NBC10 Boston, Telemundo Boston, necn and the NBCUniversal Foundation announced Monday that four local non-profit organizations will receive a total of $225,000 in grants as part of the first annual Project Innovation grant challenge.
The winning organizations were selected by the stations for their programs that leverage technology to solve everyday problems in the areas of civic engagement, skills for the digital economy and STEM/STEAM youth programming.
"Each of the four non-profit organizations we’ve selected exemplified a real need within their programs," said Mike St. Peter, President and General Manager for NBC10 Boston, Telemundo Boston and necn. "They are leveraging technology, training, and innovations that will better our community and our future and for that, we are thrilled and proud to reward their outstanding achievements."
Project Innovation is presented by the NBCUniversal Foundation and NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, a division of NBCUniversal. NBC and Telemundo owned stations located in 11 markets, including Boston and New England, launched the new grant challenge in January 2018 to identify local organizations that embrace technology and innovation to develop real-life solutions for their communities. The stations located in each of the participating regions created community panels to review the grant applications and select final grant recipients. This year, more than $2.4 million will be awarded to not-for-profit organizations all across the country that are doing their part to transform their communities by providing solutions to real-life problems through tech-based approaches.
The New England 2018 Project Innovation grant recipients include:
Year Up, Inc.– $50, 000
Year Up Greater Boston delivers an employment-training program coupled with a professional corporate internship that prepares Opportunity Youth for entry-level roles with leading employers, as well as the pursuit of continued higher education. Their funding will go towards their Employment Training Program for Opportunity Youth.
U.S. & World
Latino STEM Alliance– $50,000
Latino STEM Alliance (LSA) partners with schools, private industry, community groups, and academia to bring STEM to underserved youth who would otherwise not have such an opportunity
This grant will fund a year-long K-8 Robotics program for more than 400 students at one school.
The Children’s Museum - $30,000
The Museum’s exhibits and programs emphasize hands-on engagement and learning through experience, employing play as a tool to spark the inherent creativity, curiosity, and imagination of children. The funding will go toward a more fully equip the Tech Kitchen with tools and equipment to share with our visitors and fulfills a need in the community to teach children about new technologies. The Tech Kitchen is a well-organized, innovative, and high impact STEM education program that provides an opportunity for children to experiment with cutting edge technologies. It provides a place to engage that does not exist anywhere else in Boston.
iCivics, Inc. – $95,000
iCivics works to ensure every student in America receives a quality and engaging civic education and graduates from high school well prepared and enthusiastic for citizenship. It is an impressive nonprofit led by two U.S. Supreme Court Justices that fills the need to build civic engagement to low-income students by teaching civic lessons through educational video games and real projects.
The funding would be used for a Boston-specific project and the program has a large impressive array of diverse supporters from the MacArthur Foundation to the Library of Congress.
Winners were selected in the following three categories: Igniting Civic Engagement, Skills for the Digital Economy, STEM/STEAM Youth Programming.
To see the list of all Project Innovation 2018 winners, visit nbcuniversal.com.
