Host City Legacy Work
HOUSTON 2023
In advance of the national championship game in Houston in January 2024, the College Football Playoff Foundation, Good Reason Houston and the 2024 CFP National Championship Host City Committee created Houston Loves Teachers, a collective impact campaign to bolster the PK-12 education workforce in Houston through a community-wide initiative.
Elements of the initiative include a thoughtful media campaign and development of a high profile teacher community brought together both online and in person through a new digital platform and within a series of community recognition and professional development activities.
EARLY RESULTS
Launch of HoustonLovesTeachers.org and over two-thirds of the entire Houston workforce subscribed to database
4 Houston Loves Teachers Appreciation events including collaborations with local professional teams
A campus beautification project including 6 Extra Yard Makeovers and 10 campus mural projects
A+ Lunches at over 50 area schools
Innovation Grants and DonorsChoose Resource funding
INDIANAPOLIS 2022
The focus of the impact stretched beyond the host city of Indianapolis, stretching statewide. Due to the ongoing pandemic crisis, teachers across the state of Indiana were in need of virtual and hybrid learning support. At the same time, due to the additional stressors in K-12 education, classrooms were in need of more teachers and resources.
IMPACT STRATEGY
The primary focus of the work was in ensuring teachers were provided with the support they needed to quickly adjust to changing learning environments. In July of 2020, a free digital hub for educators and administrators to get professional development, classroom lesson plans, and collaborate on best practices was created. To continue to support the workforce, a marketing effort was put into place to support the recruitment of great teachers within Center City Township of Indianapolis in partnership with Teach Indy that included a unique mentorship program. Additional supports to teachers across the state included Extra Yard Makeovers and other teacher appreciation activities and resource giveaways.
RESULTS
The College Football Playoff Foundation and Host City began its work early in July 2020 which allowed for proven success in the established programs. A $3M Indiana Department of Education grant would sustain funding for the Learning Lab over the next three years, with approximately 6,000 users engaging with the technology already. The impact continued with the launch of new teacher and mentorship programs to support over 400 new Indianapolis teachers. Additionally, Extra Yard Makeovers and ongoing efforts in teacher retention and recruitment activities serve educators across Indiana.
MIAMI 2021
The school district leaders in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach county schools each identified middle school reform as a major priority. Each is also developing short term and long-term plans to improve student achievement outcomes on their middle school campuses by developing innovation centers.
IMPACT STRATEGY
The primary focus of the work was in ensuring teachers were provided with the support they needed to quickly adjust to changing learning environments. In July of 2020, a free digital hub for educators and administrators to get professional development, classroom lesson plans, and collaborate on best practices was created. To continue to support the workforce, a marketing effort was put into place to support the recruitment of great teachers within Center City Township of Indianapolis in partnership with Teach Indy that included a unique mentorship program. Additional supports to teachers across the state included Extra Yard Makeovers and other teacher appreciation activities and resource giveaways.
RESULTS
The College Football Playoff Foundation in partnership with Miami 2021 and the Orange Bowl has invested in over 40 elementary, middle and high school makeovers throughout South Florida. Investments were also made in educational facilities for homeless families, and in leadership training programs for elementary students.
NEW ORLEANS 2020
New Orleans public schools serve 40,000 economically disadvantaged children, more than any other city in the state. In addition, 91% are students of color and 12% are students with disabilities. There are 87 schools and approximately 2,700 teachers in Orleans Parish with an annual turnover rate of 900 teachers (29%). According to local leaders, the lack of continued success is a result of the lack of stability in the teacher workforce. Approximately one in three teachers leave their jobs every year, and there is not a clear and focused pipeline from local teacher preparation programs to support the long term stability of the workforce.
IMPACT STRATEGY
The College Football Playoff Foundation drove impact through a community wide engagement strategy focused on teacher recruitment and retention of teachers. Collaboration among local media, corporations, the Allstate Sugar Bowl and local universities provided resources for a robust recruitment marketing campaign and local teacher appreciation events.
RESULTS
The programs implemented have continued following the first year’s positive results including Teach New Orleans receiving 65,000 unique site visitors, over 2,000 resumes received and New Orleans Public Schools making over 130 hires. Over 3,000 educators were impacted through the CFP Foundation and New Orleans College Football Championship Host Committee’s rollout of Teacher Appreciation events.
BAY AREA 2019
In an effort to reach the many educators and school districts within the Bay Area, the College Football Playoff Foundation partnered with the San Francisco 49ers EDU program to bolster existing STEAM programs and initiatives unique to the needs of to the Bay area. Additionally, in response to the nearby CAMP Fire in fall of 2018, the CFP Foundation led a giving campaign to support Butte County Schools and educators that lost their schools and homes.
IMPACT STRATEGY
The College Football Playoff Foundation leveraged its partnership with Donors Choose to invest directly in classroom technology resources for educators including three media center makeovers.
To further support educators, a unique promotion with Landed was created where teachers were given the opportunity to apply for a down payment for their home.
RESULTS
Over 1 million was invested in resources, STEAM teacher training and giving programs for educators in the Bay Area.
The College Football Playoff Foundation continues to support the relationships with Bay Area teachers through legacy programs such as the Dr. Harry Edwards Follow Your Bliss grant and awards, transportation vans for Butte County Schools, and projects in partnership with the Pac 12, 49ers and others.
ATLANTA 2018
Following a 2016 study in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) it was discovered that 70% of APS teachers did not feel confident teaching foundational early learning literacy skills. The ability for kids to read at the early word level and make connections between sounds and letters and develop language skills is essential to the future success of the child’s development.
IMPACT STRATEGY
Evidence determined that a multi-year high-quality literacy toolkit was needed and APS selected the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading instruction as the optimal framework for literacy. The College Football Playoff Foundation partnered with the host committee, the Peach Bowl and Chick-fil-A Foundation to train 1,500 K through 5th grade teachers from over three years (beginning in 2017).
RESULTS
Following the training, literacy proficiency jumped from 10% to over 50% according to 2018 APS reports in students kindergarten through second grade as a result of the program. Teachers that received the training report that it was very impactful to their practice. Results from 2019 showed an equally positive increase. Unfortunately scores have been difficult to obtain following 2020, due to the pandemic. However, anecdotal information suggests the impact from the training is ongoing.
TAMPA 2017
When the College Football Playoff Foundation spent time with the three major school districts in the Tampa Bay area, each independently identified college readiness as a priority.
IMPACT STRATEGY
In Tampa, investments were made in partnerships, resources and testing so that schools, educators and counselors were able to prepare students attending Hillsborough County, Pasco County and Pinellas County school districts for life beyond high school.
A specific partnership was created with Florida College Access Network (FCAN) with the goal of ensuring every Florida student graduates high school with a college or career plan by pulling together best practices and strategies from throughout the state and nationally. Also, a $200K investment provided scholarships for low-income students attending college.
RESULTS
The set of initiatives resulted in a 10 percent increase in high school students that enrolled into a college or university in just one year and 54 students received scholarship funds towards their college education. Programming has been sustained through an ongoing partnership with Florida College Access Network (FCAN) and has further developed into the launch of a robust ‘Plan It Florida’ initiative that begins working with students at the middle school level to identify interests and strengths to plan for a career and path beyond high school.