Education Development Center, Inc.|
For Immediate Release February 5, 2004 Contact: EDC and the Benton Foundation Launch New Center for Media & Community Grant to establish new center is largest in foundation’s history NEWTON, MA – Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) announced today that the Benton Foundation has provided three years of seed funding to establish the Center for Media & Community at EDC. The $668,000 grant to EDC is the largest in the history of the Benton Foundation and builds on the foundation’s years of pioneering work in demonstrating the value of communications for solving social problems. The center will focus on using information and communication technologies to strengthen both actual and virtual communities and foster lifelong learning. In addition to the financial investment, senior staff and key programs from the foundation will move to EDC. Benton Foundation President Andrea Taylor will leave the foundation to become a vice president at EDC and will direct the new center. Andy Carvin, senior associate for communications policy at Benton, will also move to the new center, where he will continue to manage the Digital Divide Network. “EDC and the Benton Foundation have worked closely together to ensure that technology and media are accessible to all communities and used to support learning and human development,” said EDC President Janet Whitla. “The new center, under Andrea Taylor’s leadership, will allow us to build on that collaboration and expand our research, development, and policy work in these areas.” “The Benton board recognizes that the goals of the new center are ambitious and that the opportunities for the center fulfilling its promise are greatest as a part of EDC,” said Charles Benton, chair of the foundation and a member of EDC’s Board of Trustees. The Center for Media & Community expands EDC’s large portfolio of work focused on community technology and digital literacy, including the America Connects Consortium, the YouthLearn Initiative, and a series of evaluations and studies on community-based educational technology programs and the federal E-rate program. “The Center for Media & Community will strive to advance human development through communications by creating new models and promoting best practices to foster more effective virtual and real communities,” said Taylor. With the transfer of staff and resources to EDC, the Benton Foundation will refocus its energies on an area of longstanding and core interest— ensuring the public benefits from the emerging digital communications environment through its work in media policy and public service media. Biographies for Andrea Taylor and Andy Carvin: Andrea Taylor, president of the Benton Foundation from October 2001 through January 2004, was the founding partner of Davis Creek Capital, LLC, a private equity fund created to invest in Internet and new media businesses led by women and people of color. She established the Media Fund at the Ford Foundation and for nearly a decade collaborated with colleagues in the United States and worldwide to make $50 million in program investments in independent broadcast media. A former journalist with The Boston Globe and The Cleveland Plain Dealer, her previous board affiliations include the Council on Foundations and the Cleveland Foundation. A graduate of Boston University, she is currently a trustee of WNYC AM-FM public radio, the Film Forum and the Ms. Foundation for Women. Andy Carvin, Senior Associate, Communications Policy joined the staff of the Benton Foundation in 1999 and is one of the coordinators of the Digital Divide Network and the Digital Opportunity Channel. He is senior writer and moderator for the DIGITALDIVIDE listserv, and author of the award-winning EdWebProject.org, one of the first sites to advocate Web use in education. Carvin is also moderator of WWWEDU, the Internet's oldest email forum on the Web in education, and SEPT11INFO, the first discussion list created in response to the 9/11 attacks. He has appeared in numerous national publications, including Wired, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Rolling Stone. He was recently named by District Administration magazine as one of America's top 25 edtech advocates. Carvin has a BS in rhetoric and an MA in telecommunications from Northwestern University. A private foundation since 1981, the Benton Foundation has made grants and operated projects that support equitable access to information and the tools of communications, a diversity of voices in civic debate and cultural expression, and technology-enabled opportunities for lifelong learning. The foundation is based in Washington, DC. To learn more, visit www.benton.org. Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) is one of the world’s leading nonprofit education and health organizations, with 325 projects in 50 countries. EDC brings researchers and practitioners together to advance learning and healthy development for individuals of all ages and institutions of all types. For more information, visit www.edc.org. |