Photos from the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Reception
Distinguished Alumni Reception 2026
WISDOM NETWORK: Share Your Wisdom. Inspire Our Students. Strengthen Our Community.
WISDOM NETWORK The Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation is excited to introduce the Wisdom Network, a new Speaker Bureau designed to connect community members with valuable knowledge and experience to the teachers and students who can benefit from it most. Our teachers are doing incredible work every day to prepare students for life beyond the classroom. One [...]
Growing Something Bigger than Ourselves – an Adopt-A-School Update
If you’ve ever planted a garden, you know something important: No single person “makes” it grow. Someone tills the soil.Someone plants the seeds.Someone waters.Someone pulls weeds.Someone builds the fence.Someone simply shows up consistently and tends what’s already there. And before long — what was once bare ground begins to bloom. That’s what is happening [...]
When the Community Cares & Partnerships Develop
At CU Schools Foundation, we believe partnership is powerful. Often this partnership takes the form of grant checks for teacher projects funded by our generous 365 Club Members and Corporate Community Partners. And sometimes…its even more... Sometimes, it looks like a classroom so extraordinary that it becomes the highlight of an international delegation’s visit [...]
Showing Up Matters: Inside Our Adopt-A-Principal Program
At the Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation, we believe supporting public education is about more than a once- (or twice-) a year grant check. Grants matter. They fund creativity, innovation, and opportunity. But true support?True support is built through consistent relationship — by simply showing up. That belief is what sparked a new and beautifully [...]
3 Cheers – February E-Newsletter
Distinguished Alumni 2026 SPRING 2026 GRANT AWARDS MTD Brought You Here
Spring Forward: The Success of Our Second Spring Grant Cycle
When we invest in educators and students by supporting creativity and innovation - excellence in Champaign and Urbana public schools is the result. In spring of 2024, during CUSF’s strategic planning process, the board listened carefully to teacher feedback. One theme rose to the top: the fall grant [...]
The Wheels on the MTD Bus … led you here!
If you’re here because you scanned a QR code on the back of an MTD bus… welcome.You just followed a tiny square of curiosity into the heart of something big: supporting the teachers, students, and schools of Champaign and Urbana. Around here, that single tap tells us something wonderfully simple... that you care about [...]
Meet our 2026 Distinguished Alumni Honorees
Purchase 2026 Distinguished Alumni Reception Tickets Now! The Distinguished Alumni Awards This award recognizes graduates whose achievements, strength of character, and citizenship serve as role models to inspire and challenge today’s youth. Purchase 2026 Distinguished Alumni Reception Tickets Here Nominations for 2027 [...]
Community Supporting Teachers through Adopt-A-School
Every school year is full — for students and for the teachers who invest daily in our children. Teacher support doesn’t have to be complex or time-intensive to be impactful. Through simple, consistent acts of appreciation and partnership, Adopt-A-School Community Advocate Partners (CAPs) and PTAs can strengthen relationships with teachers, boost morale, and foster [...]