By this point, it’s become obvious that this isn’t a “weekly” newsletter.

Have I been busy? Maybe.

Is it hard to think of what to write here sometimes? Probably.

Have I forgotten to write and or post a column multiple weeks in a row? Yes… Definitely yes.

This week though, I have some exciting news that you might already know if you’ve checked our Partners List. Now I can finally announce that…

We’ve been awarded $15,000 by the Missouri Humanities Council to produce The Process!

The Missouri Humanities Council (MHC) has awarded a grant of $15,000 to the House of PAIS to commission The Process Game Company to produce The Process Civics Card Game!

The MHC is the only state-wide agency in Missouri devoted exclusively to humanities education for citizens of all ages. it has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities since 1971.

If you’ve been following us since earlier this year, you might be aware of events and discussions we’ve had with other organizations and even a conference that was in collaboration with the Missouri Humanities Council. You also probably remember me saying vague about talking to promising organizations and not being able to say anything. There’s still more I have to keep under wraps but this grant is no longer one of them!

We’ve actually been in contact with MHC personnel for a little while. From our very first meeting presenting our idea to the council, in June, the excitement for our board game was palpable. Shortly after this, we decided to take down our Kickstarter as well. We were getting confident we could get funding, but we weren’t as sure of our ability to crowdfund. All the feedback and meetings with grantors, teachers, and playtests made it very clear that this project could be beneficial for anyone wanting to better understand our nation’s legislation process. It could be successful.

And while these conversations indicated that we were likely to win this grant and other opportunities, we still had to wait.

There’s no way I could accurately describe the way I felt when I first got the email confirming that we would be receiving this grant.

It felt like the culmination of months of hard work and late nights was going to pay off. At once it seemed as if a ton had been lifted off my shoulders. It was incredibly validating. But our work on this isn’t done. And if we do this right, maybe we can be lucky enough to do this again!

P.S:
Somewhat unrelated but I can’t resist sharing because it looked so cool!
We recently got a (kind of expensive 🙃) prototype of The Process. So here it is! The final box will definitely look different and probably be much smaller (this box is like 9x5x3 in). But finally, a prototype that isn’t poker chips and printer paper!

P.S.S:
If you’ve read this far, thank you! Also, if you wouldn’t mind, PLEASE keep following this blog, our socials, and talk about The Process with people in your life who would be interested in learning about the legislative process. Thanks again for reading!