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May 27, 2023By Dr. Lisa Fischer, founder of Matthew 19:14
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14).
The Matthew 19:14 Project (TMP) is a local nonprofit organization working to remove the financial barriers preventing Arizona’s Catholic schools from getting much-needed equipment, training, and resources with the overall vision of ensuring that any family that desires a Catholic education for their children will be able to get one.
The assistance comes from two yearly grant cycles, providing grants of up to $1,000 per teacher and a maximum of $5,000 per school in each cycle. Six Diocese of Tucson schools were awarded grants in the 2022-2023 school year, including:
St. Peter & Paul Catholic School
Resource teacher Lisa Jamison was awarded $1,000 that allowed her to attend the National Conference for Character Strong as well as purchase materials including those used during Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons and materials to help exceptional learners excel in the classroom.
“Our students have expressed how much they enjoy when I come to their classrooms to teach them and remind them of our ever-loving God and how he is a part of our lives each and every day - when we're kind, when we're respectful, and when we have empathy for others,” said Jamison, who also shared with TMP how the grant will affect all 416 current students along with future ones.
Immaculate Heart Catholic School
Intervention specialists Jennifer Mencke and Margaret Richards
were awarded grants that allowed them to attend several professional development opportunities through the National Institute for Learning Development, including a math intervention course designed to address the math learning needs to middle and high school students.
“The conferences inspired and enabled us to reach our students with math deficits. We currently have 16 students in our math intervention program,” said the pair in a joint thank you note, adding that with the training they received thanks to the grant from TMP, they plan to expand their math intervention program in the 2023-2024 school year.
Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic School
Resource teacher Cathy Sweeney-Daniel was among the teachers who received TMP grants totaling $2,500 to support resource initiatives and the school’s Person-Centered Plan Project, helping students successfully make the transitions from elementary to middle school, and middle to high school.
The TMP grant also made is possible to support the school’s teachers and interventionists by providing them with tools and information such as the book “Adaptive Teacher - Faith Based Strategies to Reach and Teach Learners with Disabilities,” and assistive items to bolster concentration and engagement.
“We discussed what it means to support learners with disabilities, especially in a Catholic environment, and collectively we built, and will keep building, a treasure box of resources for each classroom,” said Sweeney-Daniel. “Your contribution allowed us to offer our students who attend our School Within a School some flexible seating options that they have utilized to help maintain their concentration as they work in small groups and one on one with their resource teacher. Thank you for helping us to better help our students!”
To learn more about The Matthew 19:14 Project and how you can help support Diocese of Tucson schools, please visit matthew1914project.org. To keep up with the latest news and upcoming grant opportunities, follow TMP on Facebook and Instagram.
Read more about The Matthew 19:14 Project