SLOAN MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY AND LONGWAY PLANETARIUM AWARDED $10,000 GRANT FROM CHILD WELFARE SOCIETY OF FLINT FOR SCHOOL READINESS PROGRAMS
-CWS-Flint Grant Supports Literacy and STEM Educational Programs in Flint Area-
Flint, MI – Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium were awarded a $10,000 grant from the Child Welfare Society of Flint (CWS-Flint) to support the Community Partnerships for School Readiness program. The grant will support educational outreach for up to 1300 Flint area children for ages 0-12 in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), Literacy and Social Studies. The grant will also support training and professional development for childcare providers and enhance learning within Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium through special enrichment activities.
“The Child Welfare Society has been an incredible partner for Sloan and Longway’s education team. With this generous grant we are able to offer free Family STEM Nights for the community, literacy programs for early childhood, and work with Dailey school in Flint with STEM education and other projects,” stated Lacey Kragenbrink, Early Childhood Coordinator for Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium. “Funding for such important educational programming really does have a long-lasting ripple effect throughout the entire community.”
As an example of how the CWS-Flint grant has already supported educational programming, Kragenbrink referenced a recent Family STEM Night from Aug. 20, 2025, in partnership with Early On of Genesee County. Over 30 children and family members explored solar system sensory bins, designed planets with chemical reactions, pet live animals from Huckaby Reptile Rescue, and viewed the full-dome feature “Armstrong” in the planetarium theater. “Kids were also given a book to take home to go along with this literacy-based STEM Night,” Kragenbrink stated.
The Education Department at Sloan Museum and Longway Planetarium provides hands-on STEM and Social Studies programming, workshops and camps to over 90,000 K-12 students annually within the two buildings and throughout Mid-Michigan schools and libraries. Sloan Museum of Discovery is a hands-on science and history museum that was completely renovated and expanded in 2022. Longway Planetarium is Michigan's largest and most technologically-advanced planetarium offering full-dome shows and live, educational astronomy programming.
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Sloan Museum of Discovery and Longway Planetarium are overseen by the non-profit Flint Institute of Science and History (F.I.S.H.) with a shared mission to engage communities on a learning journey in history and science. Together, they served over 308,000 visitors and students during the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Located within the Flint Cultural Center Campus in Flint, Michigan, Sloan Museum of Discovery opened in July, 2022, with four primary hands-on learning galleries and one exhibition hall for special traveling exhibits. The original Sloan Museum opened in 1966 as the Sloan Panorama of Transportation, named after long-time General Motors president, chairman and CEO Alfred P. Sloan. The new Sloan Museum of Discovery is nearly twice the size at 107,000 square feet and completely re-built into a re-imagined world-class, hands-on science and history museum. Longway Planetarium, named for Robert T. Longway, a community leader and one of the men responsible for the development of the Flint Cultural Center, opened in 1958 and was renovated in 2015. Additional upgrades, including a Digistar 7 projection system and surround sound audio, were made in 2021. It remains the largest planetarium in Michigan. Classes on the solar system and general science are offered to school groups and the general public. Both institutions are supported in part by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC). Educational programs are supported, in part, by the Genesee County Arts Education and Cultural Enrichment Millage. Learn more at www.SloanLongway.org.
About The Child Welfare Society of Flint
Since 1915, the Child Welfare Society of Flint has been quietly helping the children and youth of Genesee County. Through the years, thousands of children were lovingly cared for at Cedar Street Children's Center. In the spring of 2013, CWS gifted the Cedar Street Children’s Center building and surrounding grounds to the Shelter of Flint. The Child Welfare Society of Flint is now a private foundation that operates to offer grants to organizations that assist families and children with educational, health and social needs. As a private foundation, CWS provides grants for programs and services that benefit children and youth in Genesee County.
