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Lifelong Learning
and the Arts Resources
Please Note:
The Department of Commerce does not endorse any particular product, company,
information provider, or the content of the sites referenced below.
Government
When looking for federal support, it is important not to limit your
search only to those organizations that provide funds for technology-related
efforts. Often, an existing grant program may support projects which include
technology components.
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts nurtures the expression
of human creativity, supports the cultivation of community spirit, and
fosters the recognition and appreciation of the excellence and diversity
of our nation's artistic accomplishments.
National Endowment for the
Humanities: Grants
Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this
Web page provides links and information on current and upcoming grant programs.
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent U.S.
government agency responsible for promoting science and engineering through programs that invest over $3.3 billion per year in almost 20,000 research and education projects in science and engineering. The NSF actively supports efforts that explore the uses of information technology in the teaching and learning environment. One such project, the Learning and Intelligent Systems seeks to stimulate interdisciplinary research that will unify experimentally and theoretically derived concepts related to learning and intelligent
systems, and that will promote the use and development of information technologies in learning across a wide variety of fields.
United States Department
of Agriculture Rural Utility Service
The U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains a Web site with
links to a number of federal and non-profit programs that provide funding
for distance learning.
United States Department of Commerce
Census Bureau Home Page
Economic Development Administration
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
United States Department of Education Technology Initiatives
The U.S. Department of Education maintains a Web site with
links to a number of federal and non-profit programs that provide funding to K-12 schools for educational technology (including the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, and the STAR Schools program) and programs that provide technical support and resources for a wide variety of technology-related efforts (including the Regional Technology in Education Consortia, 21st Century Teachers, Netday, and Tech Corps).
United States Department of Labor: Welfare-to-Work Grants
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training
Administration (ETA) manages a competitive grant program under a two year Welfare-to-Work (WtW) grant program enacted under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The WtW program assists States and local communities to provide the transitional employment assistance needed to move hard-to-employ recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) into lasting unsubsidized jobs. WtW grants are targeted to assisting those TANF recipients, and certain non-custodial parents, who have experienced, or have characteristics associated with long-term welfare dependence.
United States Department
of Housing and Urban Development
Neighborhood Networks enhances the self-sufficiency, employability, and economic self-reliance of HUD-insured and -assisted property residents by providing onsite access to computer and training resources.
Associations, Foundations, and Non-profit Organizations
National associations and trade organizations often provide very helpful information on what the state-of-the art is in a given field. A partial list of the types of associations and organizations in the area of lifelong learning includes:
American Arts Alliance
The mission of the American Arts Alliance is "to be the principal advocate for America's professional nonprofit arts organizations and their publics in representing arts interests and advancing arts support before Congress and other branches of the Federal government." The site contains news and information, grassroots advocacy toold, and links to AAA's constituent service organizations, representing over 2,600 arts organizations nationwide: the Association of Art Museum Directors, the
Association of Performing Arts Presenters;
Dance/USA; Opera America; and the Theater Communications Group
American Association of Community
Colleges (AACC)
AACC is the primary advocacy organization for the nation's
1,100 two-year degree granting institutions. The AACC is working with Microsoft on Working Connections for grants to 2 year colleges which is designed to significantly increase the number of skilled information technology (IT) workers needed by U.S. technological industries.
American Association of
Museums (AAM)
The American Association of Museums maintains an extensive program of
advocacy, professional education, information exchange, accreditation,
and guidance on matters of professional standards of performance. The
AAM represents more than 3,100 institutions, ranging from arts museums to aquariums, zoos, botanical gardens, historic sites, and science-technology centers. Individual members include directors, curators, registrars, educators, exhibit designers, public relations officers, development officers, security managers, trustees, and volunteers.
American Library Association
The American Library Association provides leadership for the
development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all. Its concern spans all types of libraries.
Arts Education Partership
The Arts-Education Partnership (formerly the Goals 2000 Arts
Education Partnership) is a private, nonprofit coalition of education,arts, business, philanthropic, and government organizations working to demonstrate "the essential role of arts education in enabling all students to succeed in school, life, and work." The Partnership was formed in 1995 through a cooperative agreement between the: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), United States Education Department (USED), National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
ArtsEdNet
ArtsEdNet is an online service developed by the J. Paul Getty Trust, supporting the needs of the K-12 arts education community. It focuses on helping arts educators, general classroom teachers using the arts in their curriculum, museum educators, and university faculty involved in art education.
Benton Foundation
The Benton Foundation works "to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications."
Benton describes
Connect for Kids as "an inspirational and empowering tool that helps
adults get connected to the information and resources they need to make a difference for kids and their communities." Benton's partners in this site include the American Library Association, the Ad Council, the Coalition for America's Children, One World, and Yahoo!
Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)
CoSN is a membership organization of institutions formed to
further the development and use of computer network technology in K-12
education.
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nationwide, nonprofit organization composed of the public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education. CCSSO maintains a task force on learning technologies.
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
A nonprofit education research and development organization, located in Newton, MA, whose mission is "to bring researchers and practitioners together to create tools and conditions for learning."
EDUCAUSE
The mission of EDUCAUSE is to enable the transformational changes occurring in higher Education through the introduction, use, access to, and management of information Resources and technologies in teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and institutional Management.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation's Library Program makes grants to public libraries for the purpose of purchasing computers and hardware to bring Internet access to their patrons. As part of the grant, libraries also receive free training and technical assistance, and other support, as well as donated software.
USWired for Education
USWired for Education offers a collection of tools and resources
for parents, teachers, and schools. Among the site's resources are
online news for teachers, teaching resources, lesson plans geared to
state and national standards, continuing education opportunities, discounted prices for computers and Internet access with safe email and filtering, help for schools' websites, a Learning Zone where users can master a variety of software programs, tech planning help for schools, a Career Zone for guidance and information about career paths for students, and an online store. US Wired for Education is based in Albany, NY.
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is the membership
organization of the nation's 50 state and 6 jurisdictional arts agencies. Its mission is to advance and promote a meaningful role for the arts throughout the United States through strategic assistance that fosters leadership, enhances planning, and decision making, and increases resources.
National Association of Artists' Organizations
The National Association of Artists' Organizations (NAAO) consists of
more than 700 artists' organizations, arts institutions, artists, and arts professionals, reflecting a broad range of aesthetics, as well as great diversity in geographic, economic, ethnic, and gender-based communities. For the past 15 years, NAAO has provided services to the primary creators of new, emerging, and often experimental work in visual, performing, media, literary, and interdisciplinary arts.
National Institute of Arts and Disabilities
NIAD's mission is to provide an art environment for people with developmental disabilities which promotes creative expression, independence, dignity and community integration. NIAD serves up to 50 adults each day with training in painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and decorative arts. Their artwork is actively promoted through an exhibitions program.
Universal Service Support
Federal
Communications Commission
(Information on support to schools, libraries, rural health centers)
Universal Service Administrative Company
Funding Resources
eSchool News maintains a Web
site with links to foundations and organizations that fund educational
technology.
The Distance Education Clearinghouse maintains an exhaustive compendium of links to funding resources.
TOP Lifelong Learning and the Arts Program Officers
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