City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: MAY 4, 2016
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of a Grant Application to the Digital Media and Learning Competition to Develop an Embedded Learning Initiative Program for Young People.
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ISSUE: Council consideration of a grant application to the Digital Media and Learning Competition to develop an embedded learning initiative program for Alexandria youth to be administered by the Office of Historic Alexandria.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council authorize the City Manager to:
(1) Submit a grant application (due by May 13) to the Digital Media and Learning Competition supported through the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, requesting $125,000 in funding; and
(3) Execute all necessary documents that may be required.
BACKGROUND: For well over a decade the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation invested heavily in exploring how digital media could best be used in education, especially to address select learning related needs of underserved youth. Research revealed a "summer deficit" existed between children of different socio-economic backgrounds during the time that one school year ended and the next began. Children from enriched families and neighborhoods returned to school in the fall ready and prepared to learn. Those who came from more challenged environments had a measurable disadvantage and too often had to relearn basic skills and knowledge from the previous year.
To address this deficit, the foundation initiated Summer of Learning in the City of Chicago, which crafted innovative opportunities for young people to follow their interests into real life professions. The program was so successful, it was soon extended in a yearlong program, Cities of Learning, seeding co...
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