Calabasas, Calif. — We are pleased to announce that the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival has received a third grant from the PPG Foundation to support math festivals at schools in the greater Pittsburgh area. The grant will provide six Title 1 schools with $3,250 each worth of play-based math resources to host their own math festivals during the 2024-2025 school year.
Over the past two years, the grant program surpassed our expectations with a total of 18 festivals held in 15 Title 1 schools in 12 districts. The festivals engaged over 6000 children and almost 1200 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.”
Title 1 schools can apply for one of the 6 grants here. Each grant includes:
- A Math Festival in a Box full of JRMF games and puzzles
- Play-based math training
- An event support stipend
Our hope is that these grants act as start-up funds for math festivals by inspiring 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. Since JRMF’s first math festival in 2007, more than 500 joyful math events have engaged over 50,000 people across 30 states, 20 countries, and 6 continents.
