Community

This investment supports the Arts & Healing program, which is designed for middle school English Language Learner students and promotes the processing of immigration-based trauma. This work incorporates professional development for educators on trauma-informed education and social-emotional strategies. This grant also supports Aliento’s Leadership program, designed for high school students, which provides one-on-one mentorship, monthly cohort development, and hands-on higher education advocacy training to foster civic engagement and a college-going culture.

The Arizona Academic Decathlon Association promotes, motivates, and acknowledges excellence in academic efforts and educational achievement through academic competitions for high school students of all scholastic achievement levels. This investment will support Arizona Academic Decathlon as it seeks to reengage rural Arizona schools and students.

The COVID-19 Community Response Fund provided resources to address basic needs such as housing and food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. This investment was part of Helios’ community response to Arizona and Florida partners to quickly respond to these needs. Helios’ investment prioritized support for programs and organizations helping students and families impacted by school closures in Arizona.

This grant supported an external analysis and strategic planning process for Expect More Arizona. The activities included stakeholder interviews during the discovery phase; refinement of mission and messaging during the design phase, and a planning and development phase clarifying a vision for the future of Expect More Arizona.

The Save Our Schools Arizona Network is a non-partisan, community-based organization supporting strong public schools for a strong Arizona. Through this project, the Network engages parents, teachers, and citizens in traditionally underserved communities to ensure all Arizonans have access to information about the power of public schools in their neighborhoods.

The Educational Leadership Development investment supports the ongoing development and delivery of a wide range of learning activities offered by the Arizona School Administrators. New opportunities include Crisis Management Leadership Training and a Superintendents’ National Certification Program.

The Arizona Virtual Teaching Institute expands teachers‘ proficiency with digital learning tools and methods. Helios‘ investment is matched with support from the Arizona Department of Education and the Office of the Governor of Arizona to provide the state with a robust, comprehensive, and holistic approach to preparing teachers, school leaders, and education support personnel to fully realize the opportunities and mitigate the challenges of digital learning.

The Center for the Future of Arizona’s Empowering the Voices of Arizonans: Creating a Bright Future for Our State initiative brings Arizonans together to consider trusted and actionable data to support problem-solving; empower partners and organizations to address their needs; and advance new ways of tackling big challenges, especially the rebuilding process that will be required by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Arizona Postsecondary Student Resiliency Fund supports current college students who have been impacted by COVID-19 and may be experiencing unusual hardships during the unanticipated transition period to a 100% virtual learning environment. Helios’ investment prioritized support for programs and organizations helping students and families impacted by school closures in Arizona.

The College Knowing & Going College Readiness Teams Project is a partnership led by the Arizona College Access Network to develop a comprehensive, data-driven, student-centered approach to college readiness at 15 high schools. With supporting partners Earn to Learn and Northern Arizona College Resource Center, the program creates a school-wide culture in which all stakeholders collaborate to ensure low-income, first-generation, underserved Arizona students graduate high school ready for college.

The COVID-19 Community Response Fund provided resources to address basic needs such as housing and food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. This investment was part of Helios’ community response to Arizona and Florida partners to quickly respond to these needs. Helios’ investment prioritized support for programs and organizations helping students and families impacted by school closures in Arizona.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Diné College students and the Navajo Nation especially hard, exposing and stressing an already fragile support system. Students are faced with the lack of computers, access to the internet, food insecurity, unstable housing, financial needs, and limited access to health care and medicine. The “Warrior Protection Fund” has been established by Diné College to help provide resources for students who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.

This investment supports Expect More Arizona in building the public will needed to close achievement gaps and make progress toward the Arizona Education Progress Meter goals.

This grant supports several of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce’s educational initiatives for youth and young professionals, including the Skills for Success Initiative, Summer of Coding and Website Development, Scholarships for Postsecondary Learning, as well as completing its internship website for use by community members.

This investment maximizes the Maricopa County Community Colleges District Foundation’s dollar-for-dollar match of Title V Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Education. These funds will establish the endowed HSI Scholarship Fund, enriching the lives of students by removing barriers to success in postsecondary education.

This investment supports Stand for Children in its ongoing Arizona work currently focused on literacy programs, implementation of effective English Language Learner classroom models, and adapting services to the changing COVID-19 pandemic landscape.

This investment supports The Institute for Citizens & Scholars to implement the priorities identified in its From Civic Education to Civic Learning Ecosystem 2019 research.

This investment supports Read Better Be Better’s expansion in the Peoria Unified School District to 10 Title 1 schools, develops systems within that community to build a pipeline for an educated and engaged workforce, and supports adding technology and training for Read Better Be Better’s existing platform expansion.

Roadtrip Nation will put three Arizonans, who are in the midst of defining their own roads in life, on a roadtrip across the state to interview leaders from diverse backgrounds and industries. The experience of each roadtripper will be captured for media, education, and policy purposes and shared with students and adults across Arizona who are or will be seeking to create their own career paths through college completion and/or postsecondary certifications.

The United for the Valley COVID-19 Fund provided resources to address basic needs such as housing and food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. This investment was part of Helios’ community response to Arizona and Florida partners to quickly respond to these needs. Helios’ investment prioritized support for programs and organizations helping students and families impacted by school closures in Arizona.

The Arizona Student Opportunity Collaborative connects Arizona’s rural students to the rigorous courses and qualified teachers they need by leveraging existing assets in rural schools through an online grassroots network. The Arizona Student Opportunity Collaborative is designed to eliminate geography as an instructional barrier, and create a comprehensive, rigorous and relevant learning environment for Arizona’s rural high school students. Students will take courses via hybrid classrooms utilizing commercially available services like Zoom or Skype, with highly qualified network teachers instructing students both online and physically present in their rooms.