Community Day School Receives Equity And Access Grant From Community Foundation Of Sarasota County

Hershorin Schiff Community Day School announced that it has received a $15,000 Equity and Access grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. The grant will support the school's Every Child Scholarship Fund for students in single parent households, specifically for those households with single mothers. The Community Foundation's Equity and Access Grant supports projects promoting equity and access to regional populations that face systemic barriers.

"We're honored to receive such tremendous support from the Community Foundation," says Dan Ceaser, Community Day's head of school. "Community Day School was founded on the principles of inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance. Our commitment is to build and unite cross-sections of our community that rarely have a space to come together. An inability to pay for schooling is not a reason to disqualify families from experiencing the benefits of our unique educational model. The Community Foundation recognizes this need, and we are grateful for that recognition and for its longstanding support of education in our community."

Caesar explains that the Every Child Scholarship Fund was especially designed to assist single mothers. "Many families have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, experiencing everything from job loss to increased household and childcare burdens. These impacts are felt most sharply by single mothers, who have endured without the support of a second parent or extended family." Caesar adds that one out of every three of Community Day students receives need-based assistance, with more than half of its families on a sliding tuition scale.

"Our Every Child Scholarship program ensures that all our students continue their education, regardless of fluctuations in economic status, and continue to benefit from our values-based educational foundation."

Community Day School opened its new campus, with record enrollment, on August 16, 2021. To learn more about Community Day School, visit communityday.org or call (941) 552-2770.

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $520 million in more than 1,570 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $27.5 million dollars last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $350 million to area nonprofit organizations to our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families, and businesses. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org or call (941) 955-3000.

The mission of the Hershorin Schiff Community Day School, which serves students in preschool through eighth grade, is to impact the world by creating a community where children of all faiths demonstrate integrity, academic excellence, and a desire to improve the world. Community Day offers a rigorous, project-based academic program in a diverse and vibrant learning environment rooted in the Jewish values of honesty, integrity, mutual trust and respect. For more information, visit the website at communityday.org or call (941) 552-2770.