Arts & Movement Improvement | Get-To Jobs. Before tip-off, level the playing field.
FHS89
TIP-OFF
SHOT CLOCK: OCT 31
ARTS & MOVEMENT IMPROVEMENT | GET-TO JOBS
Today, Franklinton High School measures success the way Ohio does: students in seats, credits earned, Arts & Movement credentials and a diploma. Those measures stay on the board. This grant adds what the board has never tracked: paid work, a portfolio, a credential, and working adults who know a student's name.
Franklinton is the oldest neighborhood in Columbus and one of its poorest. Our students have the talent. The scouting report shows what they're up against.
| Team | Median | vs. U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| ZIP 43222 (Franklinton) | $32,321 | |
| City of Columbus | $66,082 | |
| Franklin County | $75,176 | |
| United States | $80,734 |
| Category | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Economically disadvantaged | 96.4% | |
| Black students | 54% | |
| Hispanic students | 10.4% | |
| Special education services | 28% |
Young people whose families lack professional networks lose twice: first to automation, then to the filter. When software screens strangers, a referral matters more than ever. So FHS uses AI to push back against what AI does to young people without networks. Students learn tools many adults don't have yet, and employers and neighbors open their networks to them.
Arts & Movement has been on the floor since FHS opened in 2020, growing from the electives at Franklinton Prep Academy. It fills a quarter of every school day, two disciplines a semester, taught by working artists. This is an established program getting better.
Every ninth grader meets working professionals in the first semester.
Site visits and shadows put students inside real workplaces.
Mentors, credentials and deeper studio work grow their skills.
Paid work, and a confirmed next step before graduation.
In every discipline, students use AI to document their work, plan content and build portfolios and websites that tell how they found their craft. A drummer narrates a voice memo; it becomes an interactive page. Each class also asks what AI means for its field, like what a photo proves when any image can be faked. Teachers approve all public work.
A free digital yearbook, a student newspaper and drone footage of school events. Students chronicle their own school and tell FHS's story to neighbors and sponsors.
Employers and mentors who commit staff to coffee chats, shadows and mentoring, and who each bring another employer to the table.
Public showcases each semester where students take the floor in front of families, employers and neighbors.
Drone students train with Critical Ops toward FAA Part 107. The Neighborhood Design Center hosts paid design internships. Martial arts students explore coaching careers. Through Franklinton Inc., students help neighborhood nonprofits with research and storytelling. About 15 students earn wages.
Adults who stay for four years, call plays and know every player's name.
Where the trades teach by doing. Real tools, real projects, real feedback.
Ready, reliable students that employers already know when a job opens.
Entrepreneur in residence at Cleveland State University, running accelerator programs and internships for student entrepreneurs. Co-founder, For Granted.
GitLab employee who has taught high school students practical AI for fundraising, marketing and content. Co-founder, For Granted.
Led Beachwood's student-run marketing program from 2006 until retiring. His students raised nearly $230,000 for therapy and service dogs in 2024–25.6
Read his story →2025 Samuel H. Elliott Educator Award winner for EntrepreNEW Pathways, where students build a business every year.7
Read her story →Paid design internships, mentors and ties to Ohio State architecture.
Visit NDC →Drone training toward FAA Part 107; 32 FHS students trained since September 2026.
Visit Critical Ops →More than 50 nonprofits opening doors for site visits and placements.
Columbus and Cleveland employers, especially in tech. One seat, one to three staff, four years.
The floor is yours. FHS already puts on showcases; this grant makes them bigger and puts them in front of more of the city. The people on the sidelines are the ones who matter most.
Students take center court to present finished work: photographs, dishes, choreography, a piece played live. Families, employers from The Bench, Franklinton's nonprofits and younger siblings fill the sidelines, and every showcase doubles as a first look at the next class of hires.
The school is the arena. The neighborhood is the crowd that fills it.
The team behind this application runs on I-71. Columbus is home court. Cleveland is where the coaches live and work and where Greg Perry built his program, and Emily Kilgore teaches just south, near Akron. All three sit in the NBA Foundation's Cleveland market.
AI-assisted portfolios reviewed by a working professional
students in coffee chats, shadows or mentor meetings
students earning wages
industry credentials, including FAA Part 107
employers with seats
Targets for the grant year, pending final enrollment. Every coffee chat, shadow, follow-up and placement is logged in Passportable, which FHS and For Granted will make free for other schools and communities.
| Cap sheet | Amount | What it pays for |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching artist hours | $70,000 | FHS Arts & Movement teachers building the AI layer into each discipline |
| Program coordinator | $45,000 | Runs The Bench, The Floor, placements and Passportable records |
| Student wages | $40,000 | Paid internships and client work, about 15 students |
| Equipment and software | $35,000 | Cameras, workstations, design and AI tools |
| Drone pathway | $12,000 | Critical Ops training and FAA test fees |
| Evaluation | $12,000 | Rubric scoring and graduate follow-up |
| The Floor showcases | $8,000 | Two public showcases |
| Transportation | $8,000 | Rides to shadows, placements and site visits |
| Studio materials | $8,000 | Consumables across disciplines |
| Student media | $6,000 | Yearbook and newspaper platform |
| Family AI nights | $6,000 | Students teaching parents |
| Total, one year | $250,000 | No general operating support |
Some jobs you have to do. The best ones you get to do. When this grant year ends, a Franklinton graduate:
Ernie Johnson, opening his final season of Inside the NBA, October 2026: the "get-to" job.