Annual Report
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EDUCATE HONOR CHALLENGE ANNUAL REPORT Annual Report - July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS General Ronald Rand Joins Board CEO of Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation We welcomed Brig. General Ronald Rand, USAF Table of Contents (Ret) to our board. General Rand brings to the role: 32 years of distinguished service in the Air Force, which culminated in the position of Director LEAD of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.; subsequent Board of Directors 1 ten years at Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Mar- tin; and his current position as President and Chief President’s Message 2 Executive Officer (CEO) of the Congressional Staff 2 Medal of Honor Foundation. EDUCATE Freedoms Foundation Board of Directors Graduate Teacher Programs 3-4 Frank C. Brulenski (Chairman) William O. Perry, III Partner, Marcum LLP, Philadelphia, PA Chief Executive Officer, Student Programs 5-6 Michael E. Di Yeso Perry Homes, Murray, UT President and CEO, Jerry D. Poole HONOR Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, President and CEO, Acrometis, LLC, Awards 7-9 Valley Forge, PA Malvern, PA Gloria Dahl Ronald T. Rand Medal of Honor Grove 10 Freedoms Foundation Volunteer President and CEO, Congressional Chapters, Los Angeles, CA Medal of Honor Foundation, CHALLENGE Sara M. Drury Arlington, VA Volunteer Chapters 11-12 Assistant Professor of Rhetoric Christopher M. Rothey (Vice- Director, Wabash Democracy & Chairman) Development 13-14 Public Discourse, Wabash College Chief Executive Officer, Crawfordsville, IN Radiate Media, Malvern, PA 2015 - 2016 Supporters 15-17 Charles R. Gerow Russell K. Schulz FINANCIALS 18 President and CEO, Quantum Captain, United States Navy (Ret.), Communications, Harrisburg, PA Doylestown, PA Richard S. Griffith Rogers Smith Chief Executive Officer, Image API Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Newtown, PA Professor of Political Sci- John C. Heenan ence, University of Pennsylvania Director, Marine Corps Scholarship Philadelphia, PA Foundation, Alexandria, VA H. Ernest Smith, (Secretary) Wallace Nunn (Treasurer) Principal, TerraForm Companies, Former Head, Mid-Atlantic Public Salt Lake City, UT Finance Region, Citigroup Global Shirley Smith Markets Inc., Newtown Square, PA Regional Director (Volunteer Chapters), Dallas, TX 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Poised for Growth Message from the President This fiscal year has been about sharpen- ing our vision regarding the needs for civ- FREEDOMS FOUNDATION STAFF ic education and working towards build- ing a team and program to respond to PRESIDENT AND CEO that need. This focus is at the heart of our mission to Educate on American rights Michael E. Di Yeso and responsibilities, Honor acts of civic EDUCATION virtue, and Challenge all to reject apathy and get involved. Vice President of Education To that end, we have added new pro- Jason S. L. Raia grams to our offerings, added staff to support our chapters and Director of Graduate expand our development efforts, and developed key and po- Education tentially long-term relationships that FY 2016 Key Accomplishments have attracted a much more cul- Eugene Halus, PhD Feasibility study which turally and financially diverse stu- validated need for Middle Director of Education School civic education dent population. Carolyn Santangelo programs. These are exciting times, and they Formation of a Youth Advisory are challenging times. Research Education Program Council (YAC) Coordinator and experience both indicate the Campus improvements untapped potential for growing our Kim DeBlase student and graduate teacher ed- ucational offerings. The challenge is to adapt our funding ap- DEVELOPMENT proach to the current development environment. Director of Donor Relations In the pages that follow, you will read about the strides Free- Maureen Troutman doms Foundation has made in addressing both the need and *Development Manager the challenge of bringing our mission to life. What may not be as evident is the great effort and commitment made by the Louise Savarese Freedoms Foundation team and the tandem support provided *Marketing & Development by our Board of Directors without which, our success could — Coordinator never have been as great. I am proud to be associated with both and confident that together our efforts position us to build Shannon Sisson on our success in the year ahead. ACCOUNTING Sincerely, Bookkeeper Bonnie Anderson Michael E. Di Yeso President and Chief Executive Officer *New positions 2 FREEDOMS FOUNDATION EDUCATE Traveling Graduate Workshops Teachers Experience Authentic Representations of History FY 2016 GRADUATE COURSE The traveling graduate workshops provide teachers with a unique STATS opportunity to experience the physical history of their subject matter. By experiencing the physical history of places associated Number of teachers enrolled: with topics such as the American Revolution and the Civil War, 190 amongst others, teachers obtain a concrete experiential under- Number of states represented: standing of history that they can bring back to their classrooms, as 40 + District of Columbia well as additional knowledge about the subject being studied and pedagogical techniques. Each workshop is rich with content and workshop participants form an active and engaged profes- sional learning community that often continues after the work- shop has ended. SUMMER 2015 TEACHER GRAD PROGRAMS Medal of Honor (MOH) Semi- nar: MOH Legacy Workshops: Revolution of the Middle States Civil War East 3 We educate about American rights and responsibilities…. Graduate Teacher Program Expands to Match in Interest This past summer’s programs saw major scholars present at our graduate teacher seminars from such institutions as the University MOH SEMINAR ATTENDEE of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Temple University, West Point, and Korean Defense University, amongst others. “...The Medal of Honor Legacy Program refined my focus on Medal of Honor the impact one individual can Recipients and make in history, through their other veterans individual courage, integrity from World War II and commitment—all values through to the War that are vital to reinforce in the on Terror also mind of the middle school stu- spoke to attending dent…” teachers. These programs showed Freedoms Founda- Anna-Lisa Dahlgren tion’s growing suc- Teacher of 8th Grade cess in promoting US History civic education Marshall, WI through professional development opportunities for teachers. New Director of Education Eugene J. Halus, PhD, Takes on New Role As part of our plan to build the graduate teacher program, Dr. Eugene Halus joined our organization in July, 2015. He brings a diverse background with a varied skillset and experience to the graduate program at Freedoms Foundation. His prior positions in academia include: Chair of the Depart- ment of History and Political Science at Immaculata University; teaching positions at Ohio University and St. Joseph University; and high school social studies. Out- side of academia he worked for Joseph O’Toole of the Senate of the Republic of Ireland, was an investi- gator for the General Accounting Office as part of the Presidential Management Interns program, and volun- teered in Haiti and Nicaragua, building villages, schools, Eugene J. Halus, PhD clinics, and other life-sustaining operations. Dr. Halus received his BA in Political Science from LaSalle Universi- ty and a PhD from Catholic University of America. 4 FREEDOMS FOUNDATION EDUCATE Spirit of America Youth Leadership Program FY 2016 STUDENT COURSE STATS Radian Sponsors Philadelphia Students Radian sponsored 75 students from Philadelphia who attended the Feb- Spirit of America: 909 ruary 25-28, 2016 Spirit of America program at Freedoms Foundation. S.A. Ibrahim, CEO of Radian, was the keynote speaker during the week- StudentHistory Encounters: Programs 375 end. The program also featured a newly developed financial literacy Service Learning in Public Policy workshop with discussion on topics such as student loans, budgeting and (SLIPP): 42 credit card debt. Number of states represented: 50, plus Puerto Rico and Guam NEW PARTNERSHIPS ESTABLISHED Radian sponsored students at Spirit of America AMVETS Achieves Attendance Record There were major achievements in FY 2016; the first among them came from our program partner AMVETS. AMVETS held their annual Spirit of America Youth Leadership Program in November of 2015 and for the first time the organization achieved its goal of a representative student from We were successful in develop- each of the 50 states. In all, AMVETS sponsored129 attendees to the Spirit ing key and potentially long- of America Program this year. term relationships with organiza- tions like Esperanza Academy, This year was also highlighted by support from funders, the Armstrong Philadelphia Boys and Girls Club, and Strake Foundations. With the money received, our Dallas and Hou- Philadelphia Futures, and the ston Chapters were able to send students to the Spring 2016 SOA pro- Springfield (IL) Boys and Girls grams and cover their travel costs. Club. An important by-product Freedoms Foundation was also pleased to have the Knights of Columbus of these partnerships has been a Father Kapan Chapter as a new local sponsor, who sent students from much more cultural and finan- Chester and Delaware Counties. cially diverse population at our student programs. 5 We educate about American rights and responsibilities…. Youth Advisory Council Answering the Call to Get Involved! A Youth Advisory Council (YAC) was formed and introduced this YAC MEMBERS year and is led by program staffer, Christine