The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust focuses primarily on supporting charitable organizations that are making a difference in the lives of children with disabilities. Resources are also allocated to help support organizations focused on providing healthcare to the uninsured. We believe these two areas represent opportunities for the Trust to create positive outcomes for diverse populations of people in communities across the country.

The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust funds the following:

Programs that serve children with disabilities under the age of 21 that address the following:

• Accessibility to Physical Activity
• Early Intervention
• Health and Rehabilitative Services

A green light signals “GO!” and permission to proceed. What revs you up as an artist and moves you to create? What signals the spark of creativity? Imagine that you receive a signal to drive your own future. Describe the experience and how you will direct your route – both artistically and personally. How does art give you permission to be who you are? Consider the infinite possibilities that art (or creativity) provides.

We are interested in both representational and abstract work. Artwork may illustrate actual aspects of what signals your creative motivations such as the physical world or personal discoveries. Abstract work that relates to feelings or emotions is also encouraged. Work might also reflect your experience of living with a disability and its role in shaping or transforming your work

We accept proposals from nonprofit organizations for projects which meet one of the Foundation’s two basic purposes:

• To contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge about new and innovative organizations and/or their programs designed to benefit youth; and
• To contribute to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare of children through the dissemination of knowledge already possessed by well-established organizations, to the end that such information can be more adequately used by society.

With the creation of national standards for arts learning in the 1990’s, assessment of student learning in the arts has become critical for providers of arts instruction throughout the country. Through the Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awards millions of dollars each year to support arts education projects that include many forms of assessment designed to measure student learning and program effectiveness. Applicants are required to describe their assessment plans in their proposed projects. However, creating, identifying, and implementing effective assessment tools that support quality arts instruction can be a challenge. Arts educators who provide instruction in schools and communities are looking for models of assessment in all art forms.

Summer 2008 will feature twelve Teacher-to-Teacher workshops. Due to the tremendous success of previous events, the National Park Service, NASA, the Office of Charter Schools are again hosting workshops. New partners include the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Energy, Department of Defense Education Agency, and the US Mint.

Prominent teachers, principals, and district officials provide training sessions and share research-based practices they have successfully applied in their classrooms and schools. Reading, math, science and history will be the content focus as well as using data, differentiating instruction, Doing What Works, and technology to support student achievement. All workshops will also provide important resources from the National Math Panel.

Since 2004 the U.S. Department of Education, through its Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative, has trained 20,000 teachers at 75 regional and district workshops. Attendees have included teachers and administrators from all 50 states who work in urban, suburban and rural schools.

We hope you can join us at one of this summer's workshops

The Libri Foundation was established in 1989 for the sole purpose of helping rural libraries acquire new, quality, hardcover children's books they could not otherwise afford to buy.

The grant program’s main objective is to help children whose socio-economic status impacts on their access to professional oral care and adversely affects their oral health habits at home. The program philosophy seeks to increase access to, and education on, oral health care by encouraging volunteerism in the health professions community.

By also encouraging synergy between community based applicants and awardees, the grant program seeks to pool limited resources within dentistry, industry and public charities to significantly reduce the level of children’s oral disease through education. Through this effort, the program assists in the dissemination of oral health promotion activities to aid those children most at risk.

The National High School Yearbook Adviser of the Year program is designed to honor outstanding high school advisers and their exemplary work from the previous year, as well as throughout their careers.

About CVS Caremark Community Grants
Community Grants target effective and innovative programs that align with our philanthropic values and criteria. To ensure that we make a positive impact, the 2008 Community Grants Program will focus on these two key areas:

1. PROGRAMS TARGETING CHILDREN UNDER AGE 18 WITH DISABILITIES THAT ADDRESS ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

• Health and Rehabilitation Services: We believe that health and rehabilitation services are critical in assuring that children with disabilities develop the skills needed to live as independently as possible at home, in school and in the community. Our CVS Caremark Community Grants support programs that promote independence among children with disabilities including physical and occupational therapies, speech and hearing therapies, assistive technology and recreational therapies.
• Public schools promoting a greater level of inclusion in student activities and extracurricular programs: We are devoted to supporting organizations that enrich the lives of children with disabilities through inclusive programs. Through our Community Grants Program we work to ensure that students are not left behind in school. Proposed programs must be fully inclusive where children with disabilities are full participants in an early childhood, adolescent, or teenage programs along side their typically developing peers.
• Creating opportunities or facilities which give greater access to physical movement and play: We believe that play is essential to healthy development—physical, cognitive, emotional and social—and offers a means of understanding the world. Therefore, we are devoted to the principle of free play. The unstructured, spontaneous, voluntary activity that's so engaging for children—has long been recognized as the most beneficial form. Proposed programs may include either physical activities or play opportunities and should address the specific needs of the population served.

This program provides funding for graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century. Through interactions with teachers and students in K-12 schools and with other graduate fellows and faculty from STEM disciplines, graduate students can improve communication, teaching, collaboration, and team building skills while enriching STEM learning and instruction in K-12 schools. Through this experience, graduate students can gain a deeper understanding of their own STEM research. In addition, the GK-12 program provides institutions of higher education with an opportunity to make a permanent change in their graduate programs by incorporating GK-12 like activities in the training of their STEM graduate students. Expected outcomes include improved communication, teaching, collaboration, and team building skills for the fellows; professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers; enriched learning for K-12 students; and strengthened and sustained partnerships in STEM between institutions of higher education and local school districts.

NSTA New Science Teacher Academy, cofounded by the Amgen Foundation, is a professional development initiative created to help promote quality science teaching, enhance teacher confidence and classroom excellence, and improve teacher content knowledge.

According to a 2003 study by Richard Ingersoll, nearly 50% of beginning teachers leave their jobs in the first five years. The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy endeavors to use mentoring and other professional development resources to support science teachers during the often challenging, initial teaching years and to help them stay in the profession.

As an NSTA Fellow, you will receive:

• Comprehensive NSTA membership and its benefits;
• An opportunity to participate in a variety of web-based professional development activities, including web seminars
• Unlimited use of resources including vetted web links for lesson plans, links to state and national standards, professional organizations, safety tips and more;
• An opportunity to participate in e-Mentoring developed by NSTA, the New Teacher Center, and Montana State University that includes:
  • e-Mentoring with an experienced teacher in the same science discipline and grade level;
  • Facilitated online curriculum that focuses on science content and applicable classroom pedagogy;
  • Access to a nationwide, online network of science educators and scientists that facilitate the exchange of information, ideas, and resources;
• Accommodations, coverage of airfare, food, and registration fees to attend the NSTA national conference;
• An opportunity to participate in specialized conference pathways and to participate in a Research Dissemination Conference or a Professional Development Institute.

• Project support is for existing high school retention programs with a successful track record of achieving effective results. The support may be used to continue programs in their current form, expand them to serve additional students, or add a component to strengthen the program. Project support is intended for programs that are ready to operate in their current or modified form by the first semester of the 2008 - 2009 school year. Grant payout will range from $50,000 - $100,000 a year for up to four years (2008 - 2011).
• Planning/capacity-building support is for efforts that need additional planning time and resources. Applicants for these grants must demonstrate that they will be able to identify the administrative, financial and programmatic support needed to commence program implementation during the first semester of the 2009 - 2010 school year. Grant payout will range from $25,000 - $35,000 for one year only.