CFP FOUNDATION’S THE BIG DAY SUPPORTS TEACHERS COAST TO COAST
$4.3 Million in Direct Aid and Resources Benefit Thousands of Teachers on the Largest Single-Day Effort of Community Impact by the Extended College Football Family
IRVING, Texas – Thousands of teachers were celebrated nationwide by the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation and its partners with the BIG DAY — the largest single-day effort of community impact ever undertaken by the extended college football family. Held on Monday, September 14 as part of Extra Yard for Teachers (EYFT) Week, the BIG DAY was a national day of supporting and celebrating teachers to say “thank you” in many ways to deserving educators dedicated to helping our kids learn.
Approximately $4.3 million in grants, direct aid and desperately-needed resources were awarded to teachers and educators nationwide on the BIG DAY. More than 250 partners of the CFP Foundation participated in the BIG DAY, including 16 bowl games, 10 conferences, 82 universities, 51 educational partners and ambassadors, five corporate partners, seven CFP National Championship host cities, and 73 high schools in 29 states. Over the countdown and celebrations around the BIG DAY, nearly one million impressions were viewed on collaborative social media posts with over 7,000 engagement across the CFP Foundation and its partners.
“America’s teachers are amazing, and we are so proud of all of them,” said CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock. “It is an honor to support and celebrate them through the popular platform of college football.”
Market highlights around the BIG DAY included:
Miami – Site of the 2021 CFP National Championship
The CFP Foundation and Miami 2021 Host Committee utilized the BIG DAY to announce its impact strategy platform, a $2 million partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The strategy provides significant support for the District’s innovative Middle School Redesign initiative by creating “innovation spaces” in middle schools. The strategy includes the transformation of school media centers into spaces with enhanced technology, and modular and flexible furniture that bolsters comfort and creativity. The donation also includes Virtual Reality (VR) headsets.
Indianapolis – Site of the 2022 CFP National Championship
The CFP Foundation and 2022 CFP National Championship Host Committee announced a $200,000 investment in Teach Indy to support the recruitment, development, recognition, and retention of great teachers for Indianapolis schools. Teach Indy is a partnership between Indianapolis Public Schools, The Mind Trust, and the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation.
Phoenix – Site of the 2016 CFP National Championship
The Fiesta Bowl Organization announced that it will once again honor, celebrate and support Arizona teachers with the opening of applications for its fifth annual Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers program. The BIG DAY marked the launch of applications for Arizona K-12 public and charter school teachers at wishesforteachers.org, listing their school or classroom need. After meeting the criteria, wishes will be selected at random for 200 teachers to each receive a $2,500 grant, totaling $500,000.
Dallas – Site of the 2015 CFP National Championship
The CFP Foundation and Cotton Bowl Foundation honored teachers via a $50,000 grant to Catch Up & Read and a $50,000 grant to Urban Teachers. These grants are geared to support and celebrate teachers for their dedication to education. The 20 teachers in attendance were also presented with a $100 DonorsChoose gift card to help with school supplies and resources.
Bay Area/Northern California – Site of the 2019 CFP National Championship
Three teachers in the Bay Area were surprised with $1,000 DonorsChoose gift cards to use toward classroom and teaching resources, funded by the CFP Foundation and 49ers EDU. The three recipients were selected from peer nominations.
New Orleans – Site of the 2020 CFP National Championship
Twelve teachers in the NOLA Public Schools were honored at the virtual 2020 New Orleans Excellence in Teaching Award ceremony. Each educator received a $1,000 or $2,500 award, thanks to $10,000 grants from both the Allstate Sugar Bowl and the CFP Foundation. In addition, select teachers in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which was drastically hit by Hurricane Laura, were each surprised with $400 of direct aid. In addition, Allstate Sugar Bowl Executive Director Jeff Hundley announced a flash-funding of all of the DonorsChoose projects in Calcasieu Parish for a total of nearly $10,000.
ESPN
In addition to mentions during live game broadcasts on ESPN, Extra Yard for Teachers Week and special teacher recognitions and surprises were featured on College GameDay, as well as the SEC Network and the ACC Network. Throughout the course of the week, teachers were presented with a total of $20,000 in direct aid for classroom resources.
Notre Dame
Emily Okawara, a fourth-grade teacher at St. Thomas More Catholic Academy in Washington, D.C. was honored by the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) with $1,000 towards class resources or projects. Okawara was one of 36 teachers nominated and was selected to use the prize money to implement a student-led Children Are Citizens project with her class.
National Teachers Hall of Fame
Via a surprise virtual announcement live on Facebook and YouTube, five teachers learned that they are part of the 29th class to be inducted into The National Teachers Hall of Fame. The surprise call was sponsored by the CFP Foundation in conjunction with the National Teachers Hall of Fame.
The national celebration of America’s teachers comes as educators perform essential duties against the extraordinary backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools across the country have been closed for in-person learning, teachers have found a way to keep kids learning.
“We’d like to thank the many generous partners who participated in the BIG DAY and shared in the national effort to support and celebrate teachers,” said CFP Foundation Executive Director Britton Banowsky. “Most of all, we want to thank the millions of teachers who go the extra yard to educate our children.”
The CFP Foundation is the largest sports entity supporting K-12 education in America. For more information about the CFP Foundation, visit cfp-foundation.org.
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