Program areas at MCM
The Mississippi Children's Museum (mcm) seeks to empower and inspire our state's children, regardless of their social, educational, or economic background. The mission of mcm is to create unparalleled experiences to inspire excellence and a lifelong joy of learning. The 40,000 square foot Museum in the jackson location and 25,000 square foot Museum in the meridian location are designed around five primary initiatives, with correlating exhibits, programs, and outreach efforts. These initiatives include literacy, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (steam); health and nutrition; cultural arts and Mississippi heritage - the keys to helping children mature into healthy and productive adult learners. Mcm provides place-based and outreach experiences that include interactive permanent exhibits; weekly and monthly educational programs and events; field trips; professional development workshops; on-site and off-site outreach programs; summer and seasonal camps; annual visiting exhibits from other Children's museums and science centers; community enrichment series; mcm traveling exhibits; community event outreach; and online programming. Mcm also offers a cafe; a Museum store; birthday parties; facility rentals; seasonal temporary exhibits and events; three annual fundraisers; youth and community volunteer programs; and a splash pad and pollinators garden, both free to the public. As our community was reeling from challenges posed by covid-19, mcm responded to community needs by providing a safe space for daily virtual schooling for over 100 jackson public school students. The Museum continues those services today by providing a robust, daily afterschool program serving nearly 150 students from six jackson public schools across the city. Mcm believes that this level of consistent, one-on-one, remedial instruction and relationship-building will have long-term, positive impacts on the trajectory of each student's academic career and well-being.on march 26, 2021, despite a worldwide pandemic, mcm in concert with the leadership of east Mississippi opened to the public a state-of-the-art, $17 million dollar satellite Museum in meridian, Mississippi. Since opening, mcm-meridian has exceeded projections having already welcomed over 50,000 visitors from 40 states and 2 foreign countries. Mcm-meridian is fully operational, offering weekly programming, special events, school field trips, birthday parties, and more. As a testament to our community service and resilience through the height of the pandemic, the institute of Museum and library services (imls) announced mcm as a recipient of the 2021 national medal for Museum and library service, the nation's highest honor given to museums and libraries that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities. Out of 30 national finalists and one of only three museums to receive the honor, mcm is one of the youngest museums to be awarded the imls national medal.