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Making Headlines: Grantees in the News

At the Heising-Simons Foundation, we are proud to regularly see many of our grantee partners featured in media outlets across the country, providing an expert voice on a timely issue or being highlighted for their accomplishments and hard work. Here are some news items that have featured our grantees over the past month:

Playful Math Instruction in the Context of Standards and Accountability
Young Children Journal, July 2017
Deborah Stipek, chair of Education program grantee DREME, wrote an article in the peer-reviewed journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children about developing learning techniques that are child-centered, developmentally appropriate, and playful.

Black-Hole Hunter Takes Aim at Einstein
Quanta Magazine, July 27, 2017
Astrophysicist and UCLA Professor Andrea Ghez is the principal investigator of a project to develop more sophisticated ways to measure the stellar orbits of stars near supermassive black holes. The project is being supported in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Foundation’s Science program.

Californians Put High Priority on Environment, Poll Shows
San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, 2017
Climate and Clean Energy grantee the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has released its annual survey on Californians’ views on the environment and climate-related policies.

Advocates Say Agents Are Unlawfully Turning Away Asylum Seekers at the Border
NPR’s All Things Considered, July 26, 2017
Grantee Human Rights First is featured in this story about U.S. border agents “wrongfully turning away people seeking asylum in the U.S.”

Column: On Gun Violence Research, California Again Fills a Void Left by the Federal Government
Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2017
The recently launched Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis is the only state-funded firearms research center in the nation. In 2016, the Heising-Simons Foundation’s Community program supported its development with a $224,949 grant.

California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program Shows Academic Gains
Education Week, July 7, 2017
A recent study released by Education grantee American Institutes for Research (AIR) shows that students who attend California’s transitional kindergarten (TK) program enter kindergarten with stronger math and literacy skills than students who did not attend TK.

If you are a current Foundation grantee and would like to be featured in our “Making Headlines” series, please send us a note: [email protected].