WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation today announced that it has selected the National Association of Scholars as a recipient of the Heritage Innovation Prize.
The National Association of Scholars will receive a $100,000 award in support of its project to study Confucius Classrooms—a 12-month strategy that will uncover and detail the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration of and influence in American K-12 education.
NAS is responding to China’s efforts to undermine American national security and influence American education by conducting the first systemic study on Confucius Classrooms. The Heritage award will help NAS uncover the extent of the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on the American K-12 education system and reveal the dangers posed by CCP activity to the public. NAS will expose where the Confucius Classrooms are, how they operate, and what they teach.
Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts released a statement upon announcement of the award:
“Heritage is committed to taking back America’s classrooms from the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration. We’re proud to award the Innovation Prize, using the resources generously provided by fellow Americans, to the National Association of Scholars for this important initiative to expose China’s efforts to push its dangerous agenda on our children.”
Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, also released a statement:
“Americans are beginning to awaken to the CCP’s successful penetration of our nation’s key institutions, and I am grateful that Heritage is amplifying the alarm. Over the last decade, the National Association of Scholars has played a major part in exposing China’s subversion of U.S. higher education. But China’s involvement in America’s K-12 education remains in the shadows. With the Innovation Prize and with Heritage’s help, we will shine a bright light on the CCP’s efforts to spread its propaganda to America’s children.”
The Heritage Innovation Prize recognizes and provides substantive financial awards totaling up to $1 million annually to results-oriented nonprofits for projects involving research, litigation, education, outreach, or communications, particularly those focused on empowering parents in education, holding Big Tech accountable, countering the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, securing America’s borders and reducing crime, ensuring free and fair elections, reducing the growth of spending and inflation, and promoting life and family formation.
This is the third round of Heritage Innovation Prizes to be awarded. In 2022, winners of the Prize included the Alliance Defending Freedom, Alliance for Opportunity, Americans United for Life, Charlotte Lozier Institute, Defense of Freedom Institute, Forge Leadership Network, Independent Women’s Forum, State Financial Officers Foundation, and Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Each organization was awarded a grant ranging from $60,000 to $500,000, some of which will be received over several years. These awards are sponsored by The Heritage Foundation’s robust endowment for innovative conservative projects.
For more information on the most recent Innovation Prize awards, read here, or for information on the inaugural awards, read here. For more information about the prize itself, read here.
