Midtown Educational Foundation Receives Prestigious Templeton Grant
John Templeton Foundation $231K multi-year grant to fund core elements of MEF’s acclaimed character education program
MEF students, volunteers and staff have always benefitted from ongoing character development. However, with this new Templeton grant, MEF will be able to develop an even more robust and measurable character curriculum for the future.
CHICAGO, Illinois (January 18, 2023) – Midtown Educational Foundation (MEF), the city of Chicago’s acclaimed non-profit organization guiding low-income urban youth along pathways of success, has been awarded a $230,998 multi-year grant via the John Templeton Foundation. The Templeton Grant, the second-largest foundation grant in MEF’s history, will aid in funding the organization’s upcoming Developing Character for Chicago Inner-City Youth project.
This full-scale project will enable Midtown Educational Foundation to develop a character curriculum for its students, staff, and volunteers based on principal virtues, the dignity of each person and knowing, loving and doing the good.
The curriculum of the Developing Character for Chicago Inner-City Youth project will be implemented universally at both the Midtown Center for boys and the Metro Achievement Center for girls. This process anticipates the full participation of MEF’s staff, board of directors, volunteers, parents and partners. Critical to the success of the curriculum, MEF will develop clear “character orientation” programs for all paid staff and volunteers working at the centers for both the academic school year and summertime programs.
The Templeton Foundation grant will allow MEF to continue its work forming students of character through its character education classes and one-on-one mentoring sessions (as pictured here at its Metro Achievement Center for girls).
Once curriculum implementation begins, MEF will employ measurement strategies developed with the help of its partners to determine individual student character growth over the term of the Templeton Foundation Grant. This process will require the frequent assessment of character growth among all MEF students.
“We are incredibly grateful to the John Templeton Foundation and are truly honored to be a recipient of this prestigious grant,” said Glenn Wilke, Executive Director, Midtown Educational Foundation. “It will enable us to enhance our focus on building and strengthening the character of each of our students, a vital factor in ensuring their future success both academically and in life.”
To learn more about the John Templeton Foundation and its vision, purpose, mission, and impact, please visit www.templeton.org.
About John Templeton Foundation: Founded in 1987, the John Templeton Foundation supports research and catalyzes conversations that inspire people with awe and wonder. We fund work on subjects ranging from black holes and evolution to creativity, forgiveness, and free will. We also encourage civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, theologians, and the public at large. Our aspiration is to help people create lives of meaning and purpose and to become a global catalyst for discoveries that contribute to human flourishing.
About Midtown Educational Foundation: Midtown Educational Foundation, through its Metro Achievement Center for girls and Midtown Center for boys, has helped close the achievement gap for underserved students in Chicago since its founding in 1965. Its programming, focusing on academic excellence, virtue development, individual attention, and parental engagement, has led to 100% high school graduation and college enrollment for its students for over 20 consecutive years.
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Media Contact:
Vince Meno
Director of Community Outreach & Marketing
Phone: 773-520-7202
Email: vmeno@midtown-metro.org