DDEF Grant Program

Program Overview

The DDEF Grant Program was developed to support excellence in the David Douglas School District. By acquiring and distributing resources, the Foundation enhances and supplements programs, provides additional educational opportunities for David Douglas students, and provides an opportunity for teachers to pilot innovative ideas or equipment. Foundation grants are awarded based on how well the request meets Foundation’s goals:

• To promote student development through additional educational enrichment activities, grants, recognition of outstanding academic effort, and family learning opportunities.

• To encourage excellence in education by supporting unique staff development opportunities for all employees and providing grants for innovative ideas and programs.

• To encourage partnerships between schools and the community by serving as a vehicle for individuals and organizations to share resources intended to enhance learning within the schools.

• To facilitate cooperative ventures among the Foundation, community groups and the school district to meet human or social service needs.

District personnel may apply for grants by selecting the button below.

past DDEF GRANTs awarded

In Fall 2023, Miss Barber’s inspiration and two Opportunity Grants helped kick-start a new science class at David Douglas High School, Gastronomy: Science of Food.  The grants provided students with tools and materials to learn about food and have hands-on experiences. Here, students learn about gastronomy, a new scientific discipline, called moecular gastronomy, which is concerned with physical and chemical transformations that occur while cooking. Sometimes, they even get to eat their science experiments!

Fish to Fry Program, Alice Ott Middle School

A grant provided in 2022 purchased equipment for a program which introduces approximately 100 sixth graders per year to the steelhead and salmon life cycle, from eggs, to hatching, to release into their native environment.  The students at Alice Ott Middle School are able to hatch and release salmon in the fall and steelhead trout in the winter when they are ready.

ALICE OTT SCIENCE CLASSES GAIN NEW PROJECTION MICROSCOPES

A 2022 Spring Grant provided extra microsccopes for the 6th grade science teachers. Wendy Christensen informed us that “The microscopes allow us to look at something while projecting it onto the screen with the projector so the entire class can view it at the same time.  It allows us to avoid frustrations that kids often have when they can't focus on things (especially moving things) in the microscope.  Because we are projecting and students are viewing on the screen, the pictures look more like a whole class view rather than a zoomed in single student view.”  With the additional projection microscopes that the DDEF grant provided, each of the 4 teachers have continuous use of a microscope for the entire 7-week study unit instead of averaging 3-5 class periods during the unit in previous years.

PE Equipment

Just sending the DDEF committee a thank you note for the equipment from last year’s (2020) grant that we finally get to use now that we're back in the building! :)

We've been using the outdoor cart since we've been back in school to move equipment around the outside field, such as cones and soccer balls for soccer. We also have to give the students snacks that they have to eat outside so the cart is great to carry those as well each period.

The badminton cart is put together and ready to use in case the weather turns on us and we have to be indoors. It's a good socially distant activity that we can do at this time during Covid so the cart really came in handy. A big thank you from the Floyd Light Middle School PE Department!

DDEF GRANTS

Our Grant Program supports a variety of requests submitted by School District teachers.  In the last few years, grants have included:

Equipment and School Materials:

• Gastronomy: Science of Food

• Alice Ott Fish to Fry program equipment

• Sensory and self-regulating equipment for elementary schools

• Gilbert Heights Elementary School mural.

• iPad covers for High School Arts Department.

• Equipment to support social emotional learning and self-regulation for students at high school, elementary and middle schools.

• Headphones and related equipment for the David Douglas High School Science Department.

• Music instruments for students at Ventura Park Elementary School.

• Safety and organization equipment to keep students/staff safe and distanced during class (cones, fitness spots, microphone, vinyl floor tape, dry erase spots.

• Five floor rockers, 5 chair rockers and 2 standing desks to provide alternative seating options to support students of all ages across the district. These alternative seating options are provided to students to support their attention, regulation and sensory processing needs with the intention of improving access to classroom instruction.

• Two large storage cabinets and a few mobile storage bins to help keep P.E. equipment stored and sanitized in a safe secure space.

• Five pop-up canopies for the annual David Douglas School District Special Class Track & Field Meet. These canopies provide shade and shelter for students with disabilities participating in this special event of inclusive athletic activities.

• New equipment for PE classes at Floyd Light Middle School.

• Fins for Swimming classes.

• Girls on the Run (Earl Boyles) – Running shoes.

• Books for Elementary, Middle, and High School classrooms.

• Books at Ron Russell Middle School to support students participating in the Oregon Battle of the Books competition. 

• Books in various languages for Ventura and Lincoln Park Elementary schools to support culturally specific enrichment performances. 

• Replacement of worn-out coffee bean grinder used at the Sunshine Express Coffee Cart, located in the district office. This is a student run business giving Community Transition Program high school students hands-on barista training using professional grade equipment while interacting with real customers. It is a valuable tool in building self-confidence, communication and problem-solving skills that can be used in the work force.

Conferences, Camps, Events, Special Programs:

• Covid-19 assistance in the form of food pantry donations, personal hygiene and cleaning supplies, and a limited amount of rental/utility assistance was enabled by a special DDEF-sponsored fund-raising campaign.

• Read Like a Scot, a program for David Douglas second graders to promote reading excitement for young readers. The 2nd graders attended a basketball game where they met with athletes, watched a game, and received a packet of books and Read Like a Scot t-shirts.

• Cesar Chavez Leadership Conference for 28 high school students

• Oregon Music Educational Association Event

• College Possible

• Phoenix Leadership Camp for Fir Ridge students

• Salmon Watch Field Trip

• Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Medal National Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall, New York City - Partial travel expenses for Art student to accept her award

Spring Grant Provides Reading Space for Alice Ott Middle School

A Spring Grant awarded in April 2023 was to create a reading area in the library at Alice Ott Middle School. Jen Carpenter, Library Media Assistant at Alice Ott, wrote that “All of our students would greatly benefit from having a calm, quiet space to relax and read when needed.  The space could also be used for small group discussions or quiet meetings.”

After receiving the equipment Jen said: “The students have been excited to sit, relax, and read here. It has definitely made our library a more desirable place for students to visit. I believe it is these little touches of home that make our students feel comfortable and loved in our schools. I am so happy that our library can now be one of those spaces in our school.”

covid-19 campaign

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, DDEF reached out to our community to join us in helping our neighbors during this difficult time when many lost their jobs and income in response to the pandemic. We began a campaign in Spring 2020 to raise money to help those in need in the David Douglas Community. Through June 2022, our campaign, with a matching grant of $10,000 from DDEF, was able to distribute over $38,000 to food pantries in our district. These generous donations supported families with fresh food and other needed household items and made a significant difference to many in our neighborhoods. The Covid campaign was closed in June 2022.

Girls on the Run

This is a youth development program for girls in grades 3-5 with a mission to inspire girls to be healthy and confident using an experience-based and creative curriculum. The program includes a community service component for the girls to plan and execute and is operated through Earl Boyles’ SUN program. Over 12 weeks, the girls train for a 5K running event. The grant provided running shoes for all participants so they all could have similar running shoes for the program.

Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Medal National Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall, New York City

Ester Petukhova, a Junior at David Douglas High School received a National Gold Medal for her painting “Aditi” and 3 National Silver Medals for other entered paintings (2018). This is the first time a David Douglas artist has been honored to receive such an award. The DDEF grant supplemented travel expenses for Ester while attending the National award ceremony.

Read full story...

Artwork here:

https://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2018/06/portland_teen_painter_wins_nat.html

Sensory Rocker Chairs

Eight medium and large sensory rocker chairs were purchased and are currently being utilized in general education classrooms. The chairs have allowed students with sensory integration difficulties to more fully participate in instruction and learning opportunities provided by staff. The chairs are one of the most commonly accessed accommodation tools that our staff, students, and parents have requested this year.

Wheelchair Glider

The wheelchair glider that was funded through DDEF in 2015 has made a tremendous impact on the students at Ventura Park Elementary. It has provided students who are wheelchair users with opportunities to move in the classroom. It has helped calm and relieve stress for at least 5 students this year, and it has enhanced range of motion, circulation, and communication for these students. We have even been able to hook up a toggle switch behind the glider that allows a student to activate music through use of the glider.

Fins for Swimming classes

In our 4th and 5th Grade Elementary PE program, these swim fins have had a tremendous impact on our ability to adapt our teaching style for a more proper swim technique for kids who may have different abilities and skills. This is especially helpful for kids in the deep end of the pool so that they don’t get too tired.

Calm corners

Earl Boyles staff wrote that they were able to split their grant evenly among the preschool through 5th grade classrooms to provide a calming space for children in each class.

“From the bottom of our Bulldog hearts we would like to express our sincere gratitude for the Calm Corner grant! At Earl Boyles we have been using mindful practices to help us be more present in our learning and interpersonal interactions with one another. . . It is heartwarming and satisfying to see what a beautiful effect natural elements like a fall leaves, seashells, rocks, mossy twigs, etc. have on calming nervous bodies, worried hearts and activating curious minds.”

Camp Phoenix

Camp Phoenix is a three-day intensive and transformational retreat for high school students. Teens evaluate who they are, their challenges, and redefine where they want to go in life. Students engage in experiential activities including small group discussions, energizing games, storytelling, visual art, and the highlight of the weekend is an afternoon on the challenge course. The challenge course helps students build trust with each other and their small group. For students who have gone to Camp Phoenix in past years, they often name the Phoenix program as one of their most memorable experiences in high school.

Read Like a Scot

Lon Morast, DDHS Assistant Basketball coach, spearheaded a district-wide “Read Like a Scot” program for David Douglas second graders this year.  DDEF was among the ten donors in support of the program.

The program was designed to promote reading excitement for young readers.  In October, athletes from David Douglas High School visited second graders at district elementary schools to promote reading in second-grade classrooms. 

The program was a win for all participants.  The athletes served as role models and spoke to the 2nd graders on the importance of reading in their own lives.  Second graders met high school athletes, were encouraged to keep reading, were invited to attend a home basketball game in February, and received a variety of items at the game including:

• Posters of the basketball players 

• Backpacks with three to five books

• Scots Learning Packets of literacy activities 

• “I am a Scots Reader” T-shirts

• Pamphlets for parents on the importance of reading with their child

Smiles were found all around.

Traveling Band Cart

This Traveling band cart was built by High School Woodworking students and teacher to transport guitars among the nine elementary schools in the district so that guitars are easily accessible during music classes. Materials were funded by a DDEF grant. The cart is a useful and attractive addition to the classroom.