December, 2007
Dear friends of the Foundation,
The Foundation is excited to report establishment of the David Gordon Louis Daniel Scholars Program. Exceptionally promising children will be provided private individual or group instruction on a long term basis to develop their talent, and each program will be tailored to the child's particular interest. In addition, the program will provide the Scholars opportunities to enhance their knowledge or talent through “real world” or applied applications: we will capitalize on the innumerable opportunities in the Greater Washington area for children to participate in science, music and writing experiences, enriching their instruction through concerts or camps, for example. We are piloting the Scholars Program at David Gordon's elementary school, Spring Hill Elementary.
We are extremely fortunate to have engaged the services of Susan Shreve to lead our creative writing group of Scholars. Professor Shreve has taught fiction writing at George Mason University in Fairfax , Virginia , for more than 30 years and helped start the university's creative writing program. She is the author of 40 novels for adults and children. For those students with math and science aptitude, we will be offering a robotics team which will also meet at Spring Hill. Our music and art instructors will be selected individually for each Scholar.
Nominations have been solicited from both parents and teachers, and the program is targeting 3 rd through 6 th graders initially. We anticipate funding the first scholarships in early 2007. All of our Scholars will be assessed at 3 month intervals to ensure their continued benefit from the program. Our hope is to build upon our success at Spring Hill and expand the Scholars Program to other schools, including socially and financially disadvantaged settings
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Also, since we last updated you, after review by the Directors and Board of Trustees, the Foundation has funded a $5000 grant to the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) based in Louisville , Kentucky . The funds will be used to support research into methods of utilizing family resources to enhance literacy in socially or financially disadvantaged settings.
In addition, three members of our grant application review panel reviewed a carefully conceived and creative proposal by NCFL to assess the potential effectiveness of a novel technological means of augmenting the amount of time parents in socially disadvantaged families read to their children. After careful review the panel did not elect to fund the proposal.
Below, we recap other selected Foundation activities in 2007:
- $10,000 grant to “Horton's Kids” to support tutoring and mentoring services to disadvantaged children.
- A Foundation authored pilot study entitled “Predictors of Parents' Sense of Satisfaction with the Experience of Reading to Their Children” was presented at the 16 th Annual National Conference on Family Literacy (NCFL), May 4-6, 2007.
- Four prestigious members of our scientific panel reviewed a well thought out and creative scientific proposal to assess the potential effectiveness and concomitant CNS white matter changes of an intervention to improve learning in children. After careful review, the scientific panel declined to recommend funding largely due to complex methodological issues.
- We continue to dialogue with clinical and research experts as well as families of children with Kawasaki 's Disease to promote heart healthy dietary and lifestyle practices for children who have had Kawasaki Disease.
- The Foundation web site has been updated to reflect the current emphasis on developing the potential of future leadership in the arts and sciences.
- We have also added a PayPal for on-line donations.
The Foundation will continue to provide rigorous review and consideration of funding for outstanding research proposals in the domains previously delineated. However, the Foundation acknowledges that its obligations to its donors requires extremely high thresholds for funding major research projects.
Again, we thank you for your support of and interest in the Foundation.
Gratefully,
Lisa & David Daniel