The Tait Foundation
Who is the Tait Foundation?
The Tait Foundation is an organization based in Montgomery County giving monetary grants to tax exempt non-profits which improve the health, well-being, and education of children up to 8 years old. The foundations vision is that all children in Montgomery County, Ohio will thrive and succeed. The Mission? Seek and fund high quality, innovative and evidence-based early childhood intervention, and education programs that serve under resourced families and children who are 0-8 years of age in the county. The foundation also supports organizations that demonstrate the potential to make measurable improvements in early childhood education outcomes.
What does the Tait Foundation do?
The Tait foundation has a series of three goals, execute high quality grant making linking funding priorities to focused and measurable outcomes that align with and support the foundations mission. Ensure the Tait Foundations ongoing financial and operational ability and collaborate & leverage resources to improve opportunities for young children in Montgomery County. The foundations history goes all the way back to 1955 when Frank M Tait made the first donation to the foundation. The donation Frank made was with 41,406 shares of stock from the Dayton Pump and Manufacturing company. The organization is run by seven board members working for the organizations cause.
How the Tait Foundation involved in the Miami Valley?
The foundation has granted 14 million dollars since it’s founding in 1955. Some organizations to receive funds in 2021 were Imagination Library, Good Samaritan Foundation, Artemis Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Daybreak, and Preschool Promise. Organizations applying for grants through the Tait Foundation need to complete an application including a plan providing metrics and assuring the organizations financial and operational abilities. Grants are given to organizations a maximum of once per year. The foundation funds organizations that strive to support innovative programs with the potential to positively impact under-resourced children.
In 2021 Big Brothers Big Sisters received a grant for $15,000 from the Tait Foundation to fund our Community and Site Based Mentoring Programs. These programs address the impact of COVID-19 on students, BBBS mentoring meets youth’s social, emotional, and academic needs. Research shows that social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development are all interconnected. Improving academic outcomes for students requires nurturing each of these areas of development in ways that are asset-oriented and personalized to meet students where they are. This includes building attributes such as optimism, intrinsic motivation, compassion, empathy, problem-solving and critical thinking. Grit is at the core of all aspects of a child’s life, from maintaining a sense of motivation despite the challenges of the pandemic to feeling sense of hope for the future.
More than 90% of the youth we serve report at least one ACE, and 30% report 3 or more. Trauma from being exposed to ACE’s (including but not limited to violence, parental incarceration, substance abuse, mental health challenges, divorce) can have lifelong impact. Trauma impacts how children learn and behave. Exposure to trauma makes academic success much harder. When youth are supported, they are better able to focus on learning. Supporting students’ social and emotional development produces an 11-percentile-point gain in test scores. Match Support Specialists (MSS) work with teachers and parents to determine where each youth stands academically. Based on that information, they will create a plan that will identify, plan, and implement enrichment activities related to their academic recovery all year long.
Get in Touch with the Tait Foundation
About Big Brothers Big Sisters Miami Valley
Since 1958, the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters Miami Valley is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Big Brothers Big Sisters operates under the belief that inherent in every child is incredible potential. We make meaningful, monitored mentoring matches between adult volunteers (Bigs) and local youth (Littles), ages 7 through 18, across Montgomery, Miami, Greene, and Preble counties. As the leading evidence-based mentoring organization in the Miami Valley, currently serving 344 local youth, we help children realize their full potential and build strong futures.
In addition to one-to-one mentoring, we provide group match activities focused on STEM to build confidence and self-efficacy around science, technology, engineering and math subjects and to expose them to various related career paths to help break the cycle of generational poverty. We also provide family care packages which include nonperishable food, personal care items and cleaning supplies to the youth who are in most need.
How Can You Get Involved in the Miami Valley?
We are always looking for volunteer mentors to match with youth in the Miami Valley. If you think you would make a great mentor to a child, sign up today!