By Independent Staff
East Mountain High School was named a Building Hope IMPACT Awards finalist last week.
According to a press release, the Building Hope Awards celebrate the transformative power of education through four award categories: Community Engagement, Educational Innovation, Student Empowerment and the S. Joseph Bruno Model Charter Award, which has East Mountain High School as one of five finalists.
This year, Building Hope is awarding $160,000 in grants. The top winners in each category will receive $20,000, while two runners-up will receive $10,000.
“We are thrilled to celebrate the remarkable work of the schools that have applied for the Impact Awards,” said Trisha Leitem, Director of Building Hope Services and Co-Chair of the Selection Committee. “The passion, resilience, and innovation demonstrated by this year’s applicants are truly inspirational. Their dedication to creating lasting change has already made a difference in so many students’ lives, and we are looking forward to honoring them for all they have done and continue to do.”
The S. Joseph Bruno Charter School Leadership Award is named in honor of a charter school industry leader “who transformed the educational landscape by growing Building Hope into a nationwide supporter of charter school growth with facilities, finance, and services,” according to the release. Bruno was pivotal in expanding access to high-quality education for 200,000 students. The S. Joseph Bruno Award aims “to honor charter schools that have taken the heart of Joe Bruno and put it into action through charter advocacy, leadership and love.”
In the next round of the grant selection process, a selection committee comprised of charter industry leaders and past award winners will interview the finalists and choose three winners in each category, to be announced in March.
Leaders from the winning schools will receive an expense-paid trip to the Building Hope IMPACT Summit, held in Miami on May 6-7, where they will each deliver a 10-minute IMPACT talk as the final step in determining the award amounts. Building Hope will present $40,000 in grants per category at the Summit’s closing gala, awarding $20,000 to the top winner and $10,000 each to two runners-up.
For more information about the IMPACT Awards or to register for the 2025 IMPACT Summit, visit https://buildinghope.org/impact/grants/.
