The New York Life Foundation has announced a four-year, $1 million grant to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to extend the museum's key science education programs for high-achieving students from traditionally underserved communities in the region.

The grant will provide support for the Museum Education and Employment Program and the Lang Science and After-School programs. In particular, it will be used to train thirty-three young adults between the ages of 18 and 21 to manage tours, lectures, and guided explorations for 75,000 children each year; personalize science training and mentorship for more than a hundred underserved students; fund tuition for at least 270 students in a wide variety of afterschool science courses; and support the creation of a new database for charting student progress from high school graduation through college, graduate school, and careers in science-related fields.

"We are deeply grateful to the [foundation] for its extraordinary support of the museum's educational programming," said AMNH president Ellen V. Futter. "As the United States grapples with a crisis in science education, continued support for programs like these will help ensure that all students achieve proficiency in science, a goal that is key to the nation's long-term economic competitiveness."