This letter is sent by the Allocations Committee of ELEEF to all schools in East Longmeadow  THE EAST LONGMEADOW EDUCATIONAL ENDOWMENT FUND, INC. East Longmeadow, Massachusetts September 11, 2009 The East Longmeadow Educational Endowment Fund was established and funded by parents and local businesses as a non-profit, private foundation focusing solely on improving the quality of public education in our town.  Each year, the Endowment expects to make grants to educators for the purpose of enriching the student experience in the classroom, resource room or library. This is our thirteenth year of soliciting grant requests, and I am pleased to inform you that the Board has voted to award $17,000 in educational impact grants for the school year 2009-2010.  We will follow our format from last year and will not be targeting any one particular school to award a portion of the grant money to.   We will again allow all of the schools to participate by submitting impact grant requests to the Endowment. In order for this process to be effective again this year, we need your help.  We need your insights, input and perspective captured in the form of a grant request.  This grant request will set forth your ideas for projects, programs, special curriculum and equipment that will motivate students and stimulate learning. Accompanying this letter is a grant application form.  Please provide us with as much detail as needed to support a solid understanding of your request.  Describe your ideas, goals and objectives.  Itemize needed supplies, resources and equipment required to implement the project or program.  Our criteria for evaluating impact grant requests is as follows:  (I) The project should impact as broad a number of students as possible; (II) The educational enrichment resulting from the grant should be as long lasting as possible; (III) The school system should be committed to maintaining the program; (IV) The program/project requested would not normally be funded through the annual school budget.  Especially related to (III), we are requiring a signature from the Superintendent on all impact grant applications.  Please note that all applications must be submitted by December 11, 2009. We look forward to hearing from you.  If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please feel free to contact me at 525-5682 or nancy.cokotis@mwv.com.  Heather Bliss, Co-Chair, can be reached at 525-2865 or dhbliss@verizon.net. Respectfully, Nancy Cokotis Chairperson, Allocations Committee             East Longmeadow Educational Endowment Grant Application