Manchester Center, VT- March 6, 2012- Digital Wish has been awarded a $25,000 grant by the A.D. Henderson Foundation for the Vermont School Modernization Initiative, which supplies classrooms the computers, training, and curriculum necessary for students to develop 21st century skills. These funds will support the research and development of resources to help schools identify and secure sustainable funding streams for their technology programs.

The Vermont School Modernization Initiative has provided curriculum, training, and computers to 1,269 fourth through sixth grade students and 79 teachers in 28 schools across Vermont. Just as Digital Wish has modeled technology implementation strategies, this new grant will allow Digital Wish create new resources that will help schools develop sustainable funding strategies.  In order to ensure that schools have clear paths to future funding to sustain their new technology programs, Digital Wish will develop an online sustainability course that includes a comprehensive list of proven ideas for the reallocation of school budgets, community engagement strategies, and checklists of often-overlooked sources of funding.

For administrators, Digital Wish will develop online tools that will auto-generate a starter list of relevant sustainability tasks and fundraising strategies based on a school's current socio-economic status, PTA engagement, staff readiness, and technology integration progress. Additionally, through the School Modernization Initiative, a collaborative learning curriculum unit will help encourage community support.  

By September 2012, Digital Wish will be able to supply each of the 28 Vermont School Modernization Initiative schools with a comprehensive sustainability guide, impacting not only the 1,348 direct program participants, but also thousands more students in the same schools and districts across the state. To further share this knowledge, articles on re-budgeting, sustainability, and leadership will be published nationwide and Digital Wish will automate as many resources as possible so that schools statewide and nationwide can benefit from newly developed online sustainability tools.

About Digital Wish
Digital Wish is a non-profit on a mission to solve technology shortfalls in K-12 classrooms. The www.digitalwish.org website is designed to help teachers locate much-needed funding for classroom technology. In addition to making over 28,388 technology wishes come true for American educators, Digital Wish provides a host of fundraising ideas and allows teachers to craft a technology wish list so that parents and community members can make a classroom contribution and invest in America’s future.