CHOICES Champion

CHOICES NEWS

CHOICES Education Group Receives New $15,000 Grant from Nordstrom

Donation helps combat high school dropout epidemic by serving the CHOICES program to 3,000 teens in Washington and Alaska

CHOICES Education Group, a Seattle-based non-profit organization, announced today it has been awarded a $15,000 grant from Nordstrom for use in Washington and Alaska--bringing their total support for CHOICES over the last eight years to $277,500. CHOICES Education Group is now searching for Chambers of Commerce and Rotary Clubs in these two states that would like to launch a new dropout prevention program with the use of these funds. (Read More)

CHOICES FIELD REPORT

Rotary District 5230 Embraces CHOICES

As the Vocational Service Chair for Carmel Valley Rotary Club, Bob Kramer was always on the lookout for programs that would dovetail with his club’s mission of youth service. So when he stumbled upon a Rotary International article about CHOICES, Bob felt a “click”; he knew this was the perfect workshop for his club. He quickly engaged several nearby Rotary Clubs, helped secure funding from Bank of America and then partnered with Kathi Speller, Executive Director of Community of Caring Monterey Peninsula, who with her dynamic community leadership, numerous connections and excellent CHOICES program management, pulled off delivery of 75 classes during a window of only a few months.

After seeing how much the lives of the students and presenters were enriched by their CHOICES experience, Bob wanted all of the clubs in his district to have the same opportunity. He approached the District Governor to work out a District grant program in which clubs pay a set fee for CHOICES and the District matches them twofold!

Read more about this and find out how your district could develop a similar grant program, please click on this link.

CHOICES MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE MONTH

Getting a Jump Start on Next School Year

Now that the 09-10 school year is over, it is certainly a little tempting to take a “summer vacation” from CHOICES. However, to get a jump start for fall, consider the following summer activities that will position you for greater success in the new school year:

• July – Recruit new CHOICES presenters from your employee and/or membership base.
• August – Hold new and refresher training classes for your presenters.
• Late August – As school administrators and teachers return to school to prepare for the year, meet with any new schools or staff, and nail down any delivery dates you still need to book or confirm.

Waiting until after school has started to recruit presenters, train them and schedule classes in schools can easily get your timing pushed off to October, and before you know it, Thanksgiving and Winter break are looming. If you would like additional ideas on summer preparation for CHOICES, please contact us at tmarkey@choices.org.