Can my school use community grants to pay for a youth motivational speaker? Yes.
It’s true, we’ve had a lot of schools call us without a budget and then we found that they were surrounded by resources to pay for a speaker to come and deliver a powerful message for their students.
When I speak, I touch on topics such as: mental health, youth suicide, bullying & drug prevention. Many organizations receive Title I funds and community grants to help pay for a speakers fee so they can come to their community and train students and adults. My approach is such as a training because students learn skills to help them cope with bullying and I teach students how to respond when they bullied on campus.
So contact our office and let’s start the discussion on planning your next event. Parent engagement is lacking in many schools, so let’s work together to improve that. I usually speak during the day to students and I ask them to invite their parents to come back later in the evening and then I speak at a parent night. Having a parent night will enable you to use community grants to pay for the event.
The number one issue for parent nights is that parents rarely show up. I’ve seen it over and over. The school has a goal of having 50 parents in attendance and they end up with ten. If you bring in a speaker during the day, students will run home and tell their parents to come in the evening. Here are some school assembly planning tips to help as you prepare to host your next event.
Also, if you plan on having a parent night, make sure to budget a meal and the amount of parents in attendance will increase.
This format has been a home run and I know it’ll be a huge success for your school as well.
Title I Funds
Title I funds can be used to pay for community school events. Title I schools have federal funding to help increase academic levels. The main purpose of the funding is to help children from low-achieving area increase their scores to meet state standards. Hosting a school assembly can be done by hiring outside staff to instruct teachers and students about a certain topic like: Drug prevention, bullying prevention and academic success.
By having a parent night in addition to a school assembly, not only can students learn but the parents can be on the same page with their children. It’s mandatory in some states to have professional development events throughout the year and Title I funds can be used to pay to hire outside speakers.
Ask the school district about how they budget for speakers so your school can start planning a school assembly this school year.
