Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, has awarded the Mountain View Education Foundation (MVEF) a $125,000 grant to fund equitable science enrichment for the TK-8 students in the Mountain View Whisman School District (MVWSD). MVEF – the local education foundation affiliated with MVWSD – is the primary source of non-public funding for the district’s eleven TK-8 public schools. This funding from Gooogle.org enables MVEF to continue providing experience-based educational programs that complement and expand on MVWSD’s student-led, inquiry-based science instruction. MVWSD is one of Santa Clara County’s most socioeconomically-diverse public school districts, serving approximately 4,500 K-8 students, of which more than 29% qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

 

"As the City of Mountain View has grown and changed, charitable contributions to MVEF have increased thanks in part to Google’s presence as an employer and the generous support of Google.org," said Dwight Rodgers, MVEF Board Chair. 

 

“Mountain View has been Google’s home since 1999, and as we’ve grown we’ve remained committed to giving back to the neighborhoods where we all live and work,” said Javier González, head of Google’s local government affairs & public policy in California. “We’re proud to support MVEF, and we’re grateful for the work they’re doing to make sure students have access to hands-on science programs and learn critical STEM skills necessary to gain a competitive advantage for future jobs and build the future they want for themselves.” 

 

The Google.org grant allows MVEF to continue funding two key hands-on science programs in MVWSD: ‘Living Classroom’ and ‘Environmental Volunteers.’ Both programs are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which emphasize helping students understand the content of science, as well as the processes and practices used to apply new scientific knowledge.

 

Opportunities to get out of the classroom and into the environment are essential for inspiring students to become lifelong stewards of our planet’s natural resources while growing their knowledge and skills in developmentally-appropriate ways. Living Classroom offers an outdoor, hands-on, interdisciplinary science curriculum to TK-6th grade students, which complements and reinforces what students learn in the classroom. The outdoor garden-based science lessons engage students directly in preparing soil, planting seeds, harvesting, and preparing foods, complementing what students are learning from the core curriculum. Living classroom’s experiential, interdisciplinary curriculum brings science, math, social studies, and nutrition concepts to life. 

 

In 4th and 5th grade, ‘Environmental Volunteers’ offers field-trip and classroom-based lessons tied to themes that include power generation, earthquake geology, human impacts, and marine ecology. The mission of ‘Environmental Volunteers’ is to promote understanding of and responsibility for human impact on the environment through hands-on science education.

 

“We appreciate that Google.org is consistently supporting the continuous improvement of public education in Google’s hometown of Mountain View,” said MVWSD Superintendent Ayindé Rudolph. “MVEF is an essential partner that helps MVWSD to meet our strategic goals by equitably funding effective and consistent instructional staff and programs that meet the needs of all students.”

 

About MVEF

MVEF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created in 1984 to bridge the gap between taxpayer funding and the actual cost of delivering excellent local public education that meets the needs of all students in the Mountain View Whisman School District. MVEF exceeded its funding goal and raised $1.1 Million in 2021-22 fiscal year. In addition to providing the experiential science programs described above, MVEF funds art and music instruction in K-5; extracurricular clubs and athletics for grades 6-8; and reduces class sizes by funding additional middle school English teachers.

 

About Google.org

Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, brings the best of Google to help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges combining funding, innovation, and technical expertise to support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone. We engage nonprofits and social enterprises who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a better world, faster — and we believe in leveraging technology and applying scalable data-driven innovation to move the needle.