The Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation described expanded grant programs and ongoing supports for students and staff during a Spotlight podcast interview, including $250 classroom grants for new and returning teachers, grants up to $10,000 for curriculum projects and emergency aid for students in crisis.

The foundation’s executive director, Allison Lisonbee Strzok, said the organization has grown from volunteer-led grants into three steady focus areas—curriculum enhancements, talent and recognition, and student success—and has awarded thousands of dollars in direct support to teachers and students across the district.

The foundation’s curriculum-enhancement programs include a $250 ‘‘first-time teacher’’ award for all eligible new teachers, a $250 ‘‘replenish the room’’ grant for returning teachers, and the Public School Proud grants that allow teachers to apply for up to $10,000 for hands-on classroom projects. "We have surpassed the $1,000,000 mark in investments for our public school program grant program," Lisonbee Strzok said.

The foundation reported recent award totals and demand: it awarded 120 replenish-the-room grants in the first year and 152 the following year, and Lisonbee Strzok said "we had more than 400 teachers apply in 36 hours" when the most recent replenish grant round opened. She said the Public School Proud program has funded roughly 110 projects in the past spring cycle.

Under the talent-and-recognition focus, the foundation provides building-level staff appreciation funding and activities. The foundation gave 14 designated low-income schools $5,000 each for staff appreciation, supplies spirit wear, runs coffee trucks and supplies catered meals during conference periods, and launched a mental-wellness initiative that funds team-building or stress-relief activities such as art classes, gardening projects, yoga and other workshops.

The student-success focus supplies emergency needs through counselors and social workers, including food assistance, hygiene products, winter gear and school supplies. The foundation has bought washer-and-dryer sets for three buildings to allow staff to launder students’ clothing during the school day, purchased car seats and booster seats for student transport, and sponsored three buses to take high school students to the National College Fair in Minneapolis.

Lisonbee Strzok framed those supports as removing barriers to learning: "In order to be focused and engaged in the classroom, students' basic needs have to be met," she said, linking the foundation’s work to earlier nonprofit experience at Feeding South Dakota.

The foundation is governed by a volunteer board that advisers on vision and final allocations. Lisonbee Strzok said the Education Foundation Board of Directors determines funding allocations (typically at its February meeting) after an initial screening by committees. For the current grant cycle, she gave an application deadline for the Public School Proud grants as "November 21 at noon," with final funding decisions by the board in February and surprise award announcements beginning in March.

The foundation serves all buildings in Sioux Falls Public Schools, which Lisonbee Strzok said includes roughly 24,000 students and 3,600 staff across 38 sites. She described numerous donor options: online gifts at sfeducationfoundation.org, monthly donations, mailed checks to the foundation PO box, and directed gifts such as support for unpaid student lunches (the foundation facilitates angel-fund-style donations and issues tax acknowledgment letters).

Board volunteers named on the podcast included Seth Peterson (board chair), Carrie Aaron (vice chair, described as a longtime former district teacher and administrator) and Callie Veish (treasurer). Lisonbee Strzok credited private donors and the volunteer board with enabling funded projects and immediate responses to school-identified needs.

The foundation’s leaders emphasized scale and demand: the large number of applicants for modest grants, repeated requests from school staff for specific supports, and examples of teacher reactions—Lisonbee Strzok recounted receiving handwritten thank-you notes saying a $250 award "made my whole day; actually, my whole year." She noted that many funded projects produce visible classroom outcomes, from programmable robots to musical instruments and art projects.

As giving season approaches, the foundation is soliciting donations to support classroom grants and emergency student needs. Lisonbee Strzok encouraged donors to use the foundation website to give and to contact the foundation for gift options that align with donor interests and district needs.

The foundation's programs and timelines described on the podcast provide donors and teachers a clear application and donation path: replenish and first-time teacher grants award $250; Public School Proud grants accept applications through Nov. 21 at noon for awards decided by the board in February; and donors can give online at sfeducationfoundation.org or by mail to the foundation PO box.