Page 48 - 2024 May report

FLORIDA PHILANTHROPIC NETWORK SUMMIT REPORT
March 11 – 13, 2024
By: Lady Hereford and Sharon Wood
This year’s summit theme was Funders as Force Multipliers. Lady, Sharon, Malcolm and Bo George from our Take Stock/Johnson Scholars Program represented the Foundation at this annual summit. We attended many different sessions, but we will highlight only those we found of particular interest to the Johnson Scholarship Foundation.
Pre-summit affinity group - Education Funders Affinity Group (EAG)
As long-time members of EAG, Lady and Sharon attended the business meeting. Then we participated in an interesting exercise called a Data Walk. It is a way to educate a group by having them actively involved in the process. For the example of a Data Walk, we divided into 5 groups of about a dozen each by counting off by 5s at our tables. There were 5 poster boards set up around the room concerning education in the state of Florida, with someone at each board prepared to further explain the material and answer questions. The groups moved around the room every 10 minutes to be able to view all of the boards. We each had sticky notes that we were encouraged to use to write questions or comments and put them on the boards. Seeing our notes and the notes from the groups before us led to group discussions about the material. At the end of the 50 minutes, we went back to our seats for table discussions about what we had seen. Ideally, there would then be a whole group debriefing to talk over the materials and the comments/questions and group or table discussions about each piece of information. The whole concept capitalizes on the idea that most people learn better when they are physically participating. It is an idea for any kind of group setting, including Board retreats or grantee gatherings.
Side Note: High school math data is downright scary. That the state of Florida ranks 4th in the country for 4th graders and then in the bottom 3rd for 8th graders is appalling. We all left the room wondering what we could do to address this problem.
Welcome Reception
This opening night function was sponsored by the Foundation. (We are pictured here with Ashley Dietz, President of FPN.) This informal time held on the roof top lawn was a perfect time to reconnect with old friends from previous summits and other philanthropic gatherings around the state. Although this was Bo’s first FPN Summit, he quickly found kindred spirits and even an old friend from his college days.
Concurrent Session: Are Boys Falling Behind?
The short answer is “Yes”. Sadly, the trend starts as early as 3rd grade.
This session was about research being done by several organizations and the grants being made to try to address the issue. One oft-mentioned theme was the need for getting boys interested in reading by offering books they actually like. The bigger issue is the need for more male teachers, especially black and Latino men and especially in the early years when male teachers are a rarity.
Page 46 May Report