Rooted Schools Initiative

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Executive Summary

Rooted Schools Initiative is a nonprofit in North Carolina that trains school staff and builds school-wide trauma-informed practices in Title I elementary schools in the greater Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. We deliver a 36-hour professional development sequence to teachers and school counselors, coach school leadership teams on implementing trauma-informed discipline alternatives and provide consultation to schools as they update their practices over a full academic year.

A child who has experienced trauma - abuse, neglect, homelessness, domestic violence, the death of a parent - does not leave that trauma at the door when they come to school. It shows up as behavior. Schools that respond to trauma-driven behavior with suspension and punishment produce worse academic and social outcomes than schools that recognize trauma's signature and respond with regulated, relationship-based approaches. With this grant we will pay our school coaches and training materials. We do not provide clinical services to children. We are not a substitute for school counselors or mental health professionals.

What we are asking for. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $215,000. We are asking for $55,000 from a children's education foundation for school coach salaries and training materials. The rest comes from other grants and school partnership fees listed in the funding section. Every dollar amount in this plan is an estimate.

Company Description

Rooted Schools Initiative is a nonprofit organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, governed by a volunteer board that includes two school principals, a school psychologist, a child trauma researcher and three community members. The board meets monthly, approves the budget and oversees the executive director. A new organization without its own determination letter can use a fiscal sponsor, explained in the funding section.

What we believe. A school that understands trauma is a school where more children can learn. That is worth building.

What we do:
- 36-hour staff training sequence. Delivered across an academic year in six-hour modules: (1) What is trauma and how does it affect the brain; (2) Recognizing trauma responses in the classroom; (3) Regulation-first responses; (4) Relationship as intervention; (5) Restorative practices as a discipline alternative; (6) Building a sustainable school-wide culture. Modules are delivered as full-day professional development days with small group sessions.
- School leadership coaching. The school coach meets monthly with the principal and the school counselor to review discipline data, identify where the approach is working and troubleshoot where it is not.
- Classroom consultation. Teachers who request it receive one to two hours of in-classroom observation and feedback per semester.
- Restorative circle facilitation training. We train school counselors and interested teachers to facilitate restorative circles as a formal discipline alternative to suspension.
- Year-end data review. We compile the school's suspension rate, office referrals and academic attendance data before and after the year and report it to the school, the district and our funders.

What we do not do. We do not provide clinical mental health services to children. We do not supervise children. We do not make individual student diagnoses. We call 911 in any emergency and follow mandatory reporting law.

Who we serve. Title I elementary schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district and surrounding districts.

Our board has at least five members, including at least one person who has used our services or lives in the community we serve, and only a minority of board members may be related to each other or paid by the organization.

We keep a written conflict of interest policy, a whistleblower policy and a record retention policy, and the board reviews them every year.

Problem & Opportunity

Children in Title I schools carry high rates of adverse childhood experiences that most teachers are not trained to recognize or respond to.

1. Prevalence of trauma. Research from the CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE study and later studies shows that adverse childhood experiences are common and can affect health and learning. In high-poverty schools serving communities with high rates of domestic violence, housing instability and parental incarceration, that proportion is higher.
2. The discipline gap. Children who have experienced trauma are disproportionately suspended and expelled for behaviors that are, in most cases, neurological responses to perceived threat - not willful defiance. Black boys are suspended at rates three to four times their share of enrollment in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
3. Training gap. Most teachers in the United States receive fewer than three hours of trauma-related content in their pre-service preparation. Most school discipline policies were written before a significant body of research on trauma's effect on behavior existed.
4. Outcome consequences. Children who are suspended miss instruction. They are more likely to fall behind academically and more likely to drop out. The school-to-prison pipeline is well-documented and begins in elementary school.

Why it matters now. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has adopted restorative practices as a district priority but lacks the trained coaching capacity to implement them at the school level. A school-embedded partner who trains staff and coaches leadership over a full year produces better implementation than a single professional development day.

How we know the need is real. We reviewed CMS discipline data, interviewed eight school principals and six school counselors, and talked with the district's social and emotional learning coordinator. In our pilot at one school, office referrals dropped 28% and suspensions dropped 34% over one academic year. The detail is in the appendix.

Products & Services

What the funded project will do. With this grant we will pay school coach salaries and training materials for a full year.

How a school moves through the program:
1. Partnership agreement. We sign a partnership agreement with the principal and the district. The school commits to releasing staff for six full professional development days and to monthly leadership coaching meetings.
2. Baseline data. We collect the prior year's office referral and suspension data from the school before the first training.
3. Six training modules. One six-hour module per quarter, starting in September. All classroom teachers and instructional staff attend each module.
4. Monthly coaching. The school coach meets with the principal and counselor monthly for one to two hours. They review the current month's office referral data, identify trends and problem-solve.
5. Classroom consultation. Teachers who want feedback on specific students or situations can schedule one to two hours of in-classroom observation and follow-up.
6. Year-end data review. We compile office referrals, suspensions and attendance before and after and present the findings to the school and the district.

What the grant pays for. This request covers a portion of school coach salaries and training materials.

What we do not promise. We do not promise that suspensions will drop by any specific percentage or that any particular student outcome will change. We track office referrals, suspensions, teacher confidence scores before and after training and principal satisfaction, and we report honestly.

Safety. We are mandatory reporters. We follow CMS protocols for any child safety concern. We do not provide clinical services and do not step into a clinical role even when asked.

Market Analysis

Who benefits from this project are Title I elementary schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and surrounding districts.

Who we serve. Title I elementary schools where at least 40% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and where suspension rates are at or above the district average.

How many we plan to serve. Three schools in Year 1. By Year 5 we plan to serve eight schools annually with a stable of six coaches. We chose those numbers from the school coach's realistic capacity of one thorough school-year partnership per coach per year.

Where we serve. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district and surrounding Union County and Cabarrus County schools.

Who else benefits. District leadership, which benefits from lower suspension rates and improved academic outcomes at partner schools. Families, whose children stay in school rather than being excluded.

We choose how many schools to serve from the number of coaches we can fund and support, not from the size of the need.

Competitive Landscape

Other training providers in our area.

1. University-based professional development programs. Provide research-grounded content but are not school-embedded, do not provide coaching and do not return to the same school for a full year.
2. District professional development staff. Provide training within the district but do not have the capacity to coach individual schools monthly.
3. National trauma-informed school consultants. Provide one- or two-day trainings. Research shows single-day training without coaching and follow-up produces minimal lasting change.
4. School counselors. Provide valuable individual student support but are not positioned to train all staff or change school-wide discipline policy.

What makes us different. We embed in one school for a full academic year, train all staff (not just counselors) and coach the principal and counselor every month. The year-long embedded model is what produces the discipline data outcomes we have seen. We coordinate with the district and refer individual clinical needs to school counselors and community mental health.

How we avoid duplication. We meet quarterly with the CMS social and emotional learning coordinator and copy the district on our year-end data reports.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How we will reach schools once the project is funded.

District referrals. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools SEL coordinator refers Title I schools where principals have expressed interest in restorative practices.

Principal networks. School principals in Charlotte share information through their principal professional learning communities. One positive year-end report from a partner principal generates several inquiries.

Word of mouth. District counselors and assistant principals hear about the program from colleagues and refer schools.

School partnership fees. Beginning in Year 2, we charge schools a reduced partnership fee of $4,000 per school to contribute to program costs, replacing some grant dependence.

Funding cultivation. The Duke Endowment, the Belk Foundation, the federal Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program and CMS federal ESSER funds are our primary funding prospects.

Operations Plan

How the project will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1. Month 1: sign partnership agreements with three schools, collect baseline data. Months 2 to 11: deliver six training modules across the year on the school's professional development calendar. Monthly coaching meetings with each school's principal and counselor. Month 12: year-end data review and report.

Space. Training is delivered on-site at each school on scheduled professional development days. Coaching meetings are at the school.

Partners. Three Title I elementary school principals, the CMS SEL coordinator and two district social workers who observe some training modules. Each has a written agreement.

Money controls. Training materials are purchased per-school. Two people approve every purchase over $500.

Records and reporting. We track office referrals, suspensions, teacher confidence survey scores before and after training and principal satisfaction. We report to funders twice a year.

Management & Organization

The executive director manages the organization and the district relationship. School coaches each carry a portfolio of three schools per year, delivering training, monthly coaching and year-end data review.

The team. Pay figures include payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance. The numbers in parentheses are how many people we plan to have in Years 1 through 5. A number with a half, such as 2.5, means a hire phased in during the year or one part-time person.
- Executive Director: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $68,000 a year.
- School Coach: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3 (Years 1 to 5), about $54,000 a year each.
- Program Associate (added as the budget grows): 0, 1, 1.5, 1.5, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $46,000 a year each, hired as new grant money arrives.

Governance and money controls. The board reviews financials monthly. An outside accountant prepares the yearly tax return. Every grant is in its own budget line.

Feedback and complaints. School staff can give feedback to coaches or in writing after any training module. We report themes to the board quarterly. No school loses services for speaking up.

Milestones Narrative

Goals for each of the first five years. These are goals, not promises.
- Before the grant starts: sign partnership agreements with three schools, collect prior-year baseline data and schedule training modules on school professional development calendars.
- Year 1: train all staff at three Title I schools, deliver six modules per school, achieve 25% average reduction in office referrals, achieve 30% average reduction in suspensions at partner schools. Budget about $215,000.
- Year 2: add a third school coach, serve four schools, begin charging a $4,000 school partnership fee. Budget about $268,000.
- Year 3: expand to six schools. Budget about $312,000.
- Year 4: launch a train-the-trainer model so coaches trained at Year 1 to 3 schools can deliver modules to new schools. Budget about $352,000.
- Year 5: serve eight schools annually. Budget about $390,000.

How we will measure results: office referrals before and after, suspensions before and after, teacher confidence survey scores before and after training and principal satisfaction. We report to funders twice a year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $55,000 from a children's education foundation for school coach salaries and training materials, for January through December 2027.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: School Coach salaries (part), $44,000 (other funds cover the remaining $64,000 of the two coaches' combined salary).
- Other: Training materials - printed curriculum, participant workbooks, facilitation supplies and restorative circle training materials - $11,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 28% of Year 1 grant income. Other grants pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $215,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $5,500 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $196,000; Individual Donors and Education Supporters $19,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $68,000; school coach $108,000; training materials $10,900; travel to schools for coaching and training delivery $8,000; year-end data analysis and report production $6,000; office and reporting $8,000.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $12,400 are paid once from startup funds: $3,800 for curriculum development and piloting, $2,800 for laptops and a school outcome tracking system, $2,400 for legal setup and mandatory reporter training documentation, $1,800 for banners and a website, and $1,600 for baseline data collection instruments and teacher confidence survey tools.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($12,400), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $2,500) and a cash cushion of about $52,200, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $67,500. We start with $18,000 of our own savings and $50,000 from a Duke Endowment planning grant and board contributions, $68,000 in all, which covers that amount.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $215,000 in Year 1 to about $390,000 in Year 5. Grant revenue is planned at $196,000, $192,000, $218,000, $242,000 and $236,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans to end each year with a surplus, about $5,500, $8,500, $24,800, $5,200 and $13,600 in Years 1 to 5, which we put into savings. Some years are larger because new grant money arrives before the added staff are hired. The lowest year-end cash in the plan is about $62,700.

After the grant. School partnership fees at $4,000 per school and Title IV-A federal funds accessed through CMS reduce grant dependence significantly from Year 2 onward.

Risks:
- A principal who was the champion for the program leaves. We build relationships with the counselor and several teachers so the program can survive a leadership change.
- A school district changes its SEL or discipline policy. We track district policy changes and adapt training content accordingly.
- A major grant may end. School partnership fees grow each year to reduce dependence on any single grant.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this proposal:

- Your IRS determination letter showing 501(c)(3) status, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your board list and board minutes approving the application.
- Your most recent budget and financial statements.
- A list of other funders and what each has given or been asked to give.
- School partnership agreements with three Title I schools.
- CMS SEL coordinator letter of support.
- Training curriculum outline and module descriptions.
- Mandatory reporter training certificates for all coaches.
- Pilot data: one school, 28% office referral reduction, 34% suspension reduction, one academic year.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers:
- Grant Revenue: $196,000 in Year 1, planned to reach $236,000 in Year 5.
- School Partnership Fees: $0 in Year 1, $16,000 in Year 2 (four schools at $4,000 each), growing to $32,000 by Year 5.
- Individual Donors: $19,000 in Year 1, growing to $122,000 in Year 5.
- School Coaches: 2 full-time at $54,000 each per year.
- Training materials: $11,000 per year for printed curriculum, workbooks and facilitation supplies for three schools.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate.

Plain words used in this proposal:
- Title I: a federal funding designation for schools where a high percentage of students come from low-income families.
- ACE: Adverse Childhood Experience, a category of childhood trauma events associated with long-term health and social outcomes.
- Restorative practices: a set of approaches that focus on repairing harm and rebuilding relationships rather than punishment as a primary response to misconduct.
- Restorative circle: a structured conversation practice where a facilitator brings together the people involved in a harm to talk about its impact and agree on a path forward.
- SEL: Social and Emotional Learning, a framework for developing students' self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills and decision-making.
- 501(c)(3): the tax status that lets a nonprofit receive tax-deductible gifts and many grants.

Startup Costs