Kids+Creativity Network Primer (2013)

A landmark event with over 500 attendees that formally launched Sprout’s stewardship, unveiled the remakelearning.org website, and featured a showcase of more than 30 innovative projects.

Annual Network Assembly

A yearly capstone event for members to celebrate accomplishments, share insights, and collectively shape the network’s future priorities.

Affinity Groups & Lunch & Learns

Regular, informal meetups focused on specific topics like Maker Education, STEAM, Early Learning, and Game-Based Learning. These sessions built specialized communities and shared expertise from regional leaders.

National Convenings

Sprout brought national leaders to Pittsburgh and represented the network globally. We hosted the 2014 Education Innovation Cluster Convening with the U.S. Department of Education and regularly led delegations to events like SXSWedu and MozFest in London.

Catalytic Grantmaking

Sprout invested over $3.1 million in nearly 300 projects. This was primarily delivered through our dedicated learning programs: Spark (for early learning), Hive (for connected learning), and City of Learning (for digital badges).

Research Fellowships

We funded researchers to investigate key network questions. This work informed network strategy, such as Dr. Tom Akiva’s research on “Youth-Adult Partnerships” and Dr. Leanne Bowler’s work on “Mindful Making”.

Strategic RFPs

We issued targeted Requests for Proposals to focus network attention on priorities, such as the “Recipes for Learning” RFP, which created a digital cookbook of replicable lesson plans from 10 organizations.

Ed-Tech Refinery

A special funding stream that connected local ed-tech startups with schools and educators for user testing, curriculum design, and refinement, strengthening the commercial sector of the ecosystem.

remakelearning.org

Launched in 2013, this website served as the network’s central hub. It featured a blog with over 876 stories of local innovation, a public directory of members, and a community calendar of events.

The Remake Learning Playbook (2015)

Sprout produced and published this comprehensive 100-page guide to “open source” the network’s model. It included a print edition, a web edition with documentary videos and oral histories, and an interactive “Gameplan” web app for other communities to build their own networks.

Documentation & Storytelling

We commissioned a team of professional writers, photographers, and videographers to produce high-quality assets capturing the network in action. These assets were used for reports, press, and sharing best practices.

National Press & Recognition

We actively pitched stories that established Pittsburgh as a leader in learning innovation. This resulted in major features in Education Week, Forbes, and The Atlantic, and helped the network win the 2014 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award.

Remake Learning Competencies

Sprout facilitated a months-long working group process with over 100 local experts to co-design a shared framework of learning competencies in areas like “Career Readiness,” “Design & Making,” and “Coding & Gaming.” This framework was then used to design digital badges and curriculum.

National Partnerships

We built and maintained strategic relationships with national organizations like Digital Promise, the Mozilla Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education, ensuring the region benefited from national resources and grant opportunities.

Network Evaluation

We conducted annual surveys of network members to gather feedback and guide strategy. We also partnered with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Activation Lab to measure the network’s impact on student engagement.

Remake Learning Days

Launched in 2016, this became the network’s signature public event—a massive, multi-day “open house” of hands-on learning. The inaugural 2016 festival featured over 200 events and secured $25 million in new commitments from regional partners to support learning innovation.

Public Showcases

Sprout organized “Remake Learning Zones” at regional events like the Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference (TRETC), the Pittsburgh Maker Faire, and the Three Rivers Arts Festival, giving thousands of families hands-on experiences with network innovations.

White House Recognition

We championed network members at the highest levels, which led to multiple invitations to the White House Maker Faire and culminated in The Grable Foundation’s Gregg Behr being honored as a “Champion of Change for Making” in 2016.

Spark

A foundational program (2008-2012) that seeded the initial collaborations of the Kids+Creativity Network. Its focus on early learning, technology, and play laid the groundwork for the broader network stewardship Sprout would later undertake.

Hive

From 2013-2015, Sprout operated Hive Pittsburgh, the local branch of the MacArthur Foundation and Mozilla’s global network. It served as the primary grantmaking program for “Connected Learning” projects engaging tweens and teens.

City of Learning

This three-year initiative (2014-2016) developed a regional ecosystem for digital badges, engaging over 6,000 youth and 55+ organizations. It piloted badging in summer programs and developed the shared Remake Learning Competencies.

The Digital Corps

A 2014-2015 program, in partnership with APOST, that trained and deployed 82 adult mentors to 53 afterschool sites, providing free, hands-on digital literacy workshops for youth across Allegheny County.

Rec2Tech

A 2016 demonstration project with the City of Pittsburgh that transformed five city recreation centers into pop-up technology learning hubs, providing a model for leveraging municipal assets to bridge the digital divide.

My Brother’s Keeper

Creating an equitable community where all residents—especially boys and young men of color—benefit from Pittsburgh’s economic growth. In 2016 & 2017, Sprout created a digital literacy community and supported MBK’s planning and research efforts.