According to an announcement this week, the Discovery Center will receive $1 million as the inaugural winner of the STOP Award, created through a partnership between Forbes and CER to recognize organizations for running “sustainable, transformational, outstanding and permissionless” programs that served families amid the public health crisis. The awards are sponsored by Philadelphia education reform advocate Janine Yass and her husband, Jeff.
The announcement said the nonprofit science center won first place for transitioning its 60,000-square-foot building into a “massive community response center dedicated to supporting the children of essential workers.” In addition to offering a variety of hands-on learning activities, the news release said it provided families with 200,000 hours of child-care services and 50,000 free meals.
“The STOP Award competition supports Forbes’ ethos of inspiring and nurturing the next generation of change-makers,” Forbes Chief Content Officer and Editor Randall Lane said in a public statement. “The Discovery Center’s efforts throughout one of the most challenging times in our nation’s — and the world’s — history are a tremendous beacon for what education can and should look like. We look forward to seeing this organization expand their transformational learning offerings in 2022 and beyond.”
The news release said the Discovery Center plans to use the money to develop a new mobile application that will let parents customize their child’s learning according to their needs, and to expand its education programs to over 27 rural counties, 30 states and three countries.
