Perot Museum awarded nearly $500K IMLS CARES Act Grant to serve 45,000 underserved youth

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science was recently awarded a $496,860 grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) as part of its IMLS CARES Act Grants program to support the role of museums and libraries in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Less than 4% nationally of all applications were funded, and the Perot Museum’s award was among the largest, with $500,000 being the maximum. Only two Texas institutions – the Perot Museum and the Texas Historical Commission – and just eight U.S. science museums were selected for the grants. 

The Perot Museum will use the funding to deliver STEM education to 45,000 youth from neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of poverty and lower rates of educational attainment, as outlined in the 2018 Dallas Economic Opportunity Assessment. The Museum plans to adapt its mobile makerspace program – known as TECH Truck – to in-person and virtual formats that require minimal handling of materials by more than one person. Also, the Museum will launch a pilot program with 12 select partners to determine if ongoing, deeper and sustained engagement has measurable effects on learning.

Perot Museum of Nature and Science and Dell Taking Science to the Streets with TECH Truck

Rolling into neighborhoods soon! Through a generous $1.13 million grant over three years from Dell, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science has created a mobile innovation truck that will bring science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) learning to a broader and more diverse audience in the D/FW region and beyond.

 

The Perot Museum TECH Truck, powered by Dell, will provide more opportunities for the community to engage in museum experiences through free, out-of-school educational and interactive programs, including drop-in sessions and workshops, using no- and low-tech activities as well as high-tech experiences. The program is designed to reach people who – for a variety of reasons – do not or cannot engage with the Museum at its physical location.

“We know there are families who never or rarely have an opportunity to visit museums, so we want to bring technology and digital literacy directly into their neighborhoods,” said Colleen Walker, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

The super-cool, custom-outfitted van has been nicknamed TECH Truck, an acronym based on the program’s mission to inspire youth to “Tinker, Engineer, Create, and Hack.” Specially trained Perot Museum educators will work on a full- time basis to instruct children to solve design challenges through hands-on making, tinkering and creative problem solving. Activities will include soldering, squishy circuits, coding, robotics, wind-tube challenges, 3D printing, laser cutting and stomp rocket design, to name a few.

The TECH Truck will debut this fall, operating 300 days per year and reaching an estimated 20,000 people annually at community centers, libraries, public areas and parks, community events and schools. Plans are to launch a second TECH Truck in 2016. Each TECH Truck will be large enough to accommodate two staff members plus necessary materials and equipment. A pop-up awning will allow outdoor programming to take place adjacent to the vehicle.

 

For more information about the TECH Trucks, go to perotmuseum.org/techtruck