Dear Valued Member,
Fall is upon us and I’m sure you are all feeling the same way I am – how can it already be September?
Since March, we’ve all faced a myriad of tough decisions affecting our families, children and businesses. As schools have been going back to in-person and virtual learning these last few weeks, we know there has been tremendous stress as many people make decisions that impact children – both their health and their future. Back-to-School is often an emotional and exciting time for children and parents. As we face back-to-school in a pandemic, working together has become especially important.
As you probably know, Community First was originally founded by teachers and administrators in the basement of a high school in Downtown Jacksonville. While we’ve grown to serve the entire region and people of all industries and fields, we continue our dedication to teachers and education. For many years, back-to-school has been an exciting time for us as we helped teachers and students with supplies, support and resources. This year was no different, but in the pandemic we had to look at these partnerships and programs differently. Our team at the credit union and our foundation, Community First Cares, along with our partners, had to think creatively to make sure we were safely supporting teachers and students.
Here are some of the ways we are helping this year:
- We partnered with First Coast News and United Way of Northeast Florida for the “Stuff the Bus” drive to make an impact across our entire region. For many years, we’ve supported the effort by collecting and distributing new school supplies. This year, we launched a virtual campaign to collect monetary donations used to purchase school supplies for teachers. We’re proud to have raised $33,000 with the amazing support of our community. This fund will support 60,000 students in our region.
- We recently partnered with the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) to create classroom grants to support special curriculum enhancements. This is the largest program of its kind ever created by both our organizations. It will touch hundreds of Duval County students during the 2020-21 school year.
- In July, we partnered with the Clay Chamber of Commerce to host a drive-through teacher supply drive with the Orange Park Mall and helped hundreds of teachers with in-classroom supplies.
- We are funding year-long classroom project and innovation grants in Clay County and St. Johns County in partnership with the Clay County Public Education Foundation and the St. Johns County Education Foundation/INK! These partnerships create opportunities for teachers to continue to innovate while eliminating the barriers of funding.
- In Nassau County, we are proud to help fund BrainPop, an online and distance learning software to be used throughout the county’s public schools for the entire year.
- Our partners at STEM2HUB have been hard at work refurbishing computers to provide to students and organizations all over the First Coast. These programs go beyond standard school supplies.
All these projects are crucially important to students and teachers in our community and we’re proud to work with our partners to create innovative ways to continue to support educators.
Fall and Back-to-School represent a return to some things that are remarkably familiar to us – packing lunches, sending kids off to the bus or carefully helping them learn at home. We wish you and your families a successful and safe transition into the school year no matter if it is in-person or virtual. Community First is proud to be a supporting partner of teachers and educators across our entire community! ■
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