GRANTS AWARDED
Math and Science
The Exxon-Mobile Foundation in Irving, Texas, announced a $125 million commitment to the National Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit organization created to improve math and science education. The grant will expand training and incentive programs for Advanced Placement and pre-AP courses in Texas, and to UTeach, a collaborative program at the University of Texas, Austin, that encourages math and science majors to become teachers.
Entrepreneurship
The Citigroup Foundation donated $100,000 to the National Foundation for Entrepreneurship to start an entrepreneurship education program for youths in five California communities.
Early-Childhood Education
The Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded $2 million to Rutgers University to launch the Knight Early Learning Research Academy. The academy, which will be affiliated with the LEAP Academy Charter School, will provide a program designed to prepare young children for school, a research unit that will enable Rutgers professors and students to explore early-learning issues, a health center, programs to help child-care providers earn credentials and training, and a resource center for parents.
The Battle Creek, Mich.-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a four-year, $10 million grant to the University of Florida, Gainesville, to fund a partnership with the Miami-based Early Childhood Initiative Foundation. The University’s Lastinger Center for Learning and the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation will join to create Ready Schools Florida, which aims to ease the transition into school for children from poor communities.
Hurricane Relief
Three Baton Rouge, La., school districts will receive software from the Plano, Texas-based USG Corp., via a $307 million in-kind software grant. Approximately 50,000 students in the East Baton Rouge, City of Baker, and Zachary school systems will receive software for mathematics, science, art, design, and technical courses.
KIPP Charter Schools
The Houston branch of the Knowledge is Power Program recently announced grants and pledges from philanthropists totaling $65 million. The funds, which will be used to replicate KIPP’s elementary and secondary school model throughout the city’s underserved communities, come from the Houston Endowment, the Hines Interests Limited Partnership, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among many other sources.
Online Teacher Education
The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded Western Governors University, a private, nonprofit online school, $3 million over three years to increase the pool of highly qualified teachers in rural school systems.
Online-Safety Awareness
The Denver-based Qwest Foundation granted $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to develop a free online-safety resource designed to raise awareness of Internet dangers for children.
History Education
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City was awarded a five-year, $975,000 grant from the Minneapolis-based Cargill Foundation. The grant will help fund an academic enrichment program in American history for Minneapolis students, and to allow some Minneapolis Public School teachers to attend the Institute’s summer seminars.
New Schools for Cleveland
The Cleveland-based George Gund Foundation has announced 67 first-quarter grants, many of which will support the Cleveland Municipal School District. Notably, a $300,000 grant will provide funds for six new schools: four single-gender academies, a residential high school, and a science, technology, and engineering academy. Another grant of up to $25,000 will support a strategic plan for arts education.
Charter Management
The James Irvine Foundation, based in San Francisco, awarded $2.5 million over two years to the NewSchools Venture Fund to expand charter management organizations. Other recently announced grants from the foundation include $300,000 to the Cristo Rey Network over two years to improve freshman literacy in two network high schools, and $500,000 over two years to the High Tech High Foundation to develop a self-sustaining charter management organization.
