CMOM in the Wall Street Journal

By SOPHIA HOLLANDER

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan will open a permanent exhibition in an East Harlem public-housing project in what officials hope can become a national model.

A $565,000 federal grant, awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will fund a 2,000-square-foot installation in the James Weldon Johnson Houses that will focus on health and literacy and include 25 interactive stations, as well as ongoing programming. It’s slated to open in 2013.

Museum experts said the collaboration between the New York City Housing Authority and the Upper West Side institution signals a shift in the role of children’s museums from cultural destinations to centers of social outreach and even activism.