Good afternoon,

I know that everyone is busy with so many new obligations in this historical time. I wanted to shine a light, however, the role of open education resources, including open source software, in student success.  It is with this in mind that I write to share some exciting news.

As you know, a goal of SCORE has been to reach beyond our current networks to make broader collaborations. Since September, the Bates team has been in touch with the Hewlett Foundation, who has been keenly interested in the work of SCORE (as well as Bates and QUBES) to impact the sustainability of Open Education as well as the proposition for equity and inclusion. Today, I am happy to announce that Hewlett has awarded Bates a one year grant to help act on the many collaborations that began at the SCORE Summit.

As part of this award, we have established a SCORE mini-grant program.  This program will provide funding 5 grants of $20,000 each to spur collaborations within the SCORE network.  This will be a very quick catalyst program. Details will follow within the week, with a one-month application window, and project work is to take place between June 1 - December 31, 2020. 

In addition, we will be planning programming over the several months to support the SCORE community in their thinking at the intersection of social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and open education. This includes a program for open education resource providers/producers/curators to connect with faculty via the QUBES FMN program, while centering “S-JEDI.”  This is a separate initiative from the mini-grant program above. Here is one such event, April 8th that may be of interest to your networks - please share! https://www.idigbio.org/content/stem-inclusive-teaching-practices-webinar-series-episode-one.

I want to thank all of you for being a part of the SCORE network. I know that with many opportunities to meet again in person now cancelled, it can be difficult to maintain the relationship work across sectors that we have started. However, I hope that this support from the Hewlett Foundation will help catalyze the great ideas and conversations from the Summit into actions!

Please be on the lookout for more information in the coming days,

-Carrie