On November 20, 2015, Americans Who Tell the Truth received two grants from the Maine Community Foundation (MCF) to help with the success of this year’s Samantha Smith Challenge educational project. These grants, one from the MCF’s Expansion Arts Fund, the other from the Holt Family Fund, are specifically for use in our efforts to help middle school students become better story tellers.
The Samantha Smith Challenge (SSC) is a dynamic educational program for Maine middle school students designed to build a bridge between the classroom and the world and to show students that, no matter what age, they can be part of solving the challenges and problems they see around them. An essential part of the Samantha Smith Challenge is for students not only to research issues of concern to them but to convince other people through a variety of story telling means to become inspired and engaged, too. Story telling, or “narrative activism”, will help students achieve these goals.
We are very grateful to the Maine Community Foundation and to the Holt Family Fund for their critical support of this project.
To fund the 2015/16 Samantha Smith Challenge, AWTT will continue to fundraise and seek the backing of both foundations and individuals interested in supporting “Learning through engaged citizenship.” AWTT is a 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible. Please contact us if you are interested in supporting the Samantha Smith Challenge and AWTT’s work in schools in Maine and around the country.