D.C. Government Supports Education Programming

By Amanda Lewis, Corporate and Association Relations Manager

Blueprints Fall 2008
Volume XXVI, No. 4

In April 2008, National Building Museum teachers presented two of the Museum’s award-wining school programs, Patterns: Here, There and Everywhere and City by Design, to first and second graders at the Walker-Jones Elementary School in Ward 6 of Washington, D.C. In the past, these programs were offered only on-site at the Museum, often excluding students unable to take field trips due to economic or logistical reasons. With the support of Councilmember Tommy Wells and organizations like the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, these programs are now coming to schools across the District.

“We take our commitment to the community very seriously,” notes the Museum’s president and executive director, Chase Rynd, “and seeing the Museum’s programs offered in local schools is tremendously exciting for us and reassures us that our work has a positive impact on D.C.’s youth.”

During the 2007–08 school year, the Museum provided 194 free school programs to D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) classes, serving 4,518 students; a 44 percent increase over last year. In addition, by the end fiscal year 2008, the Museum will have provided Bridge Basics Program Kits to 50 DCPS and DC charter school teachers. With funding from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in place for school year 2008–09, the Museum is pleased to be able to continue to offer these free programs to DCPS students and their teachers.

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