Calabasas, Calif. — We are pleased to announce that the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival has received a fourth grant from the PPG Foundation to support math festivals at schools in the greater Pittsburgh area. With a focus on supporting previous grantees, this year’s funding will be awarded to twelve Title 1 schools that received a JRMF/PPG grant during the past three years. Each school will receive $1,750 worth of play-based math resources to host another math festival during the 2025-2026 school year.
Over the past three years, the grant program surpassed our expectations with a total of 31 festivals held in 21 Title 1 schools in 17 districts. The festivals engaged over 8000 children and almost 1400 adults in joyful math, and with the support of the PPG Foundation, we get to do it again!
“Like JRMF, the PPG Foundation is acutely focused on supporting hands-on activities that enable young students to learn and understand how STEM concepts relate to our daily lives,” said Malesia Dunn, Executive Director, PPG Foundation. “Math is at the foundation of STEM learning and a launching point for future careers and possibilities. We’re thrilled to join JRMF’s efforts to support educators and students in Pittsburgh and inspire math learning.”
Previous grant winners can apply for one of the 12 grants here. Each grant includes:
- Supplemental math festival activities
- Play-based math training
Our hope is that these grants continue to inspire schools to host annual math festivals. The games and puzzles are reusable and transferrable, providing resources that school districts can enjoy for years to come.
“The Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival wants to make math festivals as ubiquitous in American schools as science fairs,” says JRMF Executive Director Daniel Kline. “I’m confident we can make it happen with the help of our incredible corporate partners like the PPG Foundation.”
About Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival
The Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival (JRMF) is a nonprofit on a mission to help all students build confidence, joy, and a positive identity around math. JRMF does this by supporting schools, libraries, and other community centers in hosting fun math events called math festivals. At a math festival, students and their families explore a variety of hands-on, play-based, standards-aligned math puzzles and games. So far in 2025, we have had 355 Math Festivals across the United States that have reached over 41 000 children, of whom over half attend underserved and underrepresented schools.
