Congresswoman Matsui, Community Leaders Celebrate $7 Million Dollar Grant for Powerhouse Science Center
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 12, 2011
CONTACT: MARA LEE
(202) 225-7163
Congresswoman Matsui, Community Leaders Celebrate
$7 Million Dollar Grant for Powerhouse Science Center
CA On Thursday, August 11th, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) and more than two dozen public officials, educators and community leaders gathered at the site of the former PGandamp;E powerhouse on Jibboom Street, adjacent to the Robert T. Matsui Waterfront Park on the Sacramento River, to celebrate a $7 million grant awarded to the Powerhouse Science Center.
Awarded through the State of California's Proposition 84 fund to provide grants for nature education and research facilities, the Powerhouse Science Center will use this funding to construct a new Earth and Space Sciences Center, 150-seat planetarium, an updated Challenger Learning Center, and interactive exhibits focusing on the relationships between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere.
We are one step closer to the completion of the Powerhouse Science Center, said Matsui. This grant is a down payment on Sacramento's future: a future that will reconnect us to our riverfront, and one that will engage tens of thousands of California students in learning about science, math and engineering in a state-of-the-art, hands-on educational center.
The Powerhouse Science Center is envisioned as Northern California's premiere science education center, providing education, enrichment and entertainment to families and children across the state with a diverse range of educational exhibits and programs that will teach the fundamentals in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
We must inspire the next wave of innovators and foster out-of-the box thinking among our youth, said Congresswoman Matsui. To do so, we must make learning interactive, experimental, and hands-on. It is exposure at a young age and constant interaction with it that gives children and young adults the desire and passion to learn about science, technology, engineering and math.
A long time supporter of the Discovery Museum of Sacramento, which manages the Powerhouse Science Center project, Congresswoman Matsui is dedicated to helping create educational centers around the region for our youth. Last November, she supported the Powerhouse Science Center's Proposition 84 application with a letter of support to Governor Jerry Brown.
The Powerhouse Science Center will be a popular destination point for students from across California, Congresswoman Matsui said. I know they are estimating over 120,000 public school children will be served annually. From afterschool programs, to field trips, to innovative exhibits and special events, the Center will be an educational beacon for the region.
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