Chase Supports Dallas Educational Institutions

Last Wednesday, July 20, it was announced that Chase was presenting two prominent Dallas educational institutions – one that focuses on science and math education, the other on creative learning in schools and neighborhoods – with $1.4 million in gifts that will make learning fun, stimulating and interactive for thousands of Dallas-area children.

Chase is donating $400,000 to help fund Big Thought’s Thriving Minds summer camp and after-school programs for elementary and middle-school students. Chase also is contributing $1 million in support of the Bio Lab and related educational programming in the Being Human Hall, which will be part of the new Perot Museum of Nature & Science currently under construction in Dallas’ Victory Park.

On hand to make the announcement and to salute the “community hero” wielding the big gifts were representatives from Big Thought and the Perot Museum of Nature & Science. Also offering their thanks were Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins and Jane Didear, the partnerships coordinator in Dallas ISD’s community relations/communication services department.

Bill Bogart of Chase presents the check to Margie Reese, Vice President of Programs at Big Thought and Nicole G. Small, CEO of the Museum of Nature & Science. Photo by Jason Janik

Big Thought’s Thriving Minds middle-school camp is a full-day program currently operating at Fair Park and select Dallas ISD schools for four weeks in July. The camp – presented in partnership with Dallas ISD, the City of Dallas and dozens of community partners – involves nearly 2,000 sixth-through-eighth grade students. Chase’s gift to Big Thought will support the expansion of leading-edge programming to be implemented during the school year at several Dallas ISD schools located in South Dallas and the surrounding Fair Park neighborhoods.

Chase’s other gift will support the Bio Lab, which is part of the Being Human Hall and one of 11 halls of Chase contributes $1.4 million to Big Thought and Perot Museum of Nature & Science – the new 180,000-square-foot Perot Museum. Approximately 1,330 square feet, the lab will offer specific curriculum-based programs for school groups and public use. The Hall will examine the human body and human condition through the lenses of biology, technology and culture. The $1 million gift to the Perot Museum includes support for curriculum development and delivery as well as supplies for the Bio Lab programs, which will directly tie into the TEKS standards for math and science. Museum officials project that more than 40,000 students will participate in Bio Lab Programs each year, including those from Community Renaissance Neighborhood (CRN) areas, specifically in South Dallas and Fair Park. The Perot Museum is projected to open in early 2013.