Children's Discovery Museum Receives Super Bowl 50 Game Changer Grant

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose will receive a $200,000 Game Changer grant from 50 Fund, the legacy fund of the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl Host Committee. The museum received this highly competitive and prestigious award in the Sustainable Environments focus area designed to give greater access to the environment for low-income kids and to cultivate greater stewardship of natural resources by youth in their communities. The museum will use the funds to support "Bill's Backyard," a 27,500 sq. ft. expansion of outdoor exhibit space to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards.

As stated in the 50 Fund announcement: The Game Changer program rewards well-run, effective, and scalable initiatives that have evidence of impact. For this final Game Changer round, 50 Fund looked for Bay Area nonprofits that were strengthening the local community through both their infrastructure and through collaborations and also by connecting youth to the natural resources that surround them.

"We're extremely grateful and proud to receive this distinguished and competitive award," said Marilee Jennings, executive director of the museum. "We're honored to join the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee and the other grantees to showcase our region's vitality and commitment to youth on the international stage during this thrilling, world-class event. The real winners, though, are the children and families that will have the opportunity to experience and appreciate nature in imaginative, creative and awe-inspiring ways."

Keith Bruce, CEO of the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee said, "The 50 Fund Game Changer program is all about placing big bets on organizations that are making a profound difference in the lives of our young people and in the places where they live, learn and play."

The grant will help develop "Bill's Backyard," an innovative outdoor space of 27,500 sq. ft. that will include interactive exhibits that encourage children to explore the natural world in their own "hands-on and minds-on ways, including drought and water conservation activities with a dry river bed filled only by nature; new approaches to sustainable and urban agriculture and landscaping with "rain gardens"; native plants and taste and touch gardens, cisterns, solar panels, and much more.

Children and their families will have the opportunity to understand and appreciate the role of nature in shaping healthy children and communities.

Children's Discovery Museum will also have the chance to receive a share of an additional $200,000 that will be decided by fans who participate in the Host Committee's "Play Your Part" campaign to promote a "net positive" Super Bowl.