OFFICIAL E-NEWSLETTER OF
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 | VOL. 1, ISSUE 1
GAME CHANGER
By focusing on teachers, the CFP Foundation looks to score big wins for educators and future generations of leaders BY JAIME ARON
T
he premise was simple, logical … perfect, really. The charitable arm of the new College Football Playoff (CFP) needed a focus — a primary recipient. Well, the CFP is a celebration of student-athletes and, as the saying goes, behind every great student stands a great teacher. So, if the CFP Foundation set out to bolster teachers, the impact ultimately would be expressed through students. Bingo. The next challenge? How.
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As the fourth season of this effort kicks off, the vision for the CFP Foundation is clearer than ever. The organization is deeply invested in recognizing and celebrating educators all over the country and, most of all, growing the field. “During the first couple of years, we were trying to find ourselves and understand who we are, what our resources are, and how to deploy them for the benefit of our cause,” said Britton Banowsky, Executive Director of the CFP Foundation. “Now, we have answered those questions and have a clear sense
for the cause and our focus. We’re doing things that make a difference and will continue to make a difference over the long haul.” THE BEGINNING Before delving into where the organization is and where it’s headed, let’s go back to the beginning and trace how things developed. The CFP Foundation was formed in November 2013, about seven months after the ink dried on setting up the business side of the CFP. Funding for this nonprofit
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organization was set from a variety of sources: licensing and merchandising connected to the CFP, revenue from host cities, grants, corporate partnerships and individual donations. The CFP Foundation got rolling in the run-up to the 2014 football season and the inaugural national championship game in January 2015. However, the CFP Foundation had no distinct leadership until Banowsky was hired about six months later. “When we started this journey, we had great intentions and some resources, but we were limited,” Banowsky said. “We learned initially about the shortage of resources in the classroom — how teachers need supplies beyond what the schools provide and how many times they reach into their own
PLAYBOOK: Banowsky and team identified teacher recruitment and retention as key focus areas. wallets as a result. We spent most of the first year figuring out how to close that gap.” The CFP Foundation bridged that gap through a relationship with
DonorsChoose.org, a nonprofit organization whose website connects donors and classrooms around the country. The organization remains an important partner.
Teachers are real life superheroes. If you were a Marvel superhero, which would you be?
OF THE MONTH
I would be Iron Man. I choose Iron Man because, like the superhero, I have a new outlook in life and use my knowledge and skills to make the world a safer place. Tony Stark built Iron Man, and he never stopped improving it. I feel that is what I do when I turn into “Mr. Excellent Espinosa” — I never stop improving. I’m always looking for ways to improve my skills and abilities to effectively teach my students. Like Tony Stark, I have a passion for excellence. I express to my students that nobody is perfect, but it shouldn’t keep you from pursuing excellence.
Tell us about a teacher that most influenced you as a student.
JUAN ESPINOSA School: Sam Rayburn Elementary STEAM Academy Grade: Fifth Grade Subject: Math & Science
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My fourth grade teacher was a first year teacher. She had spunk, energy and made us laugh. Although she got nervous at times (first year jitters), she found creative ways to teach us the concepts. We ALL celebrated when we had breakthroughs in the classroom. My fourth grade teacher was different. She motivated us, and we encouraged her to keep on teaching! Unfortunately, she left the teaching profession after only one year. We lose great teachers to other professions.
What is the funniest question one of your students has ever asked you? “Mr. Espinosa, what’s your YouTube channel?”
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Another crucial step in that first year was launching Extra Yard for Teachers (EYFT), the CFP Foundation’s capstone platform. EYFT aims “to elevate the teaching profession by inspiring and empowering teachers.” It’s a great mission statement, but one that prompts the question, how? The answer is centered around something straight from the playbook of every successful college football program: recruiting and retention. “Our country is having a crisis right now in terms of the number of people that want to be teachers as well as the high turnover in the profession,” Banowsky said. “Leaders in education showed us statistics suggesting that we are going to need 200,000 more people in this profession in the next five years or else education as a whole will truly suffer. They also told us that the CFP Foundation could make a difference through our platform and partnerships. We have the opportunity to reposition the narrative. We can lift up current teachers and communicate to prospective teachers in a way the industry can’t.” A GAME PLAN CFP Foundation leaders knew other organizations were already working toward those goals. So, it only made sense to start forming partnerships — groups such as Teach For America, Urban Teachers and the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). ACE is a program based on the University of Notre Dame campus that trains teachers in Catholic schools across the country,
BEHIND THE SCENES
“IT ONLY TAKES ONE”
A
rizona State Sun Devil and Dallas Cowboys legend, Darren Woodson, shook hands with Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the College Football Playoff, and laughed. “I almost broke down and cried in there. That was emotional!” Woodson had just exited an interview with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation video crew who posed a simple question: “Who was the one teacher in your life who made the greatest impact on you?” From there, Woodson did not need much prodding. He talked rapturously about the late Mr. Dave McGuire, his homeroom teacher at P.T. Coe Elementary in Phoenix, Arizona. McGuire was often stern — instilling in young Woodson an urgency to never be late — but also just the type of father figure needed by a young man raised by a single mother. “I still live by the lessons he taught me,” Woodson said. “Being responsible. Working hard. Persevering. I would not be the man I am, I would not have achieved what I have, without Mr. McGuire.” Woodson’s testimonial will be part of a series of “It Only Takes One” video shorts the CFP Foundation is producing for Extra Yard for Teachers Week (Sept. 16-23). The spots — featuring some of football’s most beloved legends — will initially be released via the CFP Foundation’s social media channels, before being edited into public service announcements that will be broadcast on a variety of platforms. While the vignettes tell very personal stories, each celebrates a universal truth — a single teacher can make all the difference. “What would I tell Mr. McGuire if he were still alive?” pondered Woodson. “I’d tell him thank you — and I’d tell him that I love him.”
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especially those in low income neighborhoods. Banowsky was so impressed by the ACE mission and narrative that he presented the opportunity for a donation of $50,000 from the CFP Foundation providing that the Notre Dame community matched it. “They raised almost $500,000,” Banowsky said, laughing. “The next year we committed to match $100,000, and the community raised another $500,000. That’s more than $1 million raised for teachers in high-poverty schools just by using the platform of Notre Dame football. The light bulb went off for us on how we can leverage the visibility of our brand to benefit teachers and education.”
THE REAL MVPs
Recruiting and training are great ways to improve and expand the pool. But it’s just as important to make sure teachers already in the system know how much they are appreciated.
social media and their websites. Partners such as Dr Pepper and ESPN got into the act, too. A bigger, better way of celebrating the best in the business came from a series of encounters at — of all places — the White House. It was May 2016, and the State Teacher of the Year from each state was invited to Washington, D.C., for a series of events, including a meet-and-greet with the president. The CFP Foundation was involved through Extra Yard for Teachers, earning Banowsky an invite. While waiting to meet President Obama, Banowsky greeted Chris Minnich, Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, an organization of the top education officials from each state. As a result of this friendly interaction, it was decided that every State Teacher of the Year and their significant other would be invited to the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship. In January, the CFP Foundation and CCSSO, with significant help from Dr Pepper who sponsored the initiative, honored the top teacher from every state and territory at halftime of the national championship game. This is perhaps the ultimate leveraging of the college football platform and the CFP Foundation, both its brand and its mission. “We are locked in for the next three years, too,” Banowsky said with a smile.
In our short time, we’ve seen tremendous growth in terms of finances, partners and impact on teachers and students. We look forward to doing even more.” BRITTON BANOWSKY “College football is a great stage for that message,” Banowsky said. The CFP Foundation asked bowl and university partners to shine a spotlight on teachers and they gladly agreed, telling stories via
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CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND: National Teacher of the year, Jahana Hayes, was honored at halftime of last year’s national championship game.
THE JOURNEY
All told, the CFP Foundation has compiled a lengthy list of feats, especially so early in its journey. Banowsky hopes that by the time the CFP Foundation reaches the culmination of the charter, states will be issuing more teaching certificates and enrollment in college education programs will be on the rise. “We’re blessed to have been given such a long initial runway,” Banowsky said. “Very few nonprofits have the benefit of planning over a 12-year horizon. It’s given us the opportunity to think long term. In our short time, we’ve seen tremendous growth in terms of finances, partners and impact on teachers and students. We look forward to doing even more.”
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SCORING A BIG WIN AGAINST ILLITERACY
An innovative $2 million initiative in Atlanta is a “touchdown for all parties” BY JIMMY BURCH
S
ince its inception, the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation has enhanced the lives of teachers and students in cities across the country through its Extra Yard for Teachers platform. A three-year, $2 million transformative literacy program launched this summer in the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and has taken the CFP Foundation’s outreach efforts to new heights. The APS Literacy Initiative, achieved in partnership with the CFP Foundation, Atlanta Football Host Committee, Chick-fil-A Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, marks the largest corporate gift to APS in the last five years and elevates the district’s efforts to enhance literacy scores by more than the football equivalent of a short-yardage play.
HANDS-ON TRAINING: APS Superintendent, Meria Carstarphen, meets with educators about new literacy initiative.
continue to make an impact for years to come,” said Ryan Allen Hall, Director of Community Relations for the College Football Playoff. “This is not a one-year installment. This is a multipleyear, cultural RYAN ALLEN HALL foundation-laying infusion that we’re “This initiative is truly a making. This is a game-winner.” touchdown for all parties involved, Studies show that students and we know it’s going to unable to read proficiently by the
This initiative is truly a touchdown for all parties involved, and we know it’s going to continue to make an impact for years to come.”
end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma. The literacy initiative is one that the CFP Foundation envisions becoming a model for other cities through the visibility that comes with Atlanta’s role as host for this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship, set for Jan. 8, 2018, at the innovative new MercedesBenz Stadium. Specialized training began in June for 175 teachers and continued throughout the summer. By 2020, the initiative will equip
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1,500 APS teachers with the skills to deliver state-of-the-art literacy instruction to all 25,000 elementary students in a district where more than one third of APS second graders currently read below grade level. The training, which will stress the Orton-Gillingham (O-G) approach to literacy through phonemic awareness, will cap a commitment that Hall cited as the CFP Foundation’s “biggest infusion of cash and resources” to a hostcity project during the CFP era by the time the game is played. According to APS Superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen, the funds are much-needed and will allow teachers to focus on enhancing students’ reading skills by using sight, hearing, touch and movement to help them better connect with words. “This program has the ability to completely change the game for our students and give them the boost they desperately need,” Carstarphen said. “We are so
LASTING LEGACY: Thanks to EYFT, the CFP National Championship is leaving impact on communities long after the title game is over. Student success is also a top priority for the CFP Foundation. Hall envisions a day when a student who benefitted from a literacy-based initiative like the one in Atlanta surfaces as a participant in a future College Football Playoff game. “That’s exactly where the reward is,” Hall said. “We directly impact teachers while indirectly impacting future leaders. We hope that in 10 or 12 years a studentathlete will make it to the national championship game and tell us that a teacher who changed his/ her life was impacted in some way by the CFP Foundation. That’s what we’re going for.”
This program has the ability to completely change the game for our students and give them the boost they desperately need.” DR. MERIA CARSTARPHEN thankful for this support and what it will do for our teachers and students. Strong early childhood literacy is a key factor in a student’s success and is a top priority for our district.”
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DEEP IMPACT: Carl Adkins, Executive Director of the Atlanta Football Host Committee, believes the donation will have long lasting effects on APS. Carl Adkins, Executive Director of the Atlanta Football Host Committee and father of a firstgrade teacher in the Atlanta area,
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shares a similar vision and a desire to help his daughter, Kate, and other educators in his community. He embraces the training APS instructors will receive in partnership with the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education and the long-term legacy the program can offer for Atlanta’s future leaders. “As I’ve been on this journey with the CFP Foundation team and seen, from my daughter’s side, just how limited schools are with their budgets and funding, it has been something really special,” Adkins said. “It has driven home the great work the CFP Foundation does on behalf of the teachers. It’s the best literacy program out there.” Adkins said he’s been pleased by the way the initiative has been supported by local business leaders. “Atlanta is the epicenter of college football,” Adkins said. “The entire community has embraced it on every level, from the board room to the bus driver and everyone in-between.” For the CFP Foundation, the goal is to boost awareness for the Extra Yard for Teachers platform whose logo features a green apple with a white football at its core. “When I started two years ago, my goal was for people to see the green apple and know what it stands for,” Hall said. “We want the apple to be a symbol that college football supports teachers. We’re definitely on our way.” The next step on that journey comes with the APS Literacy Initiative in Atlanta.
JOIN THE RACE! January 7, 2018, 8 AM | Downtown Atlanta
W
ant to burn off some calories before tailgating at the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship? The Extra Yard 5K, the official road race of the College Football Playoff, is your opportunity to be active and support teachers at the same time. Registration includes two tickets to Playoff Fan Central, a participant shirt, finisher’s medal and entry into a drawing for tickets to the national championship game. There will be plenty of entertainment along the 3.1-mile course, which starts in Atlanta’s International Plaza and winds its way through Peachtree City. All proceeds benefit Extra Yard for Teachers. How to Sign Up: www.atlantatrackclub.org/extra-yard-5k Teachers can use code TEACHER for a registration discount.
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