LOGAN – The Dane G. Hanen Foundation has introduced a new enrichment initiative for public schools in Northwest Kansas.
The Hansen Foundation has long supported education through scholarships and individual grants. This initiative takes a more proactive approach. The NWKansasLEARNS initiative brings educational enrichment activities to schools in the Foundation’s 26-county service area, reducing the burden of arranging and paying for field trips and expanding enrichment activities to include more teachers and students.
The Hansen Foundation reached out to four educational organizations and worked with them to make the activities they offer more accessible to NW Kansas students. Programs are offered through the Kansas Cosmosphere, Hutchinson; the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, Abilene; the Kansas Historical Society, Topeka; and the Rolling Hills Zoo, Salina. All activities support Kansas curriculum standards, include hands-on learning opportunities, and are offered at no charge to the schools.
This new program is the latest initiative from the Hansen Foundation to support educational enrichment. This fall, the foundation is offering the Creede Repertory Theatre Young Audience Outreach Tour to NW Kansas elementary schools. A part of the Foundation’s NWKansasARTS initiative, this original children’s theatre production is interactive, and includes a book for children to take home. Like the other opportunities, the Foundation is covering the full cost of the tour.
The Foundation’s NWKansasREADS initiative expanded last year to offer summer reading grants. Schools and libraries can utilize grant funds for summer reading programs specifically designed to reduce the summer slide students experience between school years. The reading initiative also covers pre-school age children through support of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Any child birth to 5 in the Hansen service area is eligible to receive a free age-appropriate book in the mail every month. The program encourages reading and improves kindergarten readiness.
Each of these outreach initiatives are designed to offer educators and families tools to help provide the children of NW Kansas the best possible educational experience.
More information is available at danehansenfoundation.org.
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