Motorola Awards Abraham Lincoln Grants to Celebrate 16th President's Life and Legacy

The Motorola Foundation today announced 11 additional Motorola Abraham Lincoln Grant recipients to help commemorate the 2009 bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The $750,000 grant program supports civic, education and cultural organizations that inspire and educate the public about Lincoln’s life and legacy.

"At this historic moment, when the American presidency is front and center on the world stage, we at Motorola are very pleased to pay tribute to President Abraham Lincoln and support organizations from across the country that share our enthusiasm about this extraordinary American president,” said Eileen Sweeney, director, Motorola Foundation. "Our hope is that Motorola Lincoln grantees will inspire young people and their communities with lessons about President Lincoln’s great intellect, leadership and perseverance during the bicentennial year and for years to come.”

Motorola Lincoln grants fund programs that use innovative curriculum to educate students in the areas of civics, history and social studies. In addition, they support public programming about Lincoln and public policy issues with forums and tools to foster debate. The first eight grant recipients were announced in June 2008.

President Lincoln’s legacy will be explored and celebrated in classrooms and communities across the country by the latest 11 Motorola Lincoln Grant recipients:

• The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill., will provide Chicago Public School teachers with training sessions designed to deepen their background in Lincoln’s life and legacy, so they are equipped to enhance lesson plans during the bicentennial year.
• The Center for Civic Education in Calabasas, Calif., will create a special supplement to its acclaimed "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” curriculum for more than 660,000 teachers and their students nationwide, enabling them to learn about Lincoln’s life through the center’s Web site.
• The Chicago Public Schools, through the Chicago Debate League, will establish the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial debates honoring Lincoln’s engagement of the public in shaping policy by engaging students, civic leaders and Chicago residents in a special debate competition focused on important current events.
• The Chicago Public Library Foundation will sponsor the Chicago Public Library’s 2009 Summer Reading Program, when Chicagoans of all ages will read, learn and discover the lasting legacy of Abraham Lincoln.
• The DuSable Museum in Chicago will present an original stage play about the meetings of President Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, which helped establish the framework to abolish slavery.
• Ford’s Theater Society in Washington, D.C., will send teaching artists into area schools to enhance instruction and learning about Abraham Lincoln’s oratory and leadership, and will offer students opportunities to speak Lincoln’s words on the theater stage throughout the year.
• National History Day’s Abraham Lincoln Legacy Project in College Park, Md., will use its extensive network of historical societies, museums, archives, colleges and universities to develop and disseminate materials that ultimately will reach more than 500,000 students studying Abraham Lincoln.
• President Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, D.C., will make the educational program "Lincoln’s Toughest Decisions – Debating Emancipation” available online to students who are not able to visit the historic site in person.
• New York Historical Society will introduce students to Lincoln’s life and legacy through "Lights, Camera, Lincoln!,” a contest designed for elementary, middle school and high school students to take on the role of documentary filmmaker and produce short multimedia presentations that express Lincoln’s impact on the history of the nation.
• Philadelphia’s Children First Fund will support more than 20 social studies high school teachers within the Philadelphia School District with digital materials (blogs, video tutorials, podcasts) that will engage students in lessons about Lincoln.
• 98.7 WFMT in Chicago will produce and air hour-long broadcast discussions, "Abraham Lincoln Reconsidered,” each on a different aspect of Lincoln, supplemented with readings from his writings and accompanying music.

Motorola has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to funding innovative education programs. In 2007 alone, Motorola and the Motorola Foundation provided $11.1 million to support education initiatives.

About the Motorola Foundation

The Motorola Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola. With employees located around the globe, Motorola seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships, fostering innovation and engaging stakeholders. The Motorola Foundation focuses its funding on education, especially science, technology, engineering and math programming. For more information, on Motorola Corporate and Foundation giving, visit www.motorola.com/giving.

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