Be a Champion
to Children

Volunteer, network, and join community projects at your local school.

 Why join our village?

Not every child has a champion. Help us connect a network of community leaders to every local school, so that every child has support to reach their potential!

What is School Connect?

Connecting Schools to Community…because it takes a village to help every child reach their potential!

The Sunnyslope Story

Sunnyslope leaders come together to build their community and support Mountain View Elementary School!

2021 Hope Builders Award

Scottsdale Bible Church joined forces with School Connect and the City of Phoenix to tackle the digital divide. Together we provided 7,960 computers to Arizona school children!

2021 School Connect Awards

Join School Connect as we honor champions of education who have built trust, modeled resilience, and cultivated leadership in their schools and communities.

School Connect Summit 2019

Watch School Connect and cross-sector leaders from all over Arizona as we share our vision for the future. Together we can build the world our children deserve.

your
impact

$1.3 million dollars of volunteer service to school communities

12,484 computers donated

“You can be 5 and change the world, you can be 16 and change the world, 20 – any age you can change the world.”

4th Grade Student
Mountain View School

%

Teacher retention in one K-8 school increased from 35% to 93%

Increased kindergarten reading scores 39% in K-8 AZ school

10,000 teacher care packages donated in 2020

Increased scores in math for students in one AZ elementary school: 20% of 4th graders, 19% of 5th graders, and 47% of 6th graders

Join Our Village

Doing this alone is impossible; it takes all of us working together to make a difference.

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The Future Is Bright

We asked these kids about their hopes and dreams. Their vibrant answers remind us that the future is in good hands when we empower children to become the leaders they were born to be. Help us build a village of support around every school so that EVERY CHILD is connected to their full potential!

"Whether we are working with Tracey and her team to overcome the digital divide in the community, handing out laptops, textbooks, digital hot spots, school supplies, or simply giving a hot cup of coffee to a teacher on a Monday morning to make their week a little bit easier, we feel truly blessed to be able to help."

Bryan Kuster

"When you engage with School Connect, you engage with an entire community. It’s business partnerships, it’s families, it’s schools - it’s everybody coming together to make life better for our students."

Nedda Shafir

"To see their faces when we showed up to help distribute lunches and different things, is priceless! Find it in your heart – I know it’s already there. Let’s go and serve those schools, let’s go and partner, let’s go and make sure our kids are taken care of."

Jerome Parker

"I think there are a lot of people who want to help out in public schools, they just simply don’t know how. And so, School Connect has the framework and the model to be able to do that and bring people together."

Dr. Cort Monroe

"It’s a tremendous asset to Arizona and to Arizona school districts, and it’s a service that has been needed for a very long time…because all of these groups are working toward the same goals but working parallel instead of in collaboration. So, it’s a tremendous organization that is bringing us all together and accomplishing great things."

Natalie Orne

Our mission is possible because of our amazing sponsors!

Meet our 2025 School finalists for the "Because It Takes a Village" Award!

These Schools, led by their innovative, bridge-building principals, have excelled at creating a diverse network of community partners to support their schools, students, and families in their community.

They are...

Black Mountain Elementary School, Led by Principal Matt Owsley, @cavecreekusd93

Ira A. Murphy Elementary School, Led by Principal Reginna Lewis, @peoriaunified11 

Sheely Farms Elementary School, Led by Principal Rebecca Ford, @tollesonesd 

Join us in celebrating these schools on May 1st at the 2025 Champions of Education Awards! (Link in comments)

#Arizona #Education #SchoolConnectAwards
Inspiration alert! This year, the @suns @phoenixmercury Foundation partnered with Arizona schools to encourage student reading through the Valley Readers Program.

Check out this impact!

💥📚💥 Over 20,000 students tracked an incredible 9,638,457 reading minutes, with an average of 8 hours per student!

💪 💪 Older students earned double points for reading to younger peers, logging 500,000 mentorship minutes.

Imagine being in a room filled with hundreds of energetic students celebrating their love for reading alongside their favorite teams... 

That's exactly what happened at assemblies across the state!

☄️ ☄️ The Phoenix Suns/Phoenix Mercury Foundation brought the heat with players, coaches, and mascots joining in with prizes, dance competitions, and celebration. It was so heartwarming to see students meet their heroes and read along with them!

But this program wasn't just about reading; it was about leadership, building a community that values service, and helping students reach for their dreams. 

As we celebrate Volunteer Month, we're reminded that powerful partnerships like those with the Phoenix Suns/Phoenix Mercury Foundation are paving the way for Valley Readers! 🔥🙌

#Partnership #Education #Arizona #Read #Books #Mentorship #VolunteerMonth #phxoffcourt #literacy #schoolconnect
Now announcing our Superintendent Changemaker Award finalists for the 2025 Champions of Education Awards! 

These are superintendents celebrated by their communities and have been nominated for taking a stand as leaders and bringing innovative solutions to their entire district.

They are...

Dr. Cecilia Maes, Superintendent, @alhambraesd 

Jay Mann, Superintendent, @creighton_school_district 

Dr. Robert Pappalardo, Superintendent, @ajusd43 

Will you join us in celebrating these change makers on May 1st?

Special thanks to our superintendent sponsor, @chasse.us, for sponsoring this award!

#Arizona #Education #Superintendent #SchoolConnectAwards
Revealing more finalists for the 2025 Champions of Education Awards!

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be revealing our finalists leading up to our awards event on May 1st... all the amazing leaders and community builders you nominated! 

Next up, our finalists for the School Champion Awards - leaders who have become trusted partners for school principals and their communities.

They are...

Denise Hawk, School Champion, @avondaleesd 

Gil Nisleit, School Champion, @centralchristianaz

Laura Roman, School Champion, @azgivingrealtor

Will you join us in celebrating these School Champions at our awards event on May 1st?

#Arizona #Education #SchoolConnectAwards
Who's ready to see some of our finalists for the 2025 Champions of Education Awards?! 

Over the next couple of weeks leading up to our awards event on May 1st, we'll be revealing our finalists... all the amazing leaders and community builders YOU nominated! 

First up, our finalists for the Hero Maker Award... 

These are teachers who have built trust, modeled resilience, and cultivated leadership in others to influence hope for the future.

They are...

Sara Daffe, Teacher, @madison_az

Emily Emhart, Teacher, @avondaleesd 

Melissa France, Teacher, @fesd.no45 

Amy Wicks, Teacher, @peoriaunified11 

Will you join us in celebrating these hero makers?

Special thanks to our Hero Maker Sponsors, @gentechsupport Tech Support and Kairos Health, for sponsoring this award. 

#Arizona #Education #SchoolConnectAwards