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.