Flint, MI – Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium have completed their STEM programming for Early Childhood and elementary school students for the 2023-2024 school year, made possible in part by a $5,000 grant from the Child Welfare Society of Flint, Inc. (CWSF). The grant was awarded in 2023 to provide high-quality, customized educational programming in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for Flint area students in the Early Childhood programs and elementary schools.

"This generous grant from the Child Welfare Society of Flint was crucial for us in providing hands-on STEM programming to our youngest learners," stated Lacey Childers, Early Education Coordinator at Sloan and Longway. "Among other programs, our education team was able to facilitate hands-on learning through family-centered STEM nights at Sloan Museum with this important grant," Childers added. The CWS grant also helped Sloan and Longway provide monthly outreach sessions in Flint schools and planetarium field trips for the area’s youngest learners. The STEM activities reinforce the school curriculum for at-risk students and encourage them to explore future careers in STEM fields.

The Education department at Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium provides hands-on STEM and Social Studies programming, workshops and camps to over 70,000 K-12 students annually within the two buildings and throughout Genesee County Schools and libraries. Sloan Museum of Discovery is a hands-on science and history museum that was completely renovated and expanded in 2022. Longway Planetarium is Michigan's largest and most technologically-advanced planetarium offering full-dome shows and live, educational astronomy programming.


About Sloan Museum of Discovery & Longway Planetarium
Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium are overseen by the non-profit Flint Institute of Science and History (F.I.S.H.) with a shared mission to engage communities on a learning journey in history and science. Located within the Flint Cultural Center Campus in Flint, Michigan, Sloan Museum of Discovery opened in July, 2022, with four primary hands-on learning galleries and one exhibition hall for special traveling exhibits. The original Sloan Museum opened in 1966 as the Sloan Panorama of Transportation, named after long-time General Motors president, chairman and CEO Alfred P. Sloan. The new Sloan Museum of Discovery is nearly twice the size at 107,000 square feet and completely re-built into a re-imagined world-class, hands-on science and history museum. Longway Planetarium, named for Robert T. Longway, a community leader and one of the men responsible for the development of the Flint Cultural Center, opened in 1958 and was totally renovated in 2015. Additional upgrades to Digistar 7 projection system were made in 2021. It remains the largest planetarium in Michigan. Classes on the solar system and general science are offered to school groups and the general public. Both institutions are supported in part by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC). Educational programs are supported, in part, by the Genesee County Arts Education and Cultural Enrichment Millage. Learn more at www.SloanLongway.org.

About The Child Welfare Society of Flint
Since 1915, the Child Welfare Society of Flint has been quietly helping the children and youth of Genesee County. Through the years, thousands of children were lovingly cared for at Cedar Street Children's Center. In the spring of 2013, CWS gifted the Cedar Street Children’s Center building and surrounding grounds to the Shelter of Flint. The Child Welfare Society of Flint is now a private foundation that operates to offer grants to organizations that assist families and children with educational, health and social needs. As a private foundation, CWS provides grants for programs and services that benefit children and youth in Genesee County