Discovery Museum Receives $5,000 Grant from Youth in Philanthropy at Foundation for MetroWest in Support of Free Events for Families with Special Needs

Acton, MA – Discovery Museum has announced a $5,000 grant from the Foundation of MetroWest’s Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) program to support the Museum’s Especially for Me program. Especially for Me provides free events for families with children with an autism spectrum disorder, who are deaf or hard of hearing, or are blind or visually impaired.

The Especially for Me program has grown significantly since it began in 2010 with four events that served 323 visitors. In 2018, the Museum held 24 events and served 2,061 visitors. Annually, Discovery Museum serves approximately 22% of its audience for free or nearly free through this and other special programs and events, which amounted to more than 49,000 people in 2018.

The grant from YIP will provide resources appropriate to each Especially for Me event. These may include accessible programming or American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. Noise reducing headphones, museum story guides, and a sensory guide are available to all visitors at all times.

“This gift is especially meaningful to us,” said Neil Gordon, CEO of Discovery Museum, “as it is an example of the generosity of our community’s youth.”

More information about Especially for Me and a schedule of upcoming events can be found at http://bit.ly/EspeciallyforMe.

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About Discovery Museum
Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum that blends science, nature, and play, inspiring families to explore and learn together. The museum and its Discovery Woods accessible outdoor nature playscape and 550sf treehouse blend the best of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning on a beautiful 4.5-acre campus abutting 180 acres of conservation land in Acton, MA, about 20 miles west of Boston. Originally founded in 1982 and expanded to two museums in 1987, the museum reopened in a single, 16,000sf accessible building after a complete renovation and expansion in early 2018. Hands-on, open-ended exhibits developed by professional educators inspire curiosity and exploration, providing a fun and engaging experience for children and adults to discover their world together. Serving families and schools from towns throughout the region, the museum is devoted to informal education that enhances classroom learning. Discovery Museum is committed to accessibility, and is a proud recipient of the 2017 Massachusetts Commonwealth Award, the only winner in the Access category, and a 2018 LEAD® Community Asset Award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information please visit www.discoveryacton.org. Discovery Museum is a community-supported non-profit organization.
Discovery Museum programming is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

About Youth in Philanthropy at the Foundation for MetroWest
Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) is an experiential leadership development program offered through the Foundation for MetroWest designed to empower and educate local youth to become our community’s next generation of philanthropists—those who give their time, talent and treasure for the common good.  The inaugural program ran in 1997, and over the past 20 years YIP has grown to become the largest and oldest youth philanthropy education program in the country.  To learn more about the Foundation for MetroWest and the other services they provide, please visit www.foundationformetrowest.org or call 508-647-2260.