Verizon Foundation Grant Funds Space Foundation Program for Boys & Girls Club

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Verizon Foundation Grant Funds Space Foundation Program for Boys & Girls Club

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 3, 2016) – Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation, the Space Foundation will offer a new program for Boys & Girls Club of the Pikes Peak Region at its Discovery Center in Colorado Springs.

Six Tinker Space workshops will be held between November 2016 and May 2017, specifically for Boys & Girls Club of the Pikes Peak Region. Boys & Girls Clubs of America serve an ethnically diverse population, and 65 percent of Club youth are eligible for free or reduced price school lunches, an important indicator of low-income status, compared to 50 percent of public school students nationally.

The two-hour Tinker Space workshops will be held on Saturdays at the Discovery Center, and delivered by the Space Foundation’s accredited educators, all of whom are former classroom master teachers. Tinker Space is based on the Space Foundation’s public Tesla’s Toolbox program, which includes projects such as:

  • App development
  • Robotics
  • Coding
  • 3D design and printing
  • GIS in everyday life
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Design challenges
  • Kinetic reactions

Space Foundation education programs support organic workforce development by building a pipeline of future workers skilled in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The Tinker Space program emphasizes teamwork, with a focus on communication, collaboration, problem solving, developing leadership skills and implementing 21st century skills to solve a challenge that has real-world application.

Opened in October 2012, the Space Foundation Discovery Center is designed from the ground up to be a STEM-purposed education center serving Colorado, and through distance delivery technologies, the nation and world. Philanthropic giving, such as the Verizon Foundation grant, is a primary source of funding for Space Foundation programs that support skilled workforce development. Learn more about Space Foundation education programs at www.DiscoverSpace.org.

About the Space Foundation
Founded in 1983, the Space Foundation is the foremost advocate for all sectors of space, and is a global, nonprofit leader in space awareness activities, educational programs and major industry events, including the annual Space Symposium, in support of its mission “to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity.” Space Foundation World Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA, has a public Discovery Center, including El Pomar Space Gallery, Northrop Grumman Science Center featuring Science On a Sphere® and the Lockheed Martin Space Education Center. The Space Foundation has a Washington, D.C., office and field representatives in Houston and the Florida Space Coast. It publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity, and through its Space CertificationTM and Space Technology Hall of Fame® programs, recognizes space-based innovations that have been adapted to improve life on Earth. Visit both of our websites — www.SpaceFoundation.org and www.DiscoverSpace.org — and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, Flickr and YouTube, and read our e-newsletter Space Watch.

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Space Foundation contact:   
Carol Hively, Director – Public Relations & Team Communications
media@spacefoundation.org