For Immediate Release, December 2, 2009
CONTACT: Mary Kelsey, 508-255-3573
mary.kelsey@comcast.net

FRIENDS OF PLEASANT BAY LAUNCHES 16TH COMPETITIVE SCHOOL GRANTS PROGRAM!

The Friends of Pleasant Bay is launching its 16th competitive School Grants Program, a long-standing public education program funded entirely by members of the Friends. Each grant is intended to promote education, research and public awareness in issues of critical environmental concern with special emphasis on students experiencing and studying Pleasant Bay and its watershed. As in the past, this year's competition is open to all teachers in Brewster, Chatham, Harwich and Orleans schools, including Nauset Regional school.

Grant applications have been sent to the school principals, who are expected to pass along the information to all teachers in the schools. The Friends of Pleasant Bay encourages teaches to apply for the grants, and members of the School Grants Committee are available to attend principal meetings if more detail on the program is required. The contact person for the FOPB appears on the application form. School Grant applications are also posted on the Friends' website, fopb.org The grants may be used for teacher training, transportation and student field work, hardware and equipment, and any activity addressing the stated Purpose. All proposals must be submitted by March 1, 2010, and the School Grant recipients for 2010-2011 will be announced on approximately April 1, 2010.

Due to generous FOPB School Grants in the past, many schools/teachers have gone on to make their grant work an important part of the curriculum of local schools as well as integrating their program into the actual school curriculum/MA State Frameworks. The grants are no longer impacting just one school or grade, because teachers are networking and sharing their ideas with fellow teachers. Furthermore, past FOPB grants are being used as the foundation for the creation of new grants proposals.

The continued help and generosity of the membership of the Friends of Pleasant Bay combined with the diligence of committed teachers is making Pleasant Bay an integral part of our school programs. The mission of the Friends of Pleasant Bay, founded in 1985 as a non-profit organization, is to promote education, research and public awareness of the area as one of critical environmental concern, to preserve open space and the visual quality of the area, to ensure habitat protection of the rich biological diversity and productivity of the Bay, to retain and enhance public access to the shoreline, and to preserve natural and historical sites.