If the Lansing region hopes to continue growing its high-tech manufacturing sector and compete in the future, we must train our youth today to be prepared for those kinds of jobs.
That’s the thinking behind a major grant announcement by the Capital Region Community Foundation, which has awarded two local organizations $75,000 each for programs aimed at introducing science, math and technology to children.
The 2010 Impact Grants went to Impression 5 Science Center and the Information Technology Empowerment Center (ITEC).
Foundation officials say they hadn’t planned on awarding two grants this year but were so blown away by the parallel goals of Impression 5 and ITEC that it only made sense.
“What impressed the committee about both the I5 and ITEC plans was how they felt like two parts of a larger whole,” says Robin Miner-Swartz, the foundation’s director of communications. “Both focused on developing science and technology training for youth in our region, but in different-yet-parallel ways.
"And the fact that I5 and ITEC already had an established collaboration, it felt like a natural opportunity for the Community Foundation to double down and make a statement: This type of education and training is vital to our community.”
Impression 5 will use the funds to create an Emerging Media and Technology Lab within the science center. ITEC plans to open ITEC Pathways, a learning center that will offer program instruction to train tomorrow’s scientists and engineers.
Source: Robin Miner-Swartz
Writer: Louise Knott Ahern
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