WE NOW HAVE LESS THAN 530 DAYS TO CHANGE OHIO’S LAWS TO ENSURE ALL STUDENTS CAN ACCESS HIGH-QUALITY EDUCATION.

S U M M E R

2 0 1 8N E W S L E T T E R

Greetings friends!

The countdown to 2020 continues. In July, the clock showed only about 530 days to go. Why is this important?

We are leading a state-wide push to fix funding for high-quality public charter schools by 2020. As you know, we receive virtually NO FUNDING for our buildings and we receive less than 2/3 of the per-pupil funding for district schools. Yet, our student achievement consistently outperforms virtually all schools in every neighborhood we’re in, as well as the Big 8 school districts throughout the state. This funding inequity must be fixed to help ensure our long-term sustainability as a network. Next year, we’ll be the third largest K-8 “district” in the entire county!

So… in the meantime…

We continue to ask the community to provide philanthropic support. We’re asking everyone to consider increasing their donation this year by a percentagethat is meaningful for you. Someone wise once told me… “Give until it feels good!”

By the way, you might be wondering how our first graduates are doing. Well, in 2017, our first college graduation year, over 31% of our 8th grade scholars graduated from college in FOUR years. For low-income students across the country, only about 10% graduate from college in four years. Soon, we’ll know about the class of 2018. Our mission is to prepare our scholars for success in life. We’re getting there!

Thanks for your support,

PS: a Haiku from JZ…

Help us serve more kids. You will feel good about it. So will our scholars.

DREAMS ARE BEING REALIZED

Get all the details on BASH 2018 inside and Save the Date for the

8th A�ualBREAKTHROUGHBASH

HOSTED BY FRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS

BREAKTHROUGHBASH

HOSTED BY FRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26TH

CITIZENSCitizens Academy: Mahatma Gandhi CampusCitizens Academy EastCitizens Academy Southeast

EXPEDITIONARY Citizens Leadership Academy: Saltzman Campus Citizens Leadership Academy East

PREPARATORYEntrepreneurship Preparatory School: Cliffs CampusVillage Preparatory School: Cliffs CampusEntrepreneurship Preparatory School: Woodland HillsVillage Preparatory School: Woodland HillsEntrepreneurship Preparatory School: Willard Village Preparatory School: Willard

OUR SCHOOLS

The Semper Virens Legacy Society recognizes the signif icant and deep commitment of our donors.

For more information about the Semper Virens Legacy Society or if you are interested in learning more about legacy giving and tax deductible planned gifts, please visit www.breakthroughschools.org/sempervirens or contact Susan Ertle at sertle@breakthroughschools.org.

Thank you to all who joined and supported the 7th annual BASH on Saturday, January 27th at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown as we honored Dee and Jimmy Haslam for their generous, transformational support to Breakthrough and the entire educational community in Cleveland. We are honored and grateful to announce that our net proceeds

are over $850k! We couldn’t do it without you.

We can never express appreciation enough! Thank you, thank you!Many thanks to ALL of our BASH supporters!

And, they raised their paddles high and warmed our hearts with their generosity

to fund a classroom ($29,700!):Bridget & Bernie Moreno

Pat & Dick PogueGuniya & Suresh Bafna

Katie & Charlie LougheedKay Ingersoll

Stephen McHaleUniversity Hospitals

MAGNA CUM LAUDE SPONSOR ($25K)

Shelly & Mark Saltzman

PRESENTING SPONSOR ($50K)

CUM LAUDE SPONSORS ($10K)

Betty Rosskamm

Cassi Handler & John Sinnenberg

Jane & Jon Outcalt Katie & Ken Outcalt

Sanjay and Neha Vyas

Anonymous

Anne-Marie & Sam Petros

Guniya and Suresh BafnaSusan and Michael CristalAnn and Joe DreherLiz and Patrick JamesKarla and John KingHolyn and Jack KochAnne and John Mitchell

Katie and Ken OutcaltMichelle and Ami PerezRebecca and Harrison PettsEliza and John SaadaDiane Singer and Jeff Ehrbar Christina Townsend-Hartz and Scott McNevan

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO OUR BASH HOST COMMITTEE – THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU TO BASH 2018 SPONSORS:

RITA AND SANJAY SEHGAL, Co-ChairsTRACY AND BRUCE WILHELM, Co-Chairs

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Cristal ChairJames Kavalec Vice ChairWilliam Koehler Vice ChairCharlie Lougheed Vice ChairRichard Pace Vice ChairThomas Rudibaugh Vice ChairBridget Moreno Vice ChairJeffrey Berlin TreasurerJennifer Grossman Secretary

Megan ArthSuresh BafnaEd BellFrank BirdJulia BoltonDenise CarkhuffJames CarulasJamie ColeTimothy CoughlinJeffrey CristalJames ManleyMike de WindtMartin GatesRobert GillespieAndrew LeeJohn LeMayCecil LipscombDavid LowmanJames ManleyMichael MerrimanAlfred MillerJane OutcaltPoppie ParishMichelle PerezPeter RomeRita SehgalDiane SingerJohn SinnenbergHeather ThiltgenBrian TuckerWilliam VogelgesangGeorge von ZedlitzBrent Zimmerman

ADVISORY BOARD Jeanette Grasselli Brown David Gunning Walter Kalberer John Sherwin, Jr.

Scholars at Breakthrough’s established middle schools – Citizens Leadership

Academy, E Prep Cliffs Campus, and E Prep Woodland Hills – will receive Apple

iPads this fall thanks to a highly competitive grant from the Verizon Foundation.

The Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS) program provides an iPad and

data to every middle school student, as well as professional development for our

teachers and school leaders to innovate in the classroom..

In April, Dan Foreman, Manager of Professional Learning for the VILS program,

visited Citizens Leadership Academy (CLA) to introduce VILS to the educators

and help to get them familiar and comfortable with their Verizon iPads in order to

be able to successfully incorporate them into student learning.

Breakthrough is part of Cohort 5, the fifth group to receive the VILS grant

from Verizon and the only network in Ohio. In addition to iPads, each school will

receive professional development throughout the school year to help incorporate

the iPads into the school’s existing curriculum. Dan and the CLA teachers spent

the day discussing the difference between technology integration and blended

learning, as well as the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and

Redefinition) educational model.

E Prep Cliffs Campus and E Prep Woodland Hills received their iPads and first

round of professional development in May. Thank you to Verizon, the grants

team, and our educators for ensuring Breakthrough is preparing our scholars for

success in a connected, digital economy – and for keeping learning fun!

BREAKTHROUGH MIDDLE SCHOOLERS

RECEIVE iPADS THANKS TO VERIZON

WOW what an amazing night!

Our Community Partners Event Sponsors

Many thanks to our Community Partner Event Sponsors who committed their support for the entire 2018-2019 fiscal year. For more information on becoming a Community Partner, contact Karen at ksolomon@breakthroughschools.org.

Cassi Handler & John Sinnenberg

Drew & Nancy Forhan

Our mentors spend many hours helping our 8th grade students prepare for high school. From encouraging students to apply to selective,

high-performing, high schools, to the rigorous application process, our mentors are there for the scholars every step of the way to ensure they

can continue their high-quality education after Breakthrough. They help develop essay writing skills, conduct mock interviews, and discuss general

high school readiness with their mentees. Mentors and mentees meet once a week for about an hour. If you are interested in becoming a mentor please

contact Kelly Berg at kberg@breakthroughschools.org or 216-373-2818.

Scholars from E Prep and Village Prep Willard were joined by volunteers from Progressive Insurance’s African American Network on Friday, December 8, 2017 for a special event on International Hour of Code Day. The volunteers from Progressive, who specialize in IT, worked one on one with Breakthrough scholars to write hundreds of lines of code. They also shared their personal journeys into the world of IT, what it is like working in technology, and answered the students’ many questions about their career paths.

3615 SUPERIOR AVENUE • SUITE 3103A • CLEVELAND, OHIO 44114

FriendsofBreakthrough.org

THANK YOU!VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

THANK YOU TO OUR FABULOUS

BREAKTHROUGH 8TH GRADE MENTORS!

INTERNATIONAL HOUR OF CODE DAY