SALISBURY — The Rowan-Salisbury School System has been approved for $448,586 in grants from the Blanche & Julian Robertson Family Foundation, the organization announced Friday.
The awards to the school system are part of more than $1.9 million in grants the foundation approved in the spring 2011 grant cycle. The Robertson board reviewed 102 grant applications, one of its largest numbers ever, and approved 63.
The Rowan-Salisbury Schools received 13 grant approvals, most of which are technology driven.
“The Rowan-Salisbury School System is so fortunate to have the support from the Robertson Foundation,” Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom said Friday. “We would not have made as much progress in technology if the Foundation Board were not as generous and attuned to the needs of our students to be prepared for the 21st century.
“We can never thank them enough.”
Salisbury High School will receive the largest grant of $80,806 for the installation of a 3-D virtual reality program.
Six agencies receive annual grants in the foundation’s Continuing Support Grant Program. These include Community Care Clinic, $50,000; Communities In Schools, $50,000; Habitat for Humanity, $20,000; Meals on Wheels of Rowan, $35,000; Rowan County United Way’s Day of Caring program, $40,000; and Rowan Helping Ministries’ Crisis Assistance Support, $50,000.
The 2011 grants include:
• Adolescent & Family Enrichment Center — $25,000 for operating support;
• The Arc of Rowan County — $20,000 for its summer program;
• Bread Riot, Inc. — $2,000 for operating support;
• Catawba College — $50,000 for budget relief;
• Central N.C. Council, Boy Scouts — $10,000 for Rowan District Friends of Scouting;
• City of Salisbury Community Appearance Commission — $10,000 for BlockWork Neighborhood Improvement project;
• Concert Choir — $5,500 to support upcoming performance of Handel’s “Messiah;”
• Downtown Salisbury, Inc. — $75,000 for the DSIP Revolving Fund, and $3,500 to purchase folding machine for the DSI office;
• Family Crisis Council — $40,000 for operating support;
• Food for Thought — $12,000 for operating support;
• Godstock — $15,000 for emergency administration funding;
• Habitat for Humanity — $50,000 for funds to purchase housing property;
• Happy’s Farm — $5,000 for summer scholarships assisting low income students;
• Healthy Children of Rowan County — $40,000 over two years for Empowering Youth, Girl Pride, and summer reading programs;
• Hood Theological Seminary — $50,000 toward construction of new refectory;
• Livingstone College — $50,000 for budget relief;
• Nazareth Children’s Home — $19,356 for installation of residential campus security monitors, and $25,000 in support for the Residential Level II program;
• N.C. Center for International Understanding — $15,000 for Global Teacher Awards/Rowan program;
• N.C. Center for Nonprofit Organizations — $10,000 in professional development support for Rowan nonprofits;
• N.C. Transportation Museum Foundation — $25,000 for operating support;
• Partners in Learning — $25,000 in operating support;
• Piedmont Players Theater — $25,000 for Youth Theater support and PPT operating fund;
• Pregnancy Support Center — $10,000 in operating support;
• Rotary Club of Salisbury — $10,000 for Patriots Flag Concourse Memorial & Park project;
• Rowan Blues and Jazz Society — $2,000 for youth blues, jazz, storytelling and music programming;
• Rowan-Cabarrus Community College — $28,000 for revitalization of the dental assisting program laboratory;
• Rowan County Health Department — $50,000 for Health Link program;
• Rowan County Literacy Council — $15,000 in operating support;
• Rowan County United Way, Day of Caring program — $10,000 in increased funding;
• Rowan Helping Ministries — $50,000 for the Crisis Assistance Network;
• Rowan Museum — $20,000 for summer history camps;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools — $20,000 to support Rowan field trips for elementary school students;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools — $80,806 for installation of 3D virtual reality program at Salisbury High School;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools — $6,100 for the 2012 Elementary Honors Choral Festival;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Hanford Dole Elementary School — $35,000 for after-school academy operations;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Horizons Unlimited — $50,000 to support educating for high quality jobs in N.C. through technology;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Knollwood Elementary School — $18,000 for a Promethean tech board;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Koontz Elementary School — $59,000 for expanding technology;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/North Rowan High School — $5,734 for venetian blinds and improvements to sound system in the auditorium;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/North Rowan High School — $11,600 for summer technology camp;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Overton Elementary School — $55,000 for the Overtonville P.A.S.S.P.O.R.T. program;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Salisbury High School — $50,000 for completion of the restroom-exercise addition to the school gymnasium;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Salisbury High School — $8,346 for TI-84 graphing calculators for chemistry and physics classes;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Salisbury High School — $16,620 for Middle School Junior ROTC Mentoring program;
• Rowan-Salisbury Schools/Salisbury High School — $49,000 for ActivBoards for English and Mathematics classrooms;
• Rowan Vocational Opportunities — $38,000 to purchase a new client van;
• Rufty-Holmes Senior Center — $38,000 to assist with roof replacement project on Center buildings, and $10,000 for the Center’s scholarship fund;
• Salisbury Community Development Corp. —$20,800 to assist with the house foreclosure prevention;
• Salisbury-Rowan Symphony Society — $12,000 to support concerts by the N.C. Symphony Orchestra for Rowan-Salisbury Schools fifth grade students, and $4,000 for the After-School Strings program;
• Salisbury Symphony Orchestra — $10,000 sponsorship of the “Pops at the Post” concert;
• Salvation Army — $50,000 for the Emergency Services fund;
• Saving Grace Farm — $10,000 for operating support;
• Smart Start Rowan, Inc. — $20,000 for the Literacy Initiative program;
• Special Olympics North Carolina — $10,000 for Special Olympics Rowan County operations;
• Waterworks Visual Arts Center — $50,000 for operating support;
• Westside Community Foundation — $15,000 for the Stepping-Up Youth Summer Enrichment program;
• YMCA of Rowan County — $50,000 for operating support; and
• Young Life Rowan — $15,000 for Young Life summer camp scholarships.
The foundation was chartered in the fall of 1997 with an initial gift of $15 million by Salisbury native Julian H. Robertson Jr., now of New York City.
He named the charitable foundation in memory of his parents, Blanche S. and Julian H. Robertson Sr., longtime residents and civic leaders of Salisbury.
Throughout the past 13 years, Robertson has increased his gifts to the Foundation by an additional $21 million. The foundation has a current operating investment base of $18.4 million.