Founded in 2004, 2022 Marks the AEF's 18th year of grant-making to the Avon community.
As always, teachers, administrators, and other school professionals in the Avon Public Schools, as well as educational providers in municipal departments, are eligible to apply.
The Avon Education Foundation
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Grant Recipients Tell All.
Watch Grant Recipients explain how the AEF has helped them enrich education in this video to honor our 10th year of giving.
The Avon Education Foundation from David Whitney on Vimeo.
Excerpt from an article in the Avon Monthly by Barbara Thomas, Community Contributor
“The Foundation’s original mission of providing learning projects to all people of the town continues today, just as it did at AEF’s inception,” Avon Education Foundation Board Chairwoman Beth Zweibel said. “We want to continue the great work we’ve done and move orward to ensure the next 10 years bring greater opportunities for our students and community members.”
The foundation, incorporated in 2004 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has awarded more than $200,000 in educational grants since its founding. “We have been fortunate enough to sustain our level of funding because of creative and innovative educators, generous donors and community-minded volunteers,” Zweibel said. “Our previous board chairs, Sue Durant and Joanne Beers, set the bar very high. Now we are honored to be able to continue and build upon their meaningful work.”
Durant founded the AEF in 2003 after the school budget was passed at a lower funded rate than requested by the Board of Education. She went to then-Superintendent Dr. Richard Kisiel and asked him whether the town had an education foundation to provide extra funding for the schools. Towns in Michigan and New Jersey, where she previously lived, had such foundations and she knew of their value.
When Kisiel told her Avon didn’t have one and agreed it was a great idea, she contacted the Connecticut Consortium of Education Foundations and attended their workshop on how to start a foundation. She then held an information session at town hall and recruited several volunteers who became founding members of the AEF.
Read the full article - click here
