Stephen Colbert’s visit to the Manhattan Bridges High School has hit the mainstream media (including the bloggers Ms Interpreted and I met at the high school itself. . . new media represent!). Here’s a roundup of what the news outlets had to say.

From the Associated Press:

Colbert: Does Bill Gates ever talk about me?
Colbert pushed his real-life cause as he mentioned one that has long been the obsession of his fake-news-host persona: “As I endeavor to protect our children from bears, donorschoose.org is protecting public school kids from classrooms that lack the materials necessary to rigorously prepare them for college.”

From the Seattle Times:

Stephen Colbert teams with Gates, protects children from bears
TV personality Stephen Colbert was around to “moderate” the event, keeping the potentially vehement charity announcement from becoming too extreme. . . He’s a board member of DonorsChoose.org. But considering the organization has 13 other board members and 26 advisers, he’s really not that special.

. . . Under the “Double Your Impact” initiative funded by Gates, requests that promote college-readiness will be eligible for 50 percent funding from DonorsChoose. Projects would include things like student trips to college campuses, classroom books and SAT/ACT preparation materials.

From GothamSchools.org:

At a city school, Stephen Colbert earnestly reports on new grant
Colbert, who sits on the site’s board, made the announcement in the style of his televised interviews, before an audience of students at Manhattan Bridges High School, but without any of his usual mean comments. (He did draw laughs with an awkward attempt to use Spanish, the native language of many Bridges students, to explain that he was a “perdedor gigante,” or giant loser, when he was in high school.) The panel he interviewed included Vicki Phillips, the head of Gates’ education division; DonorsChoose founder Charles Best; and a Manhattan Bridges English teacher.

And last but not least, from our new friend of the blog, DetentionSlip.org:

DonorsChoose, Stephen Colbert & Gates Foundation join forces to promote college readiness
Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org founder, explained how the non-profit came about after a discussion in a teachers lounge. The organization allows teachers to post projects they are seeking funding for on the DonorsChoose website, then, “citizen philanthropists” can fund the projects whole or in part with any amount of money.

They are all about transparency as well, allowing the donors to pick which projects to fund, and giving them a breakdown of how every cent is spent.

The Gates Foundation got involved to match donations 1 for 1 for projects specifically targeted at helping students go on to college.

Great to meet you, Anthony! And now, enjoy a little photographic recap of the DonorsChoose.org event. Click on the images to view them full size:

Additional photos under the cut: Read More→

• Ujjal Dosanjh: Stephen Colbert’s message “worth reflecting on”
• Stephen Colbert ‘Reports’ to Olympic Games
• Press Sec. Gibbs explains why Pres. Obama would avoid ‘The Colbert Report’
• Spoiler Alert: MP Dosanjh wants you to ‘Better Know a Riding’

Hey, Zoners! Kina and I just got back from the Manhattan Bridges High School, where Stephen Colbert moderated a panel discussion in support of DonorsChoose.org. The panel marked the Gates Foundation’s landmark grant to DonorsChoose in support of college-readiness, and we’ve got details headed your way. To whet your appetite, please read this joint press release discussing the program.

DonorsChoose.org, Gates Foundation and Stephen Colbert Team Up to Support Teachers and Promote College Readiness for All

“Double Your Impact” program to fund 50 percent of teachers’ classroom projects aimed at promoting college readiness

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and DonorsChoose.org, the online charity that connects individual “citizen philanthropists” with classrooms in need, today announced a landmark grant that enables DonorsChoose.org to fund up to 50 percent of the cost of individual classroom projects developed by teachers to promote college-readiness among students in high-need and underserved urban and rural public schools.

TV personality Stephen Colbert, a DonorsChoose.org board member, moderated the event where the announcement was made. “Double Your Impact” will be funded with a $4.1 million investment from the Gates Foundation and is expected to support more than 17,000 classroom projects, touching more than 300,000 students across the nation. By enabling DonorsChoose.org to contribute half of the required dollars, the grant helps to incentivize individual “citizen philanthropists” to donate and accelerate the process of fully funding projects. DonorsChoose.org enables teachers to describe specific educational projects for their classrooms and individuals to choose which projects to fund. This approach has been effective in funding projects in high-need and underserved schools.

. . . .

Read the full press release here

• Ujjal Dosanjh: Stephen Colbert’s message “worth reflecting on”
• Stephen Colbert ‘Reports’ to Olympic Games
• Press Sec. Gibbs explains why Pres. Obama would avoid ‘The Colbert Report’
• Spoiler Alert: MP Dosanjh wants you to ‘Better Know a Riding’