Classroom Central, Inc.

The mission of Classroom Central is to equip students living in poverty to effectively learn by collecting and distributing free school supplies. One in two children in our community is living in poverty. Their families are struggling each month just to pay rent and buy groceries, so thousands of children arrive at our schools empty-handed. For these students, Classroom Central has become the primary resource for the tools they need. Classroom Central supports over 127,000 students in nearly 200 schools throughout six school districts through four core programs that enable teachers within high-poverty schools to “shop” for the materials they and their students need to learn and achieve: Free Store, Classroom Up, ClassVROOM Central Mobile Free Store, and Backpacks & Basics. We are 100% privately funded and receive no financial support from governmental, schools, or federated entities. Classroom Central is an efficient steward of donor contributions; turning every dollar invested into our programs into $9 worth of school supplies contributed back to area classrooms and students. To measure the success of our programs, we track teacher utilization rates, teacher visits, the number of high-needs schools served, as well as the number of supplies distributed to students living in poverty.