ince 1966, the Center has provided leadership for mathematics and science education in the Metro Richmond area. The Center is an educational consortium of K-12 school divisions that includes the cities of Colonial Heights, Petersburg, and Richmond, and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, King William and Powhatan. In addition, other schools participate through special arrangements; these include the city of Hopewell, the counties of Charles City and Prince George, and The Steward School. Annually, the Center serves approximately 175,000 students, educators and parents through "face-to-face" lessons at the Center and in area classrooms, professional development courses for educators, and special courses for students and their parents on Saturday and during the summer. Beginning in 2002-03, the Center began introducing a variety of web-based resources including an informational site (www.msinnovation.info), an educational web site (www.mathinscience.info), and two specialized sites - www.spiderroom.info and www.mysterycargo.info.

The Center is governed by a seventeen-member Board that consists of superintendents and Board members from the consortium divisions and several at-large community representatives. The Center is located in the former Central Gardens Elementary School in Henrico County. The Richmond Public Schools serves as the Center's fiscal agent. Consortium school divisions provide the Center's operating budget.


he MathScience Innovation Center Foundation was established in 1989 by concerned citizens as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization to increase awareness of the Center and to generate private funds to establish state-of-the-art facilities and innovative programs for area students and teachers. The Foundation has funded the development of many designed classrooms at the Center, supported numerous institutes and courses for teachers, and provided seed-money for the development of special lessons taught in area schools. Sponsors for Mystery Cargo include the Stanley and Dorothy Pauley Charitable Trust and Verizon.