Northeast News

April 26, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Two area charter schools have received nearly $2 million in grant funding from SchoolSmartKC, according to an April 25 press release from the independent 501(c)3 organization.

SchoolSmartKC has committed $1.32 million over the next three years to Crossroads Charter Schools and $621,000 to Scuola Vita Nuova. The funds for Crossroads Charter Schools will go towards its Quality Hill middle school and the design of its planned Crossroads High School. The grant for SVN is expected to allow the charter to doubled its enrollment, adding 207 more student slots.

”SchoolSmartKC looks to ensure that local students have ample quality educational opportunities to help them reach their extraordinary potential,” said Awais Sufi, President and CEO of SchoolSmartKC, in the release. “We are thrilled to help schools that have become pillars in our community bring even more benefit to these young people and their families.”

The investments in the charter schools follow two previous education-related investments in the Kansas City area: $563,000 for the Communities in Schools program and up to $2 million for schools in the KCPS district that show particular academic promise.

According to the press release, SVN was chosen for the grant due in part to its strong ties to the Northeast community. Other factors mentioned include the high rate of the student population who speak English as a second language (71.8%) and steadily increasing student achievement that has risen to within 10% of the state average. The release also touted SVN’s student retention rate (92%), average daily attendance (95.8%), and percentage of parent/teacher conferences that are conducted face-to-face (100%). In addition, 96% of SVN students qualify for the free/reduced lunch program.

Funding for SchoolSmartKC comes from the Kauffman Foundation, the Hall Family Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation. For more information on the organization, go to www.schoolsmartkc.org.