Association of Children's Museums

MetLife Foundation & ACM Promising Practice Award Application

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Extended Deadline: February 15, 2008

The Award: MetLife Foundation and Association of Children's Museums Promising Practice Award rewards excellence and provides recognition for innovative and creative practices in children's museums; promotes management practices that support alternative and creative programming; builds a body of knowledge of exemplary programs and practices; and establishes models for the advancement of the children's museum field at-large. A total of $20,000 will be presented to selected museums at InterActivity 2008 in Denver, Colorado. Although the cash award is unrestricted, recipient museums are encouraged to use the award to further refine, expand or evaluate promising practices. Additionally, three honorable mention applicants will each receive a complimentary registration to InterActivity 2009.

Category: Good physical and emotional health is crucial to learning and growth from birth to adulthood. Healthy attitudes and habits start at home, but families face significant barriers to making good choices. Children's museums have the ability to bring attention to issues related to child development and to convene important discussions among community-based organizations, media partners and policy makers. The 2008 Promising Practice Award will honor exhibits, programs and management practices that promote the importance of outdoor play and activity as a key component of healthy living.

Eligibility: Museum applicants may apply individually or on behalf of a consortium of museums. Please note: to be eligible for a 2008 Promising Practice Award and to be included in the summary of applicants, your museum must:

have an existing, ongoing promising practice that supports healthy outdoor play and activity for kids and families;
be an ACM current, open, nonprofit museum member located in the United States and;
have not recieved a Promisng Practice cash award in 2006 or 2007.

Selection Criteria and Narrative Requirements: Applications will be evaluated by an impartial panel of experts (Selection Committee) in the children's museum and health fields. Please note: One of the three cash awards will be designated for a "small" museum, defined as a museum with an annual operating budget of $499,999 or less (ACM Level 1 or II memberships). The Selection Committee will deliberate each entry based on applicants' narrative response to the application questions listed below. Award recipients will be notified in March 2008. Please answer the following questions in a narrative not to exceed 1,825 words in length.

Application Process: Applicants must complete the online application in one sitting; ACM recommends that applicants prepare their answers for the essay questions ahead of time. ACM will send a confirmation email once your application has been submitted. A paper application form may be mailed to ACM as an alternative to the online application. However, ACM strongly encourages all applicants go paperless and apply online.

MetLife Foundation and Association of Children's Museums Promising Practice Award Application

Name (First, Last):
Title:
ACM Member Museum:
Phone:
Email:
Please check your ACM membership level:	Full Level I (Budgets under $250,000) Full Level II (Budgets $250,000-$499,999) Full Level III (Budgets $500,000-$999,999)	Full Level IV (Budgets $1 million-$2,999,999) Full Level V (Budgets $3 million-$4,999,999) Full Level VI (Budgets $5 million and above)
Describe the problem/solution that your promising practice addresses. Click here for sample descriptions. 75 word limit
How does your promising practice support healthy habits for children, families and families in low-income communities? 250 word limit
How is your promising practice novel or innovative? Does it inspire a new model for the children's museum field? 250 word limit
Is your practice replicable by other children's museums? If so, what resources (time, personnel, funding) are needed? Additionally, describe the merit of replication in other communities. 250 word limit
How does your museum's internal management team support your promising practice? 250 word limit
How does the promising practice enhance or support your museum's mission or strategic direction? 250 word limit
To support your application, you may upload electronic files/scans of brochures, press clippings or letters of endorsement. Total file size limit is 4 MB
Consent to Share Promising Practice If my museum is awarded a 2008 MetLife Foundation and Association of Children's Museums Promising Practice Award, I agree to do the following: send a museum representative to InterActivity 2008 to accept the award; write a press release about award and distribute it to local media outlets; send ACM all award press clippings; write an article about the practice for ACM's journal Hand to Hand; and send a museum representative to InterActivity 2009 to participate in the Promising Practice Award Showcase session.
	I have read and understand the requirements to share and promote my promising practice.
Supervisor Name:
My Supervisor:	My supervisor endorses this application.
		**Please only press the Submit button once and wait for the Thank You page to appear to confirm that your email has been sent.

Sample descriptions (in 75 words or less) of a how a promising practice addresses a problem with a solution.

Personal vehicles are the number one cause of Washington's toxic air pollution, sending more than one million tons of pollution into the air each year. These toxins are leading to increased health problems in communities. Imagine Children's Museum's Education & Fun Rolled Into One! program address its critical shortage of parking for patrons, helps visitors find a driving/parking alternative improving visitor services and improves the community's awareness about the benefits of public transportation.
Simple but successful strategies are keeping heads cool at the Minnesota Children's Museum, where staff have been trained to lend a hand when parents or children are headed for a meltdown. The museum is one of several community partners that developed the Wakanheza Project, a statewide effort to prevent family violence.
Baltimore, like most urban centers, has witnessed an increase in the dropout rate among high school students. At the same time, the school system, responding to the pressures of standards-based learning outcomes, has designed increasingly rigorous school courses and assessments. Transition Academy, an innovative partnership between Baltimore City Public Schools and Port Discovery, provides a focused educational environment with small classes, unique instructional methods and on-site museum educational tools for 60 academically at-risk ninth graders.

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