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The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is pleased to welcome a new Education Program Officer Regina Dixon-Reeves will guide the Foundation's Education funding. Regina brings valuable experience in the education field and grantmaking. For the past five years, she has been at Chicago Public Schools in the Department of Post Secondary Education and Office of High School Programs. She also has worked at Governors State University, with the Field Foundation of Illinois, and at the Joyce Foundation. Regina earned her Ph.D. and MA from the University of Chicago. Her BA is from Marquette University. The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is pleased to welcome a new Health Program Officer Soo Na, LCSW, will guide the Foundation's Health funding. Soo brings valuable experience in community health programs. Most recently she was Program Manager for Community Health Programs and the Center for Cross Cultural Education at the Asian Health Coalition of Illinois. She also has experience managing wellness and health programs at Korean American Community Services and Cambodian Association of Illinois. Her Masters of Social Work is from Loyola University Chicago and her B.A. is from DePaul University. New Program Name for the Arts Education Program (formerly Arts and Culture) In an effort to offer a more current description of the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation's funding interests in the arts, we have changed the name of the program to the Arts Education Program and created a more detailed description of our grantmaking guidelines in this area. The Foundation has a longstanding commitment to supporting arts education opportunities for Chicago's low-income children and youth and we now emphasize that commitment in the program name. The modifications to the program guidelines are meant to clarify the Foundation's ongoing funding priorities in the Arts Education program. These updated guidelines emphasize our interest in supporting high quality, rigorous, and engaging arts education experiences, in supporting in-depth professional development for arts educators, including classroom teachers, in-school arts instructors, and teaching artists, and our interest in helping organizations assess student learning in the arts. Arts Education Program Our Arts Education funding focuses on programs for low-income Chicago children and youth that use the arts as a means to improve learning and provide life-enriching experiences. We are interested in efforts to improve the quality and expand the availability of arts education programs, especially in Chicago Public Schools. The Foundation considers support for arts education for students and professional development for arts educators. We give priority to arts education programs that provide a combination of arts instruction, performance or exhibition experience, and interaction with professional artists and arts educators. We look for programs that are artistically rigorous, engage students in the creative process, and assess student learning in the arts. We look for teacher-training programs that immerse educators in the practice and study of the arts and present teachers with innovative strategies for teaching the arts, engaging students in the creative process, and assessing student progress. We look for programs that provide ongoing support, expertise and resources to both teachers and students. The Foundation is also interested in proposals to convene experts to share information, facilitate discussion with arts educators, and help shape and strengthen arts education in Chicago Public Schools. We think that these modifications respond to both the strengths and interests of Chicago's rich arts education community. It is our hope to be a supportive partner to the arts education community and to contribute to city-wide efforts to provide arts education opportunities for children and youth from all parts of Chicago. Sharon Bush selected for Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program Sharon Bush, program officer for the Employment program, has been selected by the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) to be a member of its 2007-2008 Class of Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program. Ten individuals representing philanthropic organizations across the nation were selected as emerging leaders to participate in ABFE's signature leadership development program. The year-long experience is designed to sharpen the skills and strengthen the leadership capacity of foundation staff, donors, and trustees who are committed to assisting Black communities through philanthropy. "As an organization that is committed to promoting effective and responsive philanthropy in Black communities, ABFE has proudly taken the initiative to develop emerging leaders through programs like the Connecting Leaders Fellowship," said Kenneth W. Austin, President of ABFE. "As the primary architect of the program, I'm proud of the contributions ABFE has made toward the development of emerging leadership within philanthropy." The incoming class of Fellows represents a talented group of emerging leaders who have demonstrated through their work in philanthropy a commitment to Black communities. The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is pleased to welcome a new program analyst: Jessica A. Brown joins the foundation as a recent graduate of the University of Chicago, with masters degrees from both the Harris School of Public Policy and the School of Social Service Administration. Jessica is responsible for research and analysis that supports the foundation's program work. Previously, Jessica worked with the Neighborhood Capital Budget Group, the Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic and Nursefinders. Jessica's B.A. is from the University of Dayton.