Toyota and United Way are putting more than $120,000 into 41 teacher projects at 10 Huntsville City Schools, from outdoor STEM classrooms to a Mission to Mars contest.
Teachers at 10 Huntsville City Schools have won grants for 41 classroom projects, paid for by Toyota Alabama and United Way.
The grants total more than $120,000. Teachers sent in more than 85 applications, the district said in its announcement of this year’s Toyota DRIVE Classroom Grants. This is the third year of the program.
The money comes from the Toyota Sustainability Development Fund. United Way and the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber Foundation run the program with Toyota, the district said.
The 10 schools
The district listed these 2026 recipient schools:
- Jemison High
- Lee High
- Chapman Middle
- McNair Junior High
- Dawson Elementary
- Highlands Elementary
- Lakewood Elementary
- Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary
- Montview Elementary
- Rolling Hills Elementary
What the money buys
The funded projects cover several subjects and grade levels. The district named these:
- outdoor STEM classrooms
- a districtwide Mission to Mars competition
- research-based math manipulatives, the hands-on objects students use to work through problems
- mobile STEM kits
- labs for investigating living systems
- binoculars for exploring outdoors
- a chance for students to publish their own books
- VEX Robotics
How this year compares
The district’s post on an earlier round of the grants, from September 2025, said Toyota Alabama, United Way and the Chamber Foundation had awarded 64 grants to teachers at eight schools. That round was worth $130,000.
| Earlier round (district post, Sept. 2025) | 2026 round | |
|---|---|---|
| Grants or projects funded | 64 | 41 |
| Schools | 8 | 10 |
| Total | $130,000 | More than $120,000 |
Montview and Highlands elementary schools are on this year’s list but were not on the earlier one. The other eight schools appear on both.
The grants sit inside Toyota’s wider Driving Possibilities program. Toyota announced an initial $6.7 million commitment to it in 2023, focused on hands-on STEM, career readiness and support for students and families, the district said.
What it means for you
If your child attends one of the 10 schools, ask their teacher or principal whether a project was funded and when the equipment will arrive. The district did not publish which teachers or classrooms won.
The earlier round was open to teachers at the Driving Possibilities schools. Teachers elsewhere in the district who want to know whether a future round will include them can ask the district’s central office.
For enrollment, report cards and contacts for every school in the district, see our Huntsville schools guide.
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