FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 1999

CONTACT: DAVID DOMENICI, Maya Angelou PCS, 202/939-9080

DC Public Charter School Coalition Lands Major Federal Youth Development Grant

Seventeen DC public charter schools will share a $2.7 million grant to support a unified approach to promoting positive social behaviors and preventing violence and drug use. There are 28 public charter schools in the District, serving nearly 10% of D.C.'s public school children. Nearly all of the children served by the public charter schools are members of minority groups and the vast majority are from low-income families.

The grant, which is expected to be renewed for two additional years, is among the largest of 54 Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants recently announced by President Clinton, and the only one awarded to a group of charter schools.

According to Mike Peabody, chairman of the DC Public Charter School Coalition, "Winning this grant demonstrates that the public charter school movement in the District has come into its own. Thousands of the District's neediest children will benefit hugely from these funds."

The grant will support a comprehensive multi-agency city-wide program to provide mental health services, after school programs, and related services. A parent support/parent education program will aid teen parents and their children and pregnant teens. The program builds on partnerships with the police, the superior courts, other agencies of District government working with high risk children and their families, and private social service agencies.

The Maya Angelou Public Charter School is the project's lead agency. The participating schools applied through the D.C. Public Charter School Coalition, whose efforts were coordinated by Eve Brooks. Ms. Brooks, who will act as project manager on the grant, is an expert on children and youth policy and has provided leadership in this field as director of various state and national child advocacy organizations. Her work for the Coalition has been supported by the Freddie Mac Foundation, the BanyonTree Foundation, AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation, and Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS), which coordinates the activities of the Coalition.

The D.C. Public Charter School Coalition, a network of the District's 28 public charter schools and several non-profit support groups, is dedicated to helping the public charter schools provide the highest level of public education to the children of the District of Columbia. In addition to providing a mechanism for grant-seeking and other collective action, the Coalition also serves as a forum for planning, capacity building, and mutual support.