If you believe every student should be able to visit the museum and ride behind a historic locomotive, whether in-person or from afar, without worrying about the cost, we ask you to join us on this Big Day of Giving. With support from community members like you, schoolchildren can experience the museum and train ride up close. We expect to have over 60,000 students participate in these opportunities this school year alone.
This year, we have a goal of $200,000 to support some exciting education initiatives for schoolchildren in the greater Sacramento area, and eventually, those around the globe.
All funds raised today will support our three main education initiatives in partnership with the California State Railroad Museum and California State Parks: providing free school programs and train rides for school groups, our transportation subsidy program, and a new partnership with the Lemelson-MIT program. These programs help remove access barriers for Title I schools and even the playing field for all students when it comes to experiencing western railroad history.
Reaching a $200,000 goal is an ambitious task, and we need every donation now more than ever. We hope you will consider a donation to the California State Railroad Museum Foundation today. Please join us in creating lasting memories and sharing the wonders of railroading history with students of California and around the globe. Show your support for tomorrow today.
About the Free programs and train rides for school groups:
To create a more even playing field for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as remove barriers to access for Title I schools in the greater Sacramento area, CSRMF has absorbed all fees for schools to participate in organized museum programming, such as Westward Bound, Horses to Horsepower, and pre-booked school tours. CSRMF has also absorbed the cost for school groups to ride the excursion train, allowing educators to introduce students to Western railroad history and the excitement of riding behind a historic locomotive.
About the Transportation Subsidy Program:
The CSRMF launched the Transportation Subsidy Pilot Program in 2023, and through this program, we were able to reimburse almost $8,000 to visiting schools to cover the cost of transporting students to and from the museum. For the 2024 school year, over $20,000 has been requested and approved for visiting schools and school groups from across the greater Sacramento area and throughout the state of California have benefited from this support. One group from Central California even used Amtrak to bring their students to the museum.
About the new education partnership:
Railroading doesn’t just have a past—it has a present, and a bright future. How bright, however, will depend on the young people who join its ranks and what problem-solving skills they bring to the party. For the past three years, the Foundation has been in talks with the Lemelson-MIT Center (L-MIT) about teaming up on an educational initiative. L-MIT, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “focuses on the expansion of opportunities for young people to learn ways inventors find and solve problems that matter,” according to its mission statement. The COVID pandemic sidetracked progress for several years, but now L-MIT, the Foundation and the Museum are set to launch Rail Innovation in Action, a six-week Saturday program designed for high school students that launches in September. Rail Innovation in Action is about harnessing people’s passion for transportation and combining that passion with their desire to make a positive difference in the world or help other people. It is also about building an intergenerational community or network of people who can inform, coach and mentor those who are seeking to learn so that they can succeed in creating an invention prototype. The program will take place online and is free for students, removing financial barriers to invention education. Guest lecturers who work in the modern rail industry will talk about some of the challenges facing railroading, and students will use online labs to turn some of these challenges into opportunities. The program is encouraging the participation of students in populations that do not normally receive patents, with the support of the Museum and the Foundation. The Foundation is absorbing all costs connected with this program and and have hired a Stem Education coordinator to facilitate this course with the goal of expanding to in-person programs and more STEM education offerings at the museum.