Keep FIRST in Michigan (FiM) from killing FIRST Lego League

[gblake]

Tom,

First, thanks for helping me get my facts straight. The silence from FiM has been deafening here.

Lemme ask a few related questions. Hopefully you are well enough informed to answer confidently:

There is a lot of talk about grant money helping get new team started. Is that correct? Are grant dollars being dispersed for that? For any other purposes? In what amounts?

I read a grant figure of 3M dollars (to FiM? to teams?) somewhere. Do you know if that was correct, and (if it was) do you know whether it was a one-shot deal, or the first of a series (if the programs are successful)?

Where did those grant dollars come from? What/who is the donor?

Who decides how the grant dollars get spent, both big picture, and from day to day? What conditions were built into the grant's stipulations by the donor, and what other criteria have been put in place by the dispersing entity (if it isn't the donor)? For example, are non-school teams eligible to receive some of the $?

Is it true that all FRC and FTC teams that claim Michigan as their home state, *have* to compete within the FiM tournament structures and may not go elsewhere (unless/until they qualify through FiM processes for further competition)?

Is it true that FiM does not allow FTC teams containing HS age students to participate in FiM FTC activities?

Blake