(Berkeley, CA) Thursday, July 20, 2006—
Habitot Children’s Museum, a hands-on discovery museum for young children, has received a "Museums for America" award from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The award includes $71,790 in funding to help Habitot plan outdoor learning exhibits for young children and their families in their anticipated new location in Emeryville. The museum currently serves 90,000 visitors a year from its downtown Berkeley location.

The funding will lay the groundwork for developing 10,000 square feet of interactive outdoor space and natural environment at Habitot’s planned future facility. Habitot intends to install fruit and vegetable gardens; interactive solar and water sculptures; learning laboratories like ponds and water gardens; and historical and cultural exhibits including an Ohlone Indian village and shellmound. The fruit and vegetable gardens will be integrated into the museum’s food and cooking program to address childhood nutrition, hunger, and obesity. An outdoor environment task force will be formed this fall to begin research, planning and design.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
IMLS is an independent federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities. Through its grants to the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums, convenings, research and publications, the Institute empowers museums and libraries nationwide to provide leadership and services to enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build twenty-first-century skills, and increase civic participation. To learn more, please visit: http://www.imls.gov.

About Habitot Children’s Museum
Habitot Children’s Museum, the East Bay’s only hands-on discovery museum for young children ages 0-7, is designed to help infants, toddlers and young children begin to understand and appreciate the diverse world around them, to encourage and reward curiosity, and to engender in them a lifelong love of learning. Each of the museum’s exhibits and galleries creates a multi-sensory environment for early childhood learning. The museum also provides parents and caregivers with support, education and resources to help them observe, understand and stimulate the children in their care. More than 500,000 people have visited since opening in 1998, 10% of which are at-risk children served through the museum’s Family Outreach Program. Habitot is located at 2065 Kittredge Street in downtown Berkeley, California.