The Promising Futures Fund

Witha poverty rate just shy of 50% and diversity rate of 40% and growing, we have unique issues that more suburban school districts don’t have.

We are currently focused on 13 elementary, 3 middle schools and 3 high schools with the highest rates of poverty. We work directly with school principals and their staff, along with leadership at the Sioux Falls School District to fund and assist with any program that can help a child in poverty receive a better education, increase their experiences and provide inspiration and hope.

The Promising Futures Fund began in 2019 and is governed by a Board led by Founder and CEO Steve Hildebrand.

Exploding Poverty Rates is why we need the Promising Futures Fund

High rates of poverty and diversity have made the Sioux Falls School District a true urban center. Across the District, nearly 50% of students qualify for Free & Reduced Lunch – the best marker to understand poverty. Many Sioux Falls elementary and middle schools have poverty rates as high as 80%-100%. Diversity rates are also high. In just 10 years, when our current 3rd graders become seniors, our School District will be a majority minority district.

This is our new reality.

A child growing up in poverty will likely start kindergarten behind other students. They likely didn’t attend pre-school. Maybe they weren’t read to as a child or came from a home where children’s books weren’t plentiful. Some kids may not speak English or have parents who don’t.

This poverty disadvantage is exactly why we started the Promising Futures Fund. Bringing equity to their education and their experiences is our top priority for kids living in poverty.

Reading – Our Highest Priority

Reading proficiency is one of the greatest predictors of success for any student. When a child is reading below grade level, it is critical to focus time and energy to increase his/her capacity.

An elementary student living in poverty is more likely to start kindergarten and first grade with reading skills below a student who comes from a middle or upper-income home. Oftentimes a child growing up in poverty will not have been read to at home, not attended pre-school or been provided encouragement from an adult. Language barriers also exist with many kids - and their parents.

A. Book-A-Month Club Supports 5200 Sioux Falls Kids

Each year, we seek classroom sponsors for our Book-A-Month Club. Each sponsorship covers one book each month for nine months, for every child in a classroom. We currently cover 244 classrooms in kindergarten through 5th grade across 13 elementary schools – roughly 5,700 students receiving 51,000 books! Research shows that when a child in poverty can chose their own book and own that book, there is a much greater likelihood that they will read it. This is a critical baseline program for Promising Futures.

Book-A-Month sponsorships are just $350 for K-2 and $650 for 3rd-5th grades.

B. Everybody Reads Month

The month of March is deemed “Everybody Reads” month by School Superintendent Dr. Jane Stavem. We take her seriously and with a generous $25,000 special grant from the Seed for Success Foundation, we purchased 3400 books to give to every K, 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders in 13 targeted elementary schools. These special hard cover books help emphasize the importance we place on reading.

C. Summer Success Reading Project

Our Summer Success Reading Project is critical to help reduce summer slide – the loss of reading comprehension during summer. Reading loss is likely to have a greater impact on low-income students who are less likely to be exposed to enriched activities.

This project provides 6 age-appropriate books for every student in grades K-3 in the 13 elementary schools with the highest rates of poverty. These 3400 students will receive the books on the final day of school, with encouragement to read these and other books. Major sponsors include Dan & Kathy Loveland, Helen Madsen, First Bank & Trust, Raven Industries and Kiwanis of Sioux Falls.

This is a $108,000 project. Donations of any size will help. Please indicate “Summer Reading” in the notes section of your check.

D. Reading Intervention

Through our efforts, we secured a $600,000 donation from David H. & Christine Billion, to hire more SIPPS reading intervention teachers during the 2021-2022 school year. These teachers work with 1st & 2nd graders in a 4 to 1 ratio to increase their reading skills. This reading intervention program has shown tremendous promise in getting kids to read at grade level and stay at grade level.

The Sioux Falls School District has championed the SIPPS reading intervention program and continues to expand funding. We are proud to support SIPPS as a partner with the School District.

SIPPS stands for Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words. It is a research-based foundational skills program proven to help both new and struggling readers in grades K–12, including English Language Learners (ELLs) and students identified with dyslexia.

Field Trips & Experiences

A child living in poverty will have very few positive experiences outside their neighborhood. These kids need to learn and experience a world outside of poverty in order to imagine a better life. In our priority schools, field trips are extremely limited as parent teacher organizations are not active. Promising Futures is committed to fund a long list of experiences for students in these schools.

The Promising Futures Fund provides enough support so that every child in our 13 elementary and 3 middle schools will be able to participate in 1-2 field trips. Additional funds are provided to support a wide-range of experiences in and out of school.

Our goal is to raise $230,000 a year to fund great field trips for every student in the 16 schools in our program. Donations of any size will provide great experience for these kids. Please indicate “Field Trips” in the notes section of your check.

A. 5th Grade ”Last Experience”

Fifth grade can be challenging for a lot of kids. At this age, kids are craving more independence. They are in a growing, transitional age And, they are moving onto middle school, which can be a time of uncertainty. For all these reasons, we want our 5th graders to have a great last experience. That’s why we’ve reached out to community members to raise an additional $5,000 per school to sponsor the 5th grade initiative, which provides a big field trip experience. With this funding, schools can plan a trip away for Sioux Falls to Minneapolis, Omaha, the Black Hills or other great destinations. In 2022, many of our 5th grade classes took a full-day trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha.

B. 8th Grade College Visits

These are emotional, exciting, inspirational and rewarding days. Most 8th graders, especially those from low-income families, have never stepped foot on a college campus or spent time thinking and planning their future. Sadly, some don’t have great aspirations and many don’t think college is an option for them.

Because of the incredible generosity and funding support from John & Jeanelle Lust, we are working to change all of that.

For 8th grade students at Whittier, McGovern and Ben Reifel Middle schools, they will have multiple opportunities to visit college campuses and technical colleges – thanks to the partnerships our foundation has forged with SDSU, DSU, USD, Augustana University, Southeast Technical College and more in the future. The Promising Futures Fund provides grants to the middle schools to pay for transportation and other costs associated with these trips and works directly with the campuses to plan all aspects of the trips.

The mark of a successful trip? When you hear students say out loud, “I could see myself coming to a place like this.”

When an 8th grader says, “I don’t know if I can wait four whole years to go to college,” you know she was inspired.

We give so much praise to DSU, SDSU, USD, Augustana and Southeast Tech for welcoming these 8th graders to their schools and opening their eyes to immense opportunities ahead of them. These campus visits give kids a chance to dream about what’s possible, something to aspire to, work hard for and to build toward a bright future.

C. Summer Camps

Each summer, we provide a number of opportunities for lowincome kids to attend summer camps. Enriched summer learning opportunities are critical to help reduce summer slide – the loss of learning comprehension over the summer. Most low-income kids have no opportunity to attend summer camps, either because of the cost of the camps or because they lack transportation.

For summer 2022, we provided scholarships to nearly 550 lowincome kids into a wide variety of summer camps. We have partnered with the YMCA Leif Erickson Day Camp, the Washington Pavilion/ Kirby Science Center, Great Plains Zoo, Augustana University, the South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Storm Indoor Football Team to provide incredible experiences for kids in the Sioux Falls School District. These opportunities are available because of generous donations from Dave & De Knudson, Joe & Jennifer Kirby, Mary & Chris Kolsrud, the Storm Football Team, Dorsey Trust Co. and many others.

D. Schoolhouse Rock at the Washington Pavilion

It’s a sad reality, but most kids in poverty don’t get many positive experiences outside their neighborhoods. Limited budgets mean most families aren’t afforded opportunities to attend theatre and sporting events. As a result, The Promising Futures Fund has created partnerships with many organizations across Sioux Falls to provide new opportunities for kids.

Our partnership with the Washington Pavilion, along with a $10,000 grant from South Dakota Trust Co., opened up an opportunity to purchase tickets and provide transportation to send 2200 elementary students to see the live performance of Schoolhouse Rock. We saw big eyes on these kids as they walked into the beautiful and historic Washington Pavilion. From their seats, we saw huge smiles and heard load cheering as most of these kids experienced live professional theatre for the first time.

E. Kids & Cops Martial Arts Training

Of all the things we do at the Promising Futures Fund, this just might be a favorite. In partnership with the Sioux Falls Police Department and the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, we’ve created a positive interaction with law enforcement for Whittier Middle School students.

Twenty Whittier kids along with 10 members of law enforcement are doing Martial Arts training together for six months. Mondays they train in boxing and Wednesdays they train in Jiu Jitsu. Thank you, Bruce Hoyer at Next Edge Academy for the training opportunity and Matt & Karine Paulson for a generous $15,000 donation to provide this training for free.

F. Youth Orchestra

Kids in poverty have less access to the arts as these opportunities are often expensive and require transportation. In partnership with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, we provide scholarships so no kid will be left out if they want to continue to learn and grow their talents. Students from 4th grade through high school can easily access these scholarships to play in our Youth Orchestra.

Afterschool & Summer Programs

Promising Futures Fund, in partnership with The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire, has led the way to create a major new initiative that re-imagines and realigns afterschool and summer programing and provides greater access for kids in poverty. Access for All, as we have named it, moves most afterschool and summer programs back to the school buildings, reducing costs, eliminating transportation barriers, providing greater access and creating enhanced programming, including tutoring for kids who need additional help.

High rates of poverty and diversity make out-of-school time learning for Sioux Falls kids all that more critical. A child spends roughly 13% of their time in school. A portion of the other 87% is time we need to create access to afterschool and summer programs that are truly impactful for our kids. We need to give kids a positive place to BELONG and the tools they need to BECOME.

Our current afterschool system is not accessible to thousands of these kids – especially those in poverty. Costs are prohibitive. Transportation is not available. Meals, tutoring and truly robust learning opportunities are not there. While the many Sioux Falls non-profits involved in afterschool programming do great work, the inefficiencies of off-site programming have been a problem recognized by the United Way and other agencies for decades.

This new system for afterschool and summer care means all children will have a better chance to succeed, more parents will have opportunities to enter the workforce, and juvenile crime will be reduced. Most importantly, school attendance will increase, test scores go up and graduation rates will improve – all critical measures determining the success – or failure of our great kids.

The new afterschool program began in a few elementary schools in the fall of 2022 with a goal of all 23 elementary programs starting in the fall of 2023. Some middle school and high school programs will also start in the fall of 2023.

A major fundraising campaign is taking place currently. If you are interested in supporting Access for All, contact the Campaign CoChairs – Steve Hildebrand – steve@promisingfuturesfund.org or Rebecca Wimmer – rebecca.wimmer@k12.sd.us.

Contributing to the Promising Futures Fund

Tax-deductible contributions can be made of any size to the Promising Futures Fund. We are set up as a special project fund at the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. We are a volunteer-driven organization with almost no overhead. Nearly 100% of your donation will go directly toward helping low-income kids get a more equitable education and expand their experiences.

Donate:

Online: www.promisingfuturesfund.org or Mail to: Promising Futures Fund, 834 S. Phillips Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104

Contact Us:

To reach Steve Hildebrand, email steve@promisingfuturesfund.org or call 605-261-8988.