The Scratch Foundation
For Immediate Release
January 10, 2024
The Scratch Foundation Announces Dr. Margaret Honey as its new President & CEO
Dr. Honey brings over 40 years of experience in the educational and non-profit sectors, including leading the New York Hall of Science and serving as the former Chair of the Scratch Foundation's Board
BOSTON, MA — The Scratch Foundation — a non-profit organization dedicated to providing young people with digital tools and opportunities to imagine, create, share, and learn — announced today the appointment of Dr. Margaret Honey, former President of the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), as its new President & CEO. Dr. Honey will oversee the organization’s global programs and groundbreaking creative learning products, including Scratch, the world’s largest coding community for kids.
Dr. Honey joins the Scratch Foundation as its creative learning products reach new heights of popularity and usage. To date, more than 100 million children have created more than a billion projects on Scratch. During the past five years, Scratch online use has grown 25% annually. Under her experienced leadership, the Scratch Foundation will prioritize opportunities that will allow its products to grow sustainably and ensure that millions of children can continue to have high quality access to creative learning experiences.
“I’m thrilled to join an organization that values creative and imaginative learning opportunities for young people and is at the forefront of making education exciting,” says Dr. Margaret Honey. “The Scratch Foundation is uniquely positioned to continue empowering generations of creative thinkers with Scratch and ScratchJr, along with our global programs that allow us to work with and learn from hundreds of educators.”
Professor Mitchel Resnick of the MIT Media Lab, co-founder of Scratch and the new Chair of the Scratch Foundation's Board, shared his enthusiasm about Dr. Honey's appointment: "Margaret's deep expertise and experience with innovative approaches to education and technology make her the perfect leader for the Scratch Foundation. Her proven leadership and dedication to fostering creative learning experiences align seamlessly with the mission and spirit of Scratch."
During her 15-year tenure at NYSCI, Dr. Honey successfully launched cutting-edge educational initiatives and led the institution through multiple historic events and disruptions. She led the museum’s growth to half a million annual visitors and oversaw the creation of programmatic work that engaged the neighboring communities of Corona and Elmhurst, NY—including strengthening the museum's “Explainers” program, where students engage visitors through live science demonstrations and other activities. More than 70% of the students in this program go on to pursue STEM careers. She maintained the operational continuity of the museum through the COVID-19 pandemic and through catastrophic flooding caused by 2021’s Hurricane Ida. She also oversaw the launch of a Pre-K center on the museum's campus, the first of its kind in the city of New York. Prior to her role at NYSCI, she served as Vice President of the Educational Development Center during a 15-year tenure.
The Scratch Foundation looks forward to the dynamic leadership of Dr. Margaret Honey and the valuable contributions of the entire Board as they work together to meet the evolving needs of Scratch’s global community of young creators and continue to advance the Foundation’s programmatic work.
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Scratch Foundation
The Scratch Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing young people with digital tools and opportunities to imagine, create, share, and learn. Through innovation and collaboration, the Scratch Foundation spreads creative, caring, collaborative, equitable approaches to coding and learning around the world. Scratch, the world’s largest coding community for children, was originally developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab and publicly launched in 2007. The platform provides millions of young people from all backgrounds with the opportunity to develop their voices and express themselves by creating their own stories, games, and animations. To date, 100 million children have created half a billion projects on Scratch.
Press Contacts
Carlos Diaz Barriga
Director of Marketing and Communications
carlos@scratch.mit.edu
press@scratch.mit.edu