What the Foundation Does
The Foundation exists to provide accessible educational opportunities that empower communities to explore the world around them with curiosity, and to pursue what inspires them.
Awards that cover camps, afterschool classes and school partnership seats — granted on financial need, academic achievement, or a demonstrated pull toward critical thinking, STEM, and robotics.
Apply for a scholarship
Professional development funding and classroom materials for teachers who want to teach hands-on and do not have the budget to.
Apply for a grant
Free STEM programming at local events, from festivals to field days, open to every age that shows up.
Suggest an event
We build learning experiences that support our partner’s outreach objectives — whether they are a district, a state agency, a corporate foundation, or a national program. The partner brings the audience and the objective; the Foundation brings the design, the materials and the people to run it.
Start a conversationHow We Are Structured
An independent 501(c)(3) public charity, incorporated in Mississippi on April 7, 2017. Its own board, its own executive director, its own funding networks. Every dollar it grants was raised for that purpose.
A separate for-profit company. The two work together because they want the same thing — high-quality, hands-on learning reaching every part of our communities — and because the company’s programs give the Foundation proven experiences to fund rather than programs it has to invent from scratch.
Grants, Scholarships and Giving
A scholarship covers the thing that was going to keep a child home: the camp fee, the class fee, the seat in a school partnership. Families apply directly, and the board reads every application.
Apply for a scholarship
Grants put kits, equipment and trained people into classrooms and community organizations that have the will to run a program and not the budget. Schools, teachers and nonprofits apply.
Apply for a grant
Every award is voted on by the board, recorded against what it was granted for, and reconciled afterward. Funders get a written account of what their money did — which students, which schools, which programs. Our registrations sit on this page rather than behind an email.
See our registrationsWorking With Other Nonprofits
A rising tide lifts all boats. We have never believed that the way to grow impact is to compete for it — not with the nonprofit two counties over, not with the one down the street. If a child gets a better hour of learning because someone else delivered it, that is the whole point.
So the Foundation’s reach is mostly other people’s reach. We partner with organizations already trusted in their own communities and bring what we are good at: the programming, the kits, and the people who can run them. They keep the relationship. We help them do more with it.
In New Orleans that means GNO STEM, the University of New Orleans–based nonprofit whose STEM Fest work puts hands-on science in front of thousands of Louisiana students a year. It has meant setting up tables of circuits and robots on a professional practice field, because that is where the families already were.
Sports franchises, corporate foundations, museums, universities, school districts, other nonprofits: if you have the audience and the trust, we have the program. Nobody has to give anything up for that to work.
We each brought different strengths to the table, and CCF found a way to turn those strengths into something bigger than either organization could have done alone. This is what nonprofit collaboration is supposed to look like.
Where It Has Gone
2017–2025
students reached
scholarships awarded
schools and partner sites
classrooms reached
Cumulative totals from the Foundation’s founding in 2017 through the end of 2025. The board closes each year before these are updated, so 2026 is not in them yet.
states
countries
Since the Foundation’s inception, in some capacity.
“The event didn’t feel like outreach being delivered to the community. It felt like the community was part of it. Parents were engaged. Kids were engaged. Our volunteers were engaged. Nobody wanted to leave.”
One Story
The numbers above are the part that fits in a report. This is the part that does not.
“My child came home from camp talking about NASA, engineering, and what he wants to be when he grows up. CCF didn’t just pay for a week of camp. They gave my child a week of believing he could do things he’d never tried before.”
“My son started camp saying he wasn’t good at science. He finished it asking how someone becomes an engineer.”
How You Can Help
Nothing on this page happens on its own. The Foundation is staffed and funded through its own networks, which is a polite way of saying every dollar it grants was raised first. There are two ways in, and they are different conversations.
For businesses, industry, corporate and family foundations, government partners and franchises. Multi-year commitments, named programs, whole districts. We agree what a win looks like before the work starts, and report against it afterward.
Scroll down to learn more about Giving at Scale
For anyone who wants a specific child to get a specific week. Fifteen dollars sends one student on a field trip; three hundred and seventy-five funds a year of hands-on learning. You can give once, monthly or yearly.
See what a gift buys →Giving at Scale
Writing the check is the easy part. Finding a partner who can actually execute is not.
Multi-site, multi-partner programs with real deliverables and real deadlines. We have run them across school districts, universities, museums and industry sites.
Clean books, clean reporting, a CPA on the board, and a written account of what your money did — not a thank-you note.
State and federal partners, and the registration, verification and compliance that come with them. Our EIN, DUNS and E-Verify numbers are on this page.
A $2,500 gift from a local business and a multi-year corporate commitment both get a plan going in and a report coming out.
“CCF didn’t approach us with a sponsorship package. They approached us with a conversation about what we wanted to change. They understand both sides of the partnership — the outcomes corporations need to demonstrate and the experiences communities deserve to receive.”
Giving Personally
Each amount below is tied to something specific the Foundation funds, so you can see what a gift does rather than guess at it. Give at one of these amounts or at any other — the amounts are here to make the work legible, not to set a price.
Sends one student on an interactive field trip.
Covers a month of afterschool STEM and robotics for one student.
Sends one camper to a full week of summer camp.
Funds a year of hands-on learning activities for one student.
Give once, monthly or yearly. Checks are payable to the Central Creativity Foundation, 442 6th Ave, Laurel, MS 39440.
With CCF, I don’t feel like I’m simply funding an organization. I feel like I’m funding an experience a child might remember for the rest of their life.
One of Several Designated Funds
Change Makers are rare people. When you meet them, you instantly know it. Jan Brenan promoted positive change in so many places and for so many people. This Foundation was honored to call her our friend. Sadly, our friendship ended much too quickly, as Jan passed away unexpectedly in 2022. For those who knew her, Jan had a passion for encouraging young learners to believe that no career was beyond their capabilities to excel. Jan loved camps for this very reason. The fund created in her name has sent hundreds of underserved, at-risk and merit-selected students to camp in her honor. It is one of several funds a gift can be pointed at — and the one with a story behind it worth your time.
Board and Governance
Eight directors review and vote on every grant and scholarship award. Staff carry out what the board decides.
Board of Directors
President
Secretary & Treasurer
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Director
Staff
Executive Director
Correspondence: ilona.prieto@centralcreativity.com
Office (866) 381-1760 · Emergency (321) 444-5940
Get Involved
Festivals, field days and camps run on people who show up. No science background required.
Ask about volunteering
Fundraising, program review, outreach. A few hours a month, and real influence over where the money goes.
Ask about a committeeThe Central Creativity Foundation
442 6th Ave, Laurel, MS 39440
(866) 381-1760 · foundation@centralcreativity.com
A 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax-deductible. EIN 82-1009009.
