The country is preparing to celebrate and honor the 250th anniversary of American independence next year, and the organization that owns and operates Founding Father Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate was just awarded $1 million to further those preparations.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation announced it received a two-year, $1 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
“Monticello has long been a place where people come to wrestle with the meanings and possibilities of our constitutional democracy,” foundation President Jane Kamensky said in an Aug. 5 statement announcing the grant. “This transformational grant allows us to share skills and strategies with other museums and cultural institutions pursuing the same goals. At a time when civic understanding feels especially urgent, we’re proud to help lead this important work.”
The Carnegie Corporation is a philanthropic organization founded in 1911 by industrialist and Gilded Age titan Andrew Carnegie "to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace," according to its mission statement. Beginning with Carnegie’s initial investment of $135 million, the foundation’s endowment is valued at $4.5 billion.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s $1 million is to go toward the group’s work “to rebuild civic infrastructure” and support Monticello’s involvement in the national initiative known as Educating for American Democracy, according to the Carnegie Corporation.
First launched in 2019 with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and U.S. Department of Education, the Educating for American Democracy project is led by a coalition of top American universities in the hope of revitalizing an educated and engaged electorate.
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation plans to work with the Educating for American Democracy’s Community Learning Partners, a network of more than 200 museums, historic sites, libraries, scholars and other groups across the country that are aligned with the foundation’s mission “to inspire deeper understanding of our nation’s ideals and to encourage civic engagement in everyday life."
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation will be arranging a series of new tours, programs and special events ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, whose author lends the group his name.
“Across the nation, communities are asking big questions about democracy, trust, and informed participation,” the foundation said. “This grant empowers Monticello and its partners to respond with resources, training, and public programs designed to connect people to the history and promise of American democracy.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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