Charleston Promise Neighborhood

Charleston Promise Neighborhood is pleased to announce receipt of a $200,000 grant from The Boeing Company that will be used to enhance school leadership performance and improve teacher quality within the four schools served by CPN – Mary Ford Elementary, Chicora School of Communications, James Simons Elementary, and Sanders-Clyde Creative Arts School.

The “Enhance School Leadership Performance” strategy is outlined by the organization’s Achieving Classroom Excellence (ACE) Program, which will enhance student performance by investing rigorously in principal leadership and teacher quality. These strategies focus on improving overall teacher performance through personalized teacher professional development, building master teachers in literacy and math, providing principals with the leadership supports they need to manage a culture of success, and exploring innovative teacher training models to ensure optimum results for students. CPN will pilot state-of-the-art technology and educational approaches to ensure every teacher is wholly equipped to meet the needs of the students and ensure their ability to succeed.

“We are overjoyed by this gift from Boeing!” said Sherrie Snipes-Williams, Charleston Promise Neighborhood CEO. “This grant is a game-changing vote of confidence for CPN in our efforts to infuse innovation and rigor in our schools.”

MeadWestvaco Corporation (NYSE: MWV) is pleased to announce a grant of $75,000 to be given to Charleston Promise Neighborhood (CPN) over a three-year period; in addition to a professional marketing intern who will assist CPN with internal and external communications and branding . Funds will be used to increase support to CPN’s work in education, healthcare, and community engagement.

“We truly believe in the organization’s mission and feel strongly that they have developed a winning model to positively impact the four schools and surrounding communities within the Charleston Promise Neighborhood,” said Becky Vaughan, MWV communications manager. This award comes at an optimum time for Charleston Promise Neighborhood as they look to expand programs like KidsWell school-based health clinics, increase Achieving Classroom Excellence (ACE) teacher incentives, create new opportunities to expose students to college through CQ (College Bound), support Teach for America, and expand their community engagement efforts.

“This grant will allow CPN to have a greater impact in enhancing the community’s existing
assets, so that our children will exceed and our high-potential schools will receive the support they need. MWV’s support is a tremendous testament to their belief in our programs, and their constant, unwavering commitment to the communities in which their employees live and work,” said Sherrie Snipes-Williams, CEO, Charleston Promise Neighborhood. “For children to do well, their families have to do well. And for families to do well, their community must do well.”

Charleston Promise Neighborhood’s Community Engagement Council has launched the school year engaging 10 Sanders-Clyde seventh and eighth graders in our YouthPromise leadership development program. This unique program offers effective communications and positive public image workshops, which are closely aligned with the school’s leadership goals.

Students were nominated by teachers and staff, based on their academic excellence and positive conduct. This month the students are focusing on team building, dynamics of leadership, and civic engagement.  Students leave YouthPromise sessions with a sense of belonging and the confidence of knowing, that they are leaders in the making. We praise AJ Davis, YouthPromise Instructor, Chair of the Community Engagement Council and President of the Chicora/Cherokee Neighborhood Council, for his work with our YouthPromise students. Additionally, he brings with him a didactic teaching style coupled with over 11 years of experience in youth and community development.