The 49ers Foundation announced on Thursday the creation of the Digital Huddle powered by Cisco, Dignity Health and SAP, a hub of free education and fitness resources for teachers to use as a part of their everyday curriculum. The Foundation's direct programs EDU and PREP have been creating online resources for parents, coaches, teachers and students since at-home and distance learning began in April. Over 200 teachers and coaches across 45 Bay Area school districts have adopted the Foundation's online fitness and education programs impacting nearly 92,000 Bay Area youth in just a few short months.
"It is more important than ever to do what we can to help children in our community thrive in this challenging and virtual world. Cisco is proud to help power the Digital Huddle and provide critical distance learning and physical activity resources for parents, students, teachers, and coaches," said Mark Patterson, SVP and Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO at Cisco.
"Dignity Health is proud to work with the 49ers Foundation, Cisco and SAP to support the Digital Huddle and promote physical fitness and well-being in our communities. At a time when public health continues to be challenged by COVID-19, Digital Huddle is a terrific resource to strengthen both mind and body and is an example of the Bay Area's spirit of innovation and cooperation," said Wade Rose, Vice President of External & Government Relations for Dignity Health.
"The rise in digital learning has created a unique opportunity for us to extend our commitment and impact locally in the communities that we serve. The Digital Huddle allows us to provide the right access and resources families and educators need to keep students engaged outside the traditional classroom," said Max Wessel, Chief Learning Officer at SAP and Managing Director, SAP Labs California.
To help parents and teachers navigate distance learning, 49ers EDU presented by Chevron launched their Digital Playbook to provide STEAM lessons and activities to students at the K-8 level. To help students better understand the Playbook, the team launched the Playbook Video Review Series where they teach the lessons from the Playbook and provide real-world examples of how STEAM exists in everyday life from 49ers front office staff. Since April, 49ers EDU has provided over 1,500 hours of education to help teach subjects like reading comprehension, critical thinking, environmental sustainability, physics and much more. The EDU team is also tackling the digital divide by delivering over 10,500 printed versions of the Digital Playbook to teachers whose students do not have access to computers. All content is Common Core Standard and Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) aligned making it easy for teachers to integrate the lessons into their curriculum.
Over the last seven months, 49ers PREP presented by U.S. Bank has been creative, providing activities for youth of all ages to do to stay healthy and active throughout the pandemic. They have also launched virtual flag football camps in English and Spanish to ensure that youth and high school athletes are staying ready for when football returns. PREP has partnered with physical education teachers to provide content that aligns with the California Fitness Standards for every grade. 49ers PREP's in-school programing has been adopted by Special Olympics of Northern California, Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, five YMCA of Silicon Valley sites, schools spanning 16 districts and four charter schools in the Bay Area with 54% of the schools being Title 1.
"We are proud of EDU and PREP for creating fun and interactive resources for youth to use to stay active and engaged throughout the pandemic," said Justin Prettyman, 49ers Foundation Executive Director. "These programs have been hard at work creating content that teachers can use for several subjects that are in line with California State Education and Fitness standards."
Since the start of the pandemic, the 49ers Foundation has been committed to not only making content available to Bay Area schools, but also students across the country and the world. EDU and PREP's programs are free to the end user and also available in Spanish to ensure that youth of all ages, backgrounds and genders have access to education and fitness resources to succeed both in school and on the field. To access these resources and learn how you can bring the 49ers digital resources to your school, visit 49ers.com/digitalhuddle.
