mbracing Our Differences (EOD) announces it has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the Bishop-Parker Foundation to support its yearlong educational initiatives in Manatee County. According to Patrick Arthur Jackson, EOD’s vice president of learning and engagement, EOD’s educational programs reached 16,586 students and 463 educators in Manatee County during the 2023-2024 year. These programs included free field trips to EOD’s internationally recognized outdoor art exhibition, opportunities for students to create artwork and quotations for the exhibition, art and writing workshops, education seminars and two annual reading days that provided books to pre-K through third-grade students and their classrooms. Jackson adds that EOD’s programming is tailored to reach students and educators from all walks of life, spanning pre-K to high school, across public, private, and charter schools.