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The foundation is considering grants that relate to the South Carolina Education and Economic Development Act’s (EEDA) Finance, Health Science and Manufacturing career cluster.

“If you look at the job market in Florence, those three things are so important to this area,” said Debbie Hyler, executive director of The School Foundation. “I think the district made a good choice in selecting those as their first three clusters.”

The EEDA created Personal Pathways to Success, which combines academic standards with real-life skill opportunities. The program requires all students declare a career major through a course of study in one of 16 career clusters.

The grant must be for $10,000 or greater; should seek to have a broad impact across the school district and help prepare students for success in a global economy; should be a project the foundation can measure the success of; and be something the district wouldn’t be able to fund on it’s own. The grant can’t be used for normal school district operating expenses.

Grants must be innovative, creative, have educational value, student involvement and project director commitment. Schools can collaborate on the grant.

“As long as it pertains to those three clusters, the grant is pretty wide open as to what they can come up with,” Hyler said. “I think it would be great to involve the business community.”

Applications that clearly and concisely describe the project and anticipate positive benefits for students in the form of achievement, motivation and character development will be favored during the evaluation process, according to The School Foundation’s Web site, www.theschoolfoundation.org.

The School Foundation’s Grants Committee will evaluate the applications and make a recommendation to the foundation’s board of directors. The review process will take anywhere from 30 to 90 days. The foundation will notify the grant recipient by letter and all other applicants will receive feedback from the committee so everyone will know the strengths and weaknesses of their applications.

Each applicant must submit the original grant plus six copies with only the original needing a cover sheet.

Applications are available at all school district locations, the district office and the foundation’s Web site, www.theschoolfoundation.org.

Completed applications should be turned in on or before 4:30 p.m. April 15 to Dr. Valerie Harrison, assistant superintendent of instruction, at 319 S. Dargan Street, Florence.

For more information, contact Harrison at vharrison@fsd1.org or Hyler at dhyler@theschoolfoundation.org