OUR STORY
Imagine a community Where Time, Talent & Treasures Converge, creating opportunities, access to resources and provides educational support that helps young people build sustainability. With your support, The Carter Education & Community Foundation will continue to make that a reality.
Our Mission
To build a formidable network of community organizers, business leaders, family, friends, and neighbors to ensure equitable access for the advancement of all young people, our future leaders.
Our Commitment
We are committed to removing the barriers preventing young people from receiving a quality education, building strong personal & work ethics and the necessary skills that help each of them reach their full potential. We believe every child should be able to build a successful & healthy personal foundation.
Inspired by COMMUNITY
INFLUENCED BY A VILLAGE
Our Reason for Making A Difference
The Carter Education & Foundation, Inc began as a way for Tonya Carter to find a way to use her professional and personal experiences to help create opportunities that can have a positive impact in the community. She also wanted to honor her parents and the countless community leaders who were dedicated to building a supportive environment for her and other young people growing up in Rantoul to thrive in. While there were many teachers, church leaders, coaches and parents who contributed to developing a safe & nurturing community, Tonya’s professional work was most influenced by the example her parents set by being regularly involved in the community. Tonya spent 25 years working with children and families.
It was in 2020, Tonya began volunteering her time to lead community focus groups and trained various leaders on the different disparities affecting society, especially for youth after watching the deterioration of the communities all over the world. And as the challenges began to become more problematic for the health community, society as a whole and almost catastrophic for the educational system, Tonya reached out to different individuals to see if they were interested in creating systemic change back home in the community several of the founding board members grew up in.
They agreed to help champion the cause and in February 2021, Otis Noble, III, Jackie Crawley, Michael Smith, Cindy Hicks, and Elena Clements joined Tonya in officially forming The Carter Education & Community Foundation, Inc.
Despite the lingering impact of COVID, they started planning how to launch the foundation’s efforts.
THE WORK BEGINS
In July 2021, they hosted the very first activities during a weekend full of fun community inspired activities. There was
- The Alumni Breakfast,
- The First Community & Career Youth Expo,
- A Night of Celebrating Champions Banquet and
- The Inaugural Annual Kickin’ Old School Kickball Tournament.
In January 2022, we started our C.O.R.E Skillz Saturday Workshops. These were youth sports activities where we included other life and educational lessons as part of the sessions. Also we started offering The Next Level Planning series at the High School. This series was designed to help young people learn how to prepare for life after high school.
In April 2022, we hosted our second Community & Career Fair at Rantoul Township High School and connected with over eighty youth. We also were awarded our first Grant to begin increasing the exposure to STEM related career and education.
In November 2022, the foundation was recognized as The Rantoul Area Chamber Minority Business of The Year.