He offered metropolitan areas across the country the opportunity to organize and apply for funding for school reform from a total grant amount of 500 million dollars. Mr. Annenberg - editor, publisher, and former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, was motivated to initiate the Annenberg Challenge grant by his deep concern about the quality of our nation's schools, a declining public will to improve them, and by the upsurge in violence in many schools. The grant challenge was intended not as one more reform effort, but rather as an opportunity for metropolitan regions to build on efforts already underway and create serious, achievable and enduring educational reforms in their areas. The majority of the money was earmarked for the direct support of efforts at school sites. The Annenberg Challenge allows and encourages a diversity of improvement strategies and the focus of each effort differs.
Common principles do exist, however.
The intent of the Annenberg Challenge is to leverage significant local support for public education. At the local level, that support takes the form of commitments of time and energy from people who play a variety of roles in schools and community. It also takes the form of a substantial matching fund requirement involving funds from both private and public sources. As technology forges a global, interactive environment, learning in school cannot be addressed in isolation from social, community, and business interaction. Traditional school organizations preclude any influence from many of the community members that should be school partners.