Milken Family Foundation


MFF.orgInitiatives

Initiatives of the Milken Family Foundation
	Milken Family Foundation National Educator Awards provides public recognition and financial awards to outstanding elementary and secondary school teachers, principals, and other education professionals who are furthering excellence in education through quality teaching, professional leadership, engagement with families and the community, and their potential for even greater contribution to the healthy development of children. At the annual Milken Family Foundation National Education Conference, Milken Educator Award recipients are honored as they work with leaders from academia, government, business and the community to examine significant issues in education, engage policy and business leaders in supporting educational improvement, and strengthen state and national networks of exemplary educators. The Milken Educator Awards program has recognized more than 2,300 distinguished educators across the United States with individual unrestricted awards of $25,000 since the Award was established in 1985.

	Recognizing that sufficient numbers of quality teachers would never result from current education practices, Lowell Milken launched the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP)™ in 1999 as a comprehensive research-based strategy to attract, develop, motivate and retain high quality teachers for America's schools. By creating an environment with powerful and sustained opportunities for career advancement, professional growth, teacher accountability, and competitive compensation, TAP™ has expanded to over 180 campuses, impacting more than 5,000 teachers and 60,000 students. TAP is now operated by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, an independent public charity Lowell established in 2005 with the goal of a quality teacher for every classroom in America.

	Based on TAP's rapid growth, strong results and high demand, in 2005 Lowell Milken established the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) as an independent public charity. Equipped with a richly diverse staff drawn from education and business, combined with a broad coalition of school practitioners, NIET forges partnerships with schools, government at the local, state and federal levels, corporations and foundations, to ensure TAP's effectiveness and sustainability in its diverse set of urban, rural and suburban schools across the country.

	The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, a recording project dedicated to discovering and preserving the rich body of sacred and secular American Jewish music of the past 350 years, strives to educate, entertain and inspire people of all faiths and cultures. The Milken Archive comprises the largest collection of American Jewish music ever assembled, with individual CDs being distributed to the public through Naxos American Classics. A major work in progress, the Archive will be complemented by an American Jewish music curriculum, a book synthesizing the music and its history, and an oral history video collection. The Milken Archive Web site is www.milkenarchive.org.

	The Milken Festival for Youth (FFY) is a school-based community service program that engages students in yearlong service projects to help build vibrant communities. Festival for Youth participants realize the power of their positive actions to inspire others, while learning that each person can make a difference. Since 1987, FFY projects - frequently led by Milken Educators - have united schools and communities while benefiting more than one million young people across the nation.

	The Milken Scholars Program offers financial assistance, complemented by a range of professional resources, to college students and young adults who have demonstrated the potential to make a profound difference. Scholars are chosen on the basis of distinguished academic performance, school and community service, leadership, and evidence of having overcome personal and social obstacles. Since the program's creation in 1989, Milken Scholars have graduated from many of the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities.

	Learning that appeals to a sense of fun and discovery captures children's interest and imagination. Mike's Math Club, a curriculum enrichment program, shows students in inner-city elementary schools that math is not only useful, but entertaining. Students learn "secret codes" and "handy hints" that promote math skills, play math games, and gain a sense of self-worth. The fun that students have learning math with the Mike's Math Club Team is important proof to them that learning can be its own reward.

	The Milken Family Foundation Jewish Educator Awards recognizes educators who are making outstanding contributions to the Jewish and secular education of students in the elementary and secondary day schools affiliated with the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles. The Program also includes major financial awards to the recipients.

	For over a decade and a half, the Milken Family Foundation has dedicated resources for groundbreaking research to understand and conquer epilepsy. In 1989, the Foundation, working with the American Epilepsy Society, established an annual award, grant and fellowship program. Since that time, the program's recognition and support have become significant for the epilepsy community, not only as a means to celebrate the achievements of outstanding scientists and clinicians, but as a significant way to foster and guide research activities in epilepsy. Two new efforts were launched in 2005 through the Milken Family Foundation Epilepsy Research Awards Program: the Early Career Physician-Scientist Awards Program and the Milken Translational Research Awards.

	The Prostate Cancer Foundation is dedicated to finding better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer. Since inception in 1993, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has become the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. Supported by more than $50 million from the Milken Family Foundation, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has raised more than $200 million and funded more than 1,100 critical research projects in 100 research centers around the world. Go to site

	The Milken Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan, independent economic think-tank whose mission is to explore and explain the dynamics of world economic structure, conduct, and performance by conducting research in economics, business and finance. The objective is a better-informed public, more thoughtful public policies, improved economic outcomes and better lives for people. The Institute has an extensive publications program and hosts conferences and seminars on a variety of major issues. Go to site

	Education Technology Education Technology presents cutting-edge research on the effective integration of technology into America’s schools, and helps educators and policymakers assess their progress in implementing technology through interactive online tools such as the State Education Technology Financial Model. This section also contains publications, projects and articles produced by the former Milken Exchange on Education Technology.

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