FableVision Lands Grant to Support CTE Pathways in Boston Public Schools
FableVision Learning is thrilled to announce it is one of three grant recipients for the 2021 Generation Success Grant Challenge offered by the Boston Opportunity Agenda. This funding will allow FableVision to pilot two new CTE (Career Technical Education) programs across six Boston Public Schools and three to six public libraries in resourced communities.
The grant provides resources to broaden the relationship between the work of FableVision, Boston Public Schools, and Boston Public Libraries. The goal for the new program is to introduce 9th graders to opportunities for career exploration through the hybrid digital/in-person program. Students will have the opportunity to learn digital animation and/or engineering design; hear stories and tips from professionals working in the field, and be provided access to digital design and creation software either at home, school, or at a public library nearest to them. With additional support, plans are eventually to deploy the animation and engineering programs across the entire district – making it available to thousands more middle and high school students in Boston.
FableVision’s programs were recently featured in BOA’s Generation Success BrightSpot Toolkit – Harnessing Boston’s Collective Energy to Prepare Students for College, Career and Life.
The Boston Opportunity Agenda (BOA) is a public/private partnership that is working urgently and strategically to transform the Boston education landscape from “cradle to career.” BOA is focused on removing the systemic barriers that create unacceptable outcomes and lack of opportunity for historically oppressed and economically disadvantaged populations and creating a just, equitable education system. Working with the City of Boston, and Boston Public Schools, as well as the city’s leading public charities and many local foundations, the coalition is working to give all Boston residents access to the education necessary for upward economic mobility, civic engagement and lifelong learning for themselves and their families.
BOA has most recently responded to the alarming research that shows that less than half of students who graduate from Boston’s district, charter and Catholic schools are prepared to pursue higher education, and subsequently face the reality that more than half of all job vacancies in the city require at least an Associate’s degree. And these readiness gaps are widening as COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact Black, Latinx, Asian and Native American students.
In response, BOA launched Generation Success - a campaign focused on preparing each and every student to graduate high school fully prepared to achieve success in life, as they define it. Through Generation Success, BOA offered small and medium-sized businesses, as well as nonprofits, an opportunity to apply for a $10,000 grant to help young people connect with and learn about local industries, and gain meaningful learning and skills that they can leverage after high school.
Along with FableVision, the two other 2021 grant recipients are XR Terra and Fontbonne -The Early College of Boston. XR Terra will be introducing students from The Calculus Project how to create real-time, interactive 3D experiences using the Unity platform, used across sectors as varied architecture, manufacturing, and medical training, etc. And Fontbonne - The Early College of Boston, a Catholic, all-girl college preparatory high school and early college serving families throughout Greater Boston and the South Shore. With this social investment, they will be augmenting their efforts to integrate innovative technology learning to help bridge the Achievement Gap of students from disadvantaged communities (drastically widened by the pandemic) through their Early College Model.
Boston Opportunity is investing in three programs committed to answering this question: How might we help Boston’s high school students go beyond exposure to local industries to get meaningful learning and skills that they can leverage after graduation – even now during the pandemic?
Each 2021 grant recipient submitted a unique idea that fit the following criteria:
Industry aligned: Does the experience prepare Boston’s high school students for careers for which there are openings in the city and region? Does it focus on one particular industry or is a hybrid experience with overlapping industries and activities?
Innovative: Is it fresh? Does it spur creativity for our students? Does it provide collaborative or out-of-the-box learning and training opportunities?
Relevant: Does it answer the call to reimagine student development during the pandemic?
Equitable: Does it make learning more equitable and inclusive for black and brown communities? Does it take into account remote learning gaps or challenges given the pandemic?
Visit the Generation Success website to learn more about what Boston Opportunity Agenda is doing to fuel preparation opportunities for life after high school. For more information about FableVision Learning’s CTE program click here.