Our Mission The Rochester Public School Foundation is a nonprofit community foundation dedicated to raising and distributing local resources to enhance educational opportunities for students and staff.
Our Vision World-class education...parents dream of it, school districts set it as their goal, students crave it. It is the vision of the Rochester Public School Foundation to enhance educational excellence for all.
About the Foundation Rochester Public School Foundation (RPSF) is a unique pathway for Rochester citizens and businesses to enhance public education for its most valuable resource--its children. RPSF is based upon the ideal that our collective efforts to enhance educational opportunities for our children are far more powerful than our individual efforts alone. RPSF strives to make a significant and lasting impact to improve education for all of Rochester’s public school students.
Schools, like any other organization, must encourage innovation to achieve excellence. With limited resources, ISD #535 educators face ongoing challenges in providing basic education, much less the innovative enhancements that really inspire students and encourage lifelong learning.
In 1988, local citizens founded RPSF, an independent, not-for-profit organization that works to stimulate and financially support enhancements to the regular K-12 curriculum. We also work to strengthen the partnership between local businesses, the community and public schools.
Enhancing Educational Excellence RPSF directly engages parents, teachers and the community by encouraging innovative programs and projects that enhance the academic goals of Independent School District #535. Since its inception, RPSF has awarded more than 230 grants totaling over $394,000, providng unique learning opportunities to more than 100,000 students representing every school in our district.
Examples include:
Motivational projects to support and encourage early literacy
Mathematics enrichment programs
Vocational skills development projects and equipment
Interdisciplinary projects promoting cultural understanding
Projects to improve environmental awareness
Computer programs to assist students in making career decisions
Innovative science projects
Equipment to create computerized audio and visual presentations
Creative writing workshops
Community service projects
Parent enrichment programs to support student learning at home