$1 Million in funding was awarded to the Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium to support educational opportunities for STEM programs in their Maker’s Space and learning labs.
Longway Planetarium will conduct STEAM programs in their Jupiter and Mars interactive classroom spaces as well as allowing school groups to utilize the planetarium theater for science education.
The remaining funds will be used for extracurricular programming for youth at the Flint Institute of Music, Flint Institute of Arts, The Crim Fitness Foundation, and the Flint Soap Box Derby.
Kildee was joined at the press conference by Todd Slisher, CEO of the Flint Institute of Science and History which oversees Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium programming, Lauren Holaly-Zembo, CEO of Crim Fitness Foundation, Rodney Lontine, President and CEO of the Flint Institute of Music, Tracee Glab, Executive Director of the Flint Institute of Arts, and Kevin Cronin, Executive Director of the Flint Soap Box Derby.
“This project is an excellent use of taxpayer funding. It will improve and expand afterschool education and community engagement programs for children across Genesee County, many of whom are from underserved areas or living in poverty,” stated Slisher. General admission to the newly built $30 Million Sloan Museum is free and Longway Planetarium is 50% off for Genesee County residents through 2028 due to the passage of the Arts Education and Cultural Millage that passed in 2018.
The breakdown of how the funding will be allocated in support of a wide range of extracurricular activities for youth in Genesee County is as follows:
- $1 million to Sloan Museum of Discovery at the Flint Institute of Science and History to support after school programs in STEM education for students.
- $463,500 to the Crim Fitness Foundation to support the Families for Life (FFL) program. FFL is a full-service community schools initiative expanding learning opportunities, adult education, literacy, and social-emotional learning.
- $193,921 to the Flint Institute of Music to support music therapy in the treatment of mental and behavioral health issues for students K-8.
- $148,000 to the Flint Institute of Arts to expand the JumpSTART program to train early childhood classroom teachers on incorporating art education into their curriculum throughout the school year, beyond what is currently available.
- $100,000 to the Flint Soap Box Derby that will support workforce development in STEM fields.
