SEATTLE, Dec. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Already available in free and premium versions, the award-winning school communication and parental engagement app Bloomz has now added two new and innovative ways to help schools and classrooms fund parent and student communication. To ensure families and educators in all areas and economic levels have an opportunity at improving engagement with their communities, Bloomz is excited to announce the winners of their new Bloomz grant program, along with a new Classroom Sponsorship program.
Always eager to support educators while providing a world-class communications suite to improve parental engagement, Bloomz has awarded 312 grants this year—seven times more than 2018, when they piloted the program—totaling more than $30,000 in value. The Bloomz Premium Grant Program awards free Bloomz Teacher Premium licenses—worth $95.99 each—to educators with limited financial means and a desire to improve parental involvement in their classrooms.
More than 70% of grant applicants this year reported that they live in a low-income area or work at a Title I school. In addition to financial need, the grants are awarded based on merit, determined by applicants' demonstration of how they would use Bloomz to boost family engagement in their classroom and their willingness to help other educators do the same in their own school or district.
"I had Bloomz last year and loved it," said Pam Oswalt, 1st grade teacher at New Hope Elementary School. "However, I wasn't going to be able to afford it this year due to my 16-year-old child being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. His supplies cost me more than $800 per month! I am a single parent and that was one thing that was going to have to go. I communicate daily, numerous times a day, with parents. I am able to send pics of our classroom activities to the parents. They love getting information and pics. I hope you will please consider me next year for the grant. I love this App and I tell everyone about it. It's awesome."
Bloomz has also launched a Classroom Sponsorship program that allows family-friendly companies and other organizations to sponsor a number of classrooms or schools to ensure teachers and school leaders are able to use Bloomz for free in their communities. Sponsorships are different from advertising in that there is no behavioral targeting, no personal information shared with the companies, students never see any sponsored content, and each sponsor is thoroughly vetted by Bloomz.
Free Sponsored accounts feature four times the storage limit compared to non-sponsored accounts, and unlimited storage for premium classroom and premium school licenses. Teachers can also increase their storage limits for free by taking advantage of the Bloomz Teacher Referral Program.
Bloomz allows teachers to communicate with and engage parents in a variety of ways, including instant messaging, sharing classroom photos with individual parents or the whole class, shared calendars, volunteer sign-up sheets, and more. Bloomz accounts are free to teachers, though the Bloomz Teacher Premium subscription offers additional features, including:
- Unlimited cloud storage;
- An engagement dashboard and reporting;
- Premium support;
- Unlimited classes per teacher;
- Expanded language translation options, and more.
"At Bloomz we believe that family engagement is a cornerstone of education. Every student deserves the opportunity to flourish in an educational community built on the home-to-school relationships vibrant communication enables, regardless of socioeconomic status or the budgetary constraints of their school or district," said Chaks Appalabattula, founder and CEO of Bloomz. "The grants as well as our new Classroom Sponsorship program reflects that community-first ethos by tapping those with resources to help ensure our most vulnerable students have the opportunity to thrive in an engaged learning environment."
"I love Bloomz! I have been using it in my classroom for parent communication, calendar of events, announcements, post updates and sign-ups! Sign Ups are the best because in the past if I sent a note home no one would read it," Said Rosa Whitton, special education teacher at Vernon Middle School. "But now if I do a sign up for our cooking activities, I put down what we need and how many and the parents fill in all the requests. No more spending money on these items out of my own pocket!! Woo Hoo!!"
To sign up for a free Bloomz account, visit bloomz.com.
About Bloomz
Bloomz is the free mobile and web app that connects educators with parents and students in a secure, social, and private environment. In Bloomz, parents feel more connected than they ever have to their children's world, and teachers and administrators save more time than ever before, because they have everything they need in one simple-to-use tool. Learn more at Bloomz.com.
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