultural Inclusivity in the Kitchen

In Portland, Oregon, Caty Marshall imagined the benefits of a culturally inclusive cooking club. With many immigrant and refugee families at her school, she wanted to build a sense of cohesive community and unify the school’s disparate groups. She turned to the Grants program to transform her vision into reality.

“Who doesn’t like to eat?” she asked us. “Just get people together.”

Marshall organized parents to take turns teaching the group how to cook a meal from their home countries. With the grant’s help, she was able to provide each participant with a $50 gift card to cover their recipe’s ingredients.

The dinners fostered a sense of belonging for families uncomfortable walking into their school building or asking for help. “We want to make this school a welcoming, fun place where families want to be,” Marshall said.