One year into their partnership, Kids’ Chance of America and Kaleidoscope are seeing momentum build across the country, with 15 state organizations now using the platform to facilitate student scholarships.

The pilot program launched in early 2022 with nine state organizations adopting Kaleidoscope’s software platform, including Kids’ Chance of Pennsylvania (KCPA). KCPA has been impressed with how the software has helped them improve their efforts.

“We’ve been very happy with Kaleidoscope,” said Kathy Del Pizzo of KCPA. “It’s allowed us to streamline our process, incorporate reviewers, and manage information in a much easier way than what we were doing before.”

The goals of the pilot, which has now picked up six more state organizations, are to make things easier for the states to achieve their mission and also, of course, to make sure the students who are eligible for Kids’ Chance scholarships can find them and apply.

“We had two students come to us through the marketplace last year,” said Brock Carter, who heads up the Toby Wright Scholarship Fund in New Mexico, a Kids’ Chance affiliate. “These were students who were not previously known to us, so we were thrilled with that outcome.”

Kids’ Chance and Kaleidoscope have put together a team to coordinate set-up, training for staff, and support. Monthly meetings are held with participants to offer ongoing coaching and review questions as they arise. The Kids’ Chance participants have offered constructive feedback on enhancements that can be made to the platform, and Kaleidoscope has been very responsive in making improvements to this relatively new software.

Kaleidoscope is one element of an initiative to integrate best practices into the Kids’ Chance scholarship awarding system. Other components of the initiative have included a new Scholarship Guide and a new video tutorial, Scholarship Basics and Best Practices.

Kids’ Chance of America has partnered with participating states to provide much of the funding for Kaleidoscope. More participants will be brought into the program this summer for the next round. Interested organizations should contact Barbara Milligan, Director of State Programs and Services.

‍About Kids’ Chance

‍Kids’ Chance of America is a 501(c)(3) organization that represents a collection of state-level nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships and support to the kids of workers who have been injured on the job. Cumulatively, since their inception in 1988, Kids’ Chance organizations have awarded over 9,300 scholarships totaling over $33 million dollars. To learn more about Kids' Chance, visit our website at www.kidschance.org.