Verizon Foundation

The Verizon Foundation to Invest $1.2 Million in Grants to Provide Training and Innovative, Free Online Resources Through Thinkfinity.org to Teachers in 17 States

Foundation Also Honors U.S. Rep Bart Gordon With First Innovation in Education Award

November 29, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Verizon Foundation will provide $1.2 million in grants to educational organizations in 17 states to raise awareness of the free educational resources available on Thinkfinity.org and to train teachers to use the comprehensive, Web-based program.

Thinkfinity.org is the Verizon Foundation's free online portal to 55,000 educational resources, including standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans and other student interactive tools and materials for students provided in partnership with many of the nation's leading educational and literacy organizations.

"Through these innovative partnerships, teachers in 17 states will receive free access to specialized training on educational resources tailored to meet their specific state standards," said Verizon Foundation President Patrick Gaston in announcing the $1.2 million commitment Wednesday (Nov. 14) at a gathering at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Also at the event, held in celebration of American Education Week, the foundation awarded its first Innovation in Education Award to U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee for his ongoing commitment to education.

Gordon, a longtime teacher advocate, recently sponsored the America Competes Act, which is designed to ensure that U.S. students, teachers, businesses and workers are prepared to continue to lead the world in innovation, research and technology.

The bill, which was signed into law by President Bush in August, aims to improve math and science education and foster energy research. "Half the world's workers earn less than $2 per day. We cannot and should not try to compete with the world on wages -- the way we can compete is with a highly-skilled, more productive workforce," said Gordon, chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology. "That's why I authored the America Competes Act in Congress to improve math and science education so our kids and grandkids will be able to compete with the rest of the world for the jobs of the future. I thank the Verizon Foundation for this honor and for their work on outstanding educational tools like Thinkfinity."

The foundation grants announced Wednesday will be used to:

• Provide comprehensive Thinkfinity.org training for teachers through statewide partners such as the department of education.
• Raise awareness among educators of Thinkfinity.org resources.
• Provide educators and students with Thinkfinity.org resources aligned to state standards. The resources will be available via a special educator-resource portal on the Thinkfinity Web site.

The grants will be awarded over the next few months to educational organizations in the following states: Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Thinkfinity.org offers elementary through high school teachers resources across eight academic disciplines, from science to English to mathematics, to improve student achievement. Thinkfinity.org is designed to help teachers gain access to online resources quickly and requires no passwords or software downloads. In addition to providing standards-based resources from the nation's leading educational and literacy organizations, Thinkfinity.org also offers a free, robust professional development program for teachers and trainers.