Set forth below is an excerpt from Northstar's Case Statement:

MISSION STATEMENT: To provide children with individualized, appropriate instruction that allows each the opportunity to reach his or her potential educationally and as responsible, contributing members of the community.

WHO WE ARE: Northstar is a private, not-for-profit school serving children who have a wide variety of learning differences. The majority have multiple disabilites. Few schools could teach children with such varied disabilities and in fact, this quality makes Northstar the only school of its kind in Central Virginia.

THE NEED WE FULLFILL:

For our students:

Students arrive at Northstar after struggling with keeping up and fitting in with the quick pace and large class size of traditional education. Most have failed in both regular and special education programs. Without help, they may never complete school. In many cases, the parents place their child at Northstar; for 40% of the students, the public school system was unable to serve them and identified Northstar as the child’s best option. This reflects both the need for this educational option in metro Richmond and the overwhelming success of Northstar.

For our community:

According to the National Center on Education and Transition, studies indicate that only 29% of adults with disabilities are participating in the workforce, either full or part time.^[1] This chronic unemployment and underemployment of people with disabilities places a tremendous strain on our national and local economy.  Northstar Academy helps address these issues by facilitating the transition from school to the next phase of life.

OUR RESULTS: The Northstar approach works. Nationally, 38.7% of children with learning disabilities drop out of high school, destined to depend on others for the rest of their lives. Northstar offers a different future:

• 100% of our students graduate high school.

More than 90% get a job or go on to vocational or post-secondary education

When I was Chairman of the Board of Northstar, the tuition was almost $20,000.00.  Many families of special needs children simply could not afford the tuition.  The Board is working hard to raise scholarship funds.  In addition, GRASP recently added Northstar to its list of approved schools.

GRASP arranges for tax credits through the Neighborhood Assistance Act, which provide significant tax incentives for inidviduals and businesses who donate to Northstar and other schools through GRASP.  The applicable eligibility and tax incentives are as follows:

For Individual Donors:
*Minimum donation: $500
*Minimum tax credit: $200
*Maximum donation: $125,000
*Maximum tax credit: $50,000
*Five year carryover
For Business Donors:
*Minimum donation: $1,000
*Minimum tax credit: $400
*Maximum donation: $437,500
*Maximum tax credit: $175,000 per taxable year
*Five year carryover

Make a difference for a needy child while helping our community.  Over 50% of the funds must go to help students whose family income is less than 200% of the poverty guidelines.