The NBCU Foundation Announces 2018 Project Innovation Grant Winners

April 09, 2018

Comcast NBCUniversal is committed to driving creativity and helping organizations use technology to develop solutions to everyday challenges in our communities. As part of this commitment, The NBCUniversal Foundation and NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations launched Project Innovation, a new competitive grant challenge, earlier this year to support non-profit organizations that are embracing technology and innovation to develop new community solutions.

The Foundation and NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations are proud to announce that a total of nearly $2.5 million in Project Innovation grants were presented to 62 non-profits during the program’s inaugural year. The winning organizations were selected by the stations for their outstanding programs that leverage technology to solve everyday problems in the areas of civic engagement, skills for the digital economy and STEM/STEAM youth programming. Locally, the stations awarded up to $225,000 in Project Innovation grants to a maximum of eight qualified non-profit organizations in each of their markets including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, and Hartford.

The 2018 Project Innovation grant winners feature organizations that are using mobile technology to mobilize young Latino voters, social media to crowdsource city-wide solutions, hands-on training to help individuals with Autism gain competitive work opportunities, and are providing real-life work experiences to youth in technology/media and STEM fields to prepare them for successful careers, among others.

Here is a list of all 2018 Project Innovation winners categorized by market:

Southern California: NBC4 Southern California, Telemundo 52

$50,000
InnerCity Struggle for “Relay Program”

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation for “Talent Development Pipelines”

$35,000
Community Partners Fiscal Sponsor of Las Fotos Project for “The Last Fotos Project’s Hire Her”

Working Wardrobes for a New Start for “Veteran Information Technology Training” 

$30,000 
Two Bit Circus Foundation for “STEAM Lab” 

$25,000
P. F. Bresee Foundation for “Teen Tech Center”

 

New York: NBC 4 New York, Telemundo 47

$100,000
Red Hook Initiative for “Digital Stewards”

$75,000
Urban Arts Partnership for “School of Interactive Arts”

$50,000
Masa-Mexed, Inc. for “Robotics for Tomorrow’s Leaders”  

 

Chicago: NBC 5, Telemundo Chicago

$55,000
Project Exploration for “Youth-Science Pathways”

$50,000
Code Platoon for “Code Platoon”

Mikva Challenge Grant Foundation for “Linking Youth Policy-Makers with Digital Media Advocacy”

True Star Foundation for “Interactive Digital Studio”

$20,000
Lumity for “STEM Program”

 

Philadelphia: NBC10, Telemundo 62

$55,000
Hopeworks ‘N Camden Inc. for “Recode Your Future”

$50,000
String Theory Schools for “Particle Accelerator”

Tech Impact for “ITWorks”

$33,420
Support Center for Child Advocates for “Digital Lockers for Older Foster Youth”

$25,000
LiveConnections for “What’s Going On”

$11,580
Y W C A of Bucks County for “TechGYRLS”

 

Dallas/Fort Worth: NBC 5, Telemundo 39

$59,080
Junior Players Guild for “Junior Players Digital Media” 

$50,000
Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity for “Dallas Habitat Homeownership Center”

Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas for “STEM Center of Excellence Program”

$33,920
Meals-on-Wheels, Inc. of Tarrant County for “Meals-on-Wheels Smartphone App”

$20,000
The Artist Outreach for “STREAMliners”

$12,000
Solar Car Challenge Foundation for “Solar Car Challenge Education Program”

 

Washington, D.C.: NBC4 Washington, Telemundo 44

$60,000
Arcadia Food, Inc. for “Farm from a Box”

$50,000
Community Youth Advance for “CYA Summer Academy”

Manna Food Center for “Community Food Rescue”

$30,000
Covenant House Washington for “Workforce Readiness Program”

$25,000
TFS Innovative Cohort Model for “TFS Afterschool Program”

$10,000
Community Bridges, Inc. for “Makerspace Program”

 

San Francisco Bay Area: NBC Bay Area, Telemundo 48

$50,000
TalkingPoints for “TalkingPoints Parent-Facing Mobile App”

$30,000
Girls Incorporated of Alameda County for “SMART! BUILD IT! EUREKA! – A STEM/STEAM program for Girls”

ScholarMatch for “Virtual Destination College Programming” and “ScholarMatcher Platform”

Womens Audio Mission for “Girls on the Mic”

$25,000
Oakland Digital Arts and Literacy Center for “BridgeGood Design Jobs and Tech Skills for Creatives”

Young Womens Christian Association of Silicon Valley for “Curated Pathways to Innovation”

$20,000
Turn 2 U, Inc. for “The Last Mile Program Development and Expansion Learning Management System”

$15,000
Centro Community Partners for “Micro-Enterprise Creation and Wealth Builder Program for Underserved Entrepreneurs”

 

Boston: NBC10 Boston, Telemundo Boston

$95,000
ICivics for “Civics in Action”

$50,000
Latino STEM Alliance for “K-8 Robotics Programming”

Year Up for “Employment Training Program for Opportunity Youth”

$30,000
The Children’s Museum for “Tech Kitchen”

 

Miami/Fort Lauderdale: NBC 6,  Telemundo 51

$80,000
The Miami Foundation for “100 Great Ideas Campaign: Building a Sustainable and Resilient City”

$55,000
Dr. Stanley and Pearl Goodman JFS of Broward County, Inc. for GJFS’ Volunteer Program

$50,000
Museum of Discovery and Science for “APP-titude”

$40,000
Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science  for “MY SLR”

 

San Diego: NBC 7, Telemundo 20

$50,000
Alzheimers San Diego for “AlzCompanions”

$35,000
St. Madeleine Sophie’s Training Center for “Sophie’s Gallery Art Program E-Commerce Site and Tech Training”

$32,000
Environmental Health Coalition for “Citizen Scientist Air Monitoring”

$25,000
California Indian Manpower Consortium, Inc. for “Hack the Rez”

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center for “Advancing Girls in STEM”

National Foundation for Autism Research for “NFAR Tech” 

$18,000
OASIS Institute for “Technology Fair for Older Adults”

$15,000
BioCom Institute for “San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering Week”

 

Connecticut: NBC Connecticut, Telemundo Connecticut

$75,000
Children’s Museum for “Early STEAM (ESTEAM) After School Program” 

$50,000
EdAdvance – Enhancing Youth STEM Engagement through Digital Media Arts

$35,000
Leadership Education and Athletics in Partnership– LEAP: Learning to Code Program

$30,000
New Britain Youth Theater– Technical Theater Education Program

$25,000
Connecticut Public Broadcasting– Institute for Advanced Media – Veterans Vocational Training Program

$10,000
West Haven Child Development Center– Leveraging Technology in Early Childhood Education