Overview
External Affairs and Partnerships 
makes it easy to help the Chicago Public Schools. We facilitate resources for CPS in the form of money, material resources, volunteers and drive new and innovative program development through competitive federal, state, and foundation grants. We manage the following programs:
- Partnerships (Adopt a school)
- Competitive Grants
- Children First Fund (The CPS Foundation)
- Principal for a Day
- Free Things for CPS (In-Kind Donations)
- Alumni Engagement (CPSalumni.org)
- CPSdonation.org – Online donations
- Family Tree Project
Goals
- Garner resources and facilitate partnerships with businesses, civic organizations, and individuals to enhance the quality of education at CPS
- Identify appropriate competitive federal, state, and foundation grant opportunities for CPS and collaborate with CPS units to develop and submit grant applications
- Coordinate annual Principal for a Day and other special events to strengthen existing partnerships and generate new ones
- Maintain a database of all CPS grant activity and records for all district-level grant applications
- Manage, disburse, and submit accurate reports for grants administered through the Children First Fund
- Engage alumni of the Chicago Public Schools principally through CPSalumni.org
Current initiatives
- Aligning programs in major grant applications with district priorities
- Strengthening existing partnerships and generating new ones
- Accepting and soliciting donations of things useful to CPS schools and departments
- Facilitating connections with other individuals who can help CPS as donors, volunteers, alumni, and as relatives of CPS school namesakes
Accomplishments
- Facilitated more than 300 long-term partnerships for schools
- Ensured successful participation of more than 600 professionals in annual Principal for a Day event
- Awarded $200 million in competitive grants over the past two years, of which the Children First Fund provided fiscal agent services for $32 million
- Placed donated items in over 300 schools
- Launched alumni website, which attracted more than 3,000 registrants in the first month
Resources
We are available to assist people who want to help schools in the following ways: