Tracy Family Foundation supporting rural teacher program
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The Mount Sterling-based Tracy Family Foundation has provided a $60,000 gift to support a program designed to attract quality teachers to the region.
The foundation in 2018 donated $76,000 to the Great River Teacher Corps at Western Illinois University. The money is used to provide scholarships for education students who will work in west-central Illinois schools after graduation.
Students chosen for the program receive $8,000 to $14,000 in scholarship assistance. In return, they agree to teach in a small or rural school in one of 22 counties for at least three years.
The first teachers to take part in the program graduated in May.
Caritas grant will fund virtual reality therapy system
Jan. 14, 2021
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BELLEVILLE Caritas Family Solutions’ has received a $25,000 grant from the Tracy Family Foundation to purchase and install a virtual reality therapy system at St. John Bosco Children’s Center, a residential treatment facility for children who have experienced profound trauma.
The grant will also provide funds to train the clinical manager and five therapists on the new system.
The therapy approach known as Virtual Reality (VR) Prolonged Exposure will allow trained clinicians to work with youths who have experienced profoundly traumatic abuse and/or neglect and have developed significant mental health diagnoses such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder or most commonly, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result. VR therapy is a promising practice that has been studied with combat veterans and is now being applied to others with significant trauma histories.
Brown to get much needed child care center
Darren Iozia, darren.iozia@myjournalcourier.com
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Connie Ward, director of Brown County Early Learning Center, talks about the facility’s amenities, ranging from floor-level windows for children to look out to security cameras in each room, and how the center will be a welcoming place for children across Brown County to learn during a pivotal developmental age.Darren Iozia | Journal-Courier
MOUNT STERLING Motivated by a desire to teach kids from an early age to reach for the stars, the Tracy Family Foundation is investing $2 million to bring a much needed child care facility to Mount Sterling and Brown County.
MOUNT STERLING, Ill. â Allison Koch and her husband, Nolan, lost day care for their son, Lucas, in March when their provider decided to shut down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finding day care for him proved to be a challenge, so Koch had to rely on her mother-in-law and sister-in-law to care for him while they were at work. Since March, they have been on several waitlists for a few in-home day cares, but it was difficult to find space as day cares can only have so many young children.
Next month, the uncertainty should end for 18-month-old Lucas as he will start at the new Brown County Early Learning Center that is set to open after months of renovations. The 8,500-square-foot facility has a capacity of 80 children from infants to pre-kindergarten.