NEA Foundation Promotes Grant Program; Presents Nobel Prize Nominee at 2009 NEA Expo

Washington, D.C. (July, 3 2009) - Thousands of educators visited the NEA Foundation’s booth at the NEA’s 2009 Expo in San Diego to learn more about the Foundation’s grants, for a chance to win an iPod Touch, and to pick up a coveted NEA Foundation “Need a Grant?” bag.

Foundation staff answered hundreds of questions about its Student Achievement and Learning & Leadership grants throughout the two and a half days that the Expo was held.

On July 2, the NEA Foundation hosted a presentation and book signing for Nobel Peace Prize nominee and bestselling author of “Three Cups of Tea,” Greg Mortenson.  The author enthusiastically thanked about 400 educators who gathered to hear him speak.  He encouraged them to continue their work to educate young Americans and to cultivate student service learning opportunities to promote world peace by building understanding and appreciation between different cultures.

The NEA Foundation has supported the work of Mortenson’s organization, Pennies for Peace, to develop an online service learning toolkit designed for K-12 educators to create effective penny-raising campaigns to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of their school’s curriculum.

The toolkit provides a standards-aligned service learning curriculum for all grade levels, including classroom activities, fact sheets, maps provided by National Geographic, and videos about life and culture in Afghanistan and Pakistan.   The materials can be downloaded for free from www.penniesforpeace.org.

These school-based campaigns are gathering momentum and making a difference.  In 2006, there were less than 100 US schools participating. Today there are over 4,000.  As of 2009, Pennies for Peace has established over 90 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 34,000 children, including 24,000 girls where few education opportunities existed before.

About The NEA Foundation

The NEA Foundation is an independent public charity created in 1969 and sustained by contributions from educators, corporate sponsors, and other supporters of public education.  The Foundation offers grants and programs that support educators' efforts to close the achievement gaps, increase classroom innovations, provide professional development, and salute excellence in education.  For more information, visit neafoundation.org.