Evergreen Educational Foundation
What We Do
Family Stories Project
The Board approved $15,000 to fund a pilot project, Family Stories that will focus on the Chinese diaspora in the US. The pilot project will collect background information, provide a summary of interview information as well as full interview transcripts for 12 families. Results of the pilot project will be evaluated to determine the feasibility of a long-term project by the Board.
Support for Parenting and Play Centers in Rural Communities
Evergreen (EEF) is funding the establishment of two community-based parenting and play centers to support additional development of the Humana People to the People’s rural-based community early learning, responsive care, and pre-school education work. Parenting and Play Centers are being funded in two different villages in Teng Chong City, Yunnan Province, China. The Centers will focus upon childhood development programs for the youngest rural children, ages 0-3 years, where the most crucial brain development occurs (“Give Me a Child” Economist, October 29, 2016). Compared to urban areas in China, children in rural China are at greater risk of developmental delays in language, cognition and social emotional skills. In their book, Invisible China (University of Chicago Press, 2020) Scott Roselle & Natalie Hell noted that the most effective action to spur lifelong success and reduce inequity in the world is to invest in programs that target the youngest children (Invisible China pp. 149-150). The project funding supports providing a local parenting and play center in each village, identifying and training a local lay teacher and establishing grassroots community village parents’ committees to participate in planning and conducting appropriate development programs and activities.
Household Reading Sites Project
EEF is funding Peking University Professor Zizhou Wang’s Household Reading Site (HRS) project, which aims to increase reading access and improve literacy among rural children by placing shelves of books in selected rural families and establishing neighborhood reading centers in Chinese villages. The HRS project seeks to tackle an increasingly dire social problem that accompanies China’s rapid urbanization – the crisis of “left-behind” children (Rozelle & Hell, 2020). In search of better job opportunities, many rural adults migrate to cities and leave their children behind. There are about 70 million left-behind children in China, and they experience various effects of poverty, including poor
quality of education (Tong, Yan, & Kawachi, 2019). Researchers from the Stanford Rural Education Action Program found that almost half of the left-behind children in the poorest central and western parts of China had dropped out of school by Grade 9 (Rozelle & Hell, 2020). They cautioned that the high dropout rates may increase unemployment and widen inequality, which could lead to serious implications nationally and even internationally. One manifestation of disparities in education is rural children’s significant lack of access to suitable and adequate reading materials to develop their reading skills and interests. More than 70% of children in impoverished rural areas had access to only 10 or less extracurricular books a year and nearly 20% had none (Zhong, 2018). Recognizing this barrier in reading and literacy development, the HRS project aims to make reading materials easily accessible to rural children by creating neighborhood reading centers in selected households. HRS has identified a total of 15 villages to implement the intervention. At each village, 5 households are selected to receive a bookshelf and age-appropriate reading materials for children in that household and neighboring families. Selected families are trained on how to run the household-based library to offer convenient access to books and foster a culture of reading among neighborhood children.
STEM Challenge in China and USA
Partnering with the Li Geng Sheng Project (LGS) in China, Evergreen developed a STEM challenge for kids in China and the USA between May through August 2022. This challenge was modeled and adapted from the content and instruction from the 2022 Fluor Challenge created by Science Buddies. LGS translated the Fluor Challenge from English into Chinese and administered the challenge in China, including introduction seminars, coordination of teams, organizing judges, evaluation, and presenting awards in China. Evergreen partnered with LGS on this project by coordinating with the EDNova Academy in the USA who did the same Fluor Challenge in parallel. Evergreen plans to use this opportunity to set up online exchanges between China and US student participants to share their STEM ideas, experiences, process, and results. STEM projects have been an important project focus for Evergreen: Evergreen’s partnership with
LGS provides additional opportunities to continue Evergreen support for STEM project initiatives in rural China.
Peking University Rural Library STEM projects
One of Evergreen’s projects under Peking University Education Foundation Prof Wang’s Collaborated with the Rural Library Program at Beijing University. Prof. Wang led the project which held 2 series projects covering more than 100 STEM activities in 14 libraries in rural China. Evergreen granted part of material and activity costs, and supported Peking University groups to attend conferences and meetings.
Evergreen supported rural library development efforts by providing travel funds for members of the Private Library Research Group of the Information Management Department of Peking University to attend conferences and meetings promoting rural library topics. A meeting from October 28 to 31, 2022 was held to promote the high-quality development of the rural and community library industry attended by the Private Library Research Group of the Information Management Department of Peking University, the Love Reading Foundation, the Xinhe Foundation, and the Wanjia Library co-sponsored the first national “Roundtable for the Development of Rural and Community Libraries.” The meeting was held in Xiamen and organized by the Fujian Bird’s Nest Public Welfare Service Center for Student Aid, Fujian Xiashu Student Aid Public Service Center and Xiamen Bird’s Nest Reading Project. A total of 41 representatives from 39 institutions participated in this meeting, where they learned about their operating models and ways of participating in social governance. The participants visited local grassroots non-governmental libraries, such as Xiamen Gangtou Firefly Public Library, Gaodian Public Library, and New Xiamen People’s Library. The meeting included keynote reports, round table discussions and other activities. In-depth discussions and exchanges were conducted on the current situation and future of rural and community libraries in China. Discussion focused on the role and significance of libraries in community governance and rural revitalization, and how to build rural and community libraries.
Summer Workshops
In 2022, EEF and LGS collaborated with three high school students to bring robotics to Tonghe Primary School, Shacheng No.4 Middle School, and Tongfu South Street No.1 Middle School. The three high school students created a curriculum for the six-week long workshop which introduced students to the Engineering Design Process, which is a structured approach of problem solving by developing creative solutions based on the failures of past iterations. After completing several guided exercises in building a basic robot and programming with sensor input, students were tasked with completing some missions on their own. The students exhibited high levels of engagement and demonstrated creativity and perseverance in their work. Teacher Liu (in China) reflected on the class: “At the beginning the kids had no idea what robotics was, now they can write code which controls the robot to accomplish a designated task. They have made tremendous strides that would not have been possible without the very patient explanation and guidance from the teachers. We will definitely continue with the program so that more kids will have opportunities to learn about robotics and cultivate their interest in.”
Past Conferences and Workshops 2002-2018
Information Technology in Education (ITIE) Conferences
The ITIE International Conference, held biennially since 2004, aims at communication of ideas, methodologies, and practical experiences of library development, including promoting information literacy, cultural programs and educational innovations. It is a gathering of educators, library practitioners and researchers, and NGO members from around the world. Each past conference witnessed 200-300 delegates from around the world, among whom about 100 are rural teachers and librarians sponsored by Evergreen. The conferences exposed these rural educators to a broader view and bigger platform.
*ITIE 2016: Makerspaces: Creativity in the Library, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Wuhan
*ITIE 2014: Local Culture and Oral History, Changsha, Hunan
*ITIE 2012: Libraries as Community Education Centers, Hangzhou, Zhejiang
*ITIE 2010: Inspirations from Best Practices, Lanzhou, Gansu
*ITIE 2008: Connecting Rural Communities, Huzhou, Zhejiang
*ITIE 2006: Ethics and Knowledge, Kunming, Yunnan
*ITIE 2004: Learning from Different Cultures, Beijing
Rural Training Workshops For Educators And Librarians
Evergreen Education Foundation organized a Training Workshop, generally every other year beginning in 2002. Topics were selected based on our most pressing capacity development needs, with participants from the Evergreen staff, Chinese educators/librarians and international researchers/practitioners. Over the years, the workshops provide Evergreen teachers and librarians with systematic training on best practices on topics related to innovative learning.
2018 Theme: Project-Based Learning
2018 Theme: Oral History of Local Culture, GuangXi, College of Education
2017: Theme: Background Research in Oral History, Kaili, Guizhou
2017: Theme: Design Thinking & Project-Based Learning, Shanghai
2015 Theme: Project-Based Learning, Beijing
2013 Theme: Oral History Field Study, Kaili, Guizhou
2011 Theme: Back to the Drawing Board, Huai’an, Jiangsu
2009 Theme: Inspirations from Best Practices, Wuxiang, Shanxi
2007 Workshop for Teachers and Librarians in Danfeng, Shaanxi
2005 Workshop for Teachers and Librarians in Tianzhu, Gansu
2003 Workshop for Teachers and Librarians in Tongwei, Gansu
2002 Workshop for Teachers and Librarians in Datong and Xining, Qinghai
