COVINGTON, Ga. — Various school systems and organizations across the region have been awarded Community Action Grants from Meta’s Newton Data Center.
Meta (formerly Facebook) officials announced Monday, April 11, the recipients of nine grants.
Entities based in Newton that were awarded a grant included Newton County Schools, Sustainable Newton Inc., Newton County Young Farmers and Oxford College.
The Meta Community Action Grants program was created to address needs in Newton, Walton, Jasper and Morgan counties by putting the power of technology to use for community benefit, connecting people online or off, and improving STEM education. This was the second year that this program has been available in the region.
Newton County Schools was awarded $30,000 to equip the InspiHER: Code Like a Girl program that encourages young women to learn about coding and computer science.
“Coding is really a male dominated field, so we’ve exposed our girls to programing through this program,” Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey said.
Research shows only 24% of computer scientists are women.
The district hosted a day-long winter conference earlier this year. Administrators said approximately 460 female students in grades 4-12 participated in the program.
“We want to close the gender gap in technology, and we know that starting fourth grade, girls stop being interested in technology education and start being more interested in other things,” NCSS Instructional Technology Coordinator Jennifer Williams said. “So we want to make sure we start them while they are young and make sure that they get exposure and stay interested and they continue to grow throughout the years.”
Meta awarded Sustainable Newton Inc. $50,500 to help fund the delivery of solar panels that would help grow local sustainability for communities in need. Sustainable Newton is a grassroots, community-based 501(C)(3) charitable organization created in 2018 to connect people & resources to better understand & effectively respond to sustainability challenges & opportunities in Newton County. For more information, visit the organization’s website at www.sustainablenewton.org.
Newton County Young Farmers was awarded $8,000 to supply technology for managing data and improving local crop production for student beekeepers.
Oxford College of Emory University was awarded $6,900 to provide equipment for enabling virtual tutoring programs in the community.
Other grant recipients were:
• Social Circle City Schools; $30,000; to mobilize STEM cart equipment for increasing access to learning opportunities for local youth in the classroom.
• Morgan County Charter School System; $30,000; to provide STEAM equipment for in-person and virtual learning throughout the school system.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Georgia; $25,000; to equip club members and their families with technology and internet access for bridging gaps in the community.
• Camp Twin Lakes; $25,000; to provide program equipment for in-person and virtual learning so campers can continue learning perseverance, resilience and a sense of community.
• Walnut Grove High School; $10,000; to provide the Technology Student Association with equipment to expand learning and leadership opportunities.
