Summary of September 2020 NeoSTEM Ecosystem Meeting ‘There is going to be a renaissance coming out of this’ - Eric Gordon, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District School leaders discuss needs for the 2020-2021 school year  What do you have to offer to support students, families and educators during the coming 2020-2021 school year? This was the organizing question for NeoSTEM’s August 4 webinar featuring Eric Gordon, chief executive officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District; Mark Curtis, president of the Twinsburg Board of Education; Cynthia Booker, a local media teacher and Kasey Morgan, network manager of MyCom. From simple encouragement for families to safe space where children can go when school buildings don’t open this fall, the panelists offered a variety of ways for the community to support learning needs of students throughout Northeast Ohio in the Fall.   Safe Places for Children During the Day “We need safe places for young people to be during the school day while school is not open. And so whether that be in our museums or our libraries or our Boys and Girls clubs…to the extent you're able to, we're going to have care needs for families where the family needs a safe […]

It’s Not Too Late to Add Your Resources and Ideas Dozens of ideas and valuable resources were shared during the Oct. 6 meeting of the NeoSTEM Ecosystem. Here’s a small sampling: Students in Northeast Ohio region must be able to see themselves as having careers in STEM. The Cleveland Natural History Museum has $300,000 in grants available for Title I teachers interested in its interactive virtual learning programs. Read more. Organizations interested in sharing their programs with the larger community can qualify for micro-grants and receive extensive promotion throughout the region. Learn more about Remake Learning Days and Apply for a MicroGrant.  The NeoSTEM Ecosystem is interested in what you and your organization have to offer and your thoughts about how to improve STEM learning for all in our region. Please take a few moments and complete a brief questionnaire here. We will use your responses to help build the action plan for the NeoSTEM Ecosystem for the coming months. And, if you’re interested, we’re happy to share relevant information with our growing audience.

Partners Share Valuable Resources and Ideas During NeoSTEM Ecosystem Meeting  It’s Not Too Late to Add Your Resources and Ideas Dozens of ideas and valuable resources were shared during the Oct. 6 meeting of the NeoSTEM Ecosystem. Here’s a small sampling: Students in Northeast Ohio region must be able to see themselves as having careers in STEM. The Cleveland Natural History Museum has $300,000 in grants available for Title I teachers interested in its interactive virtual learning programs. Read more.  Organizations interested in sharing their programs with the larger community can qualify for micro-grants and receive extensive promotion throughout the region. Learn more about Remake Learning Days and Apply for a MicroGrant.  The NeoSTEM Ecosystem is interested in what you and your organization have to offer and your thoughts about how to improve STEM learning for all in our region. Please take a few moments and complete a brief questionnaire here.  We will use your responses to help build the action plan for the NeoSTEM Ecosystem for the coming months. And, if you’re interested, we’re happy to share relevant information with our growing audience.

Through a process that began in July 2020, the NeoSTEM Ecosystem identified its top priorities and finalized them at the November 2020 meeting.  Making STEM Opportunities Visible & Relevant to Students, Families and the Entire Community, with a Focus on Improving Black and Brown Students’ Engagement with STEM - This work can take the form of some or all of the following: Communications initiative with features of local STEM professionals - with an intentional focus on Black and Brown STEM professionals. Clearly identified and widely communicated STEM workforce pathways, including a concentration on less-familiar STEM career opportunities. Widely communicated messaging about the relevance of STEM with a concentration on the importance of science. Broadly shared messaging intended to dispel fears of STEM. SHARING INFORMATION ABOUT MENTORS AND AVAILABILITY, WITH A FOCUS ON ENSURING THAT BLACK AND BROWN STUDENTS HAVE ACCESS TO STEM MENTORS -   This work can take the form of some or all of the following: Summary of all mentorship programs and analysis of them with possible mapping integration. Asking mentorship organizations to join with NeoSTEM and working to help support and leverage their work.  WORKING TO SUPPORT EFFORTS TO IMPROVE TECHNOLOGY AND ACCESS FOR STUDENTS IN OUR REGION […]

OVERVIEW: For the last several months, the NeoSTEM Ecosystem community has been identifying what it believes to be the greatest unmet needs of students in Northeast Ohio. Our community has concluded that people - especially in minoritized communities - have little or no understanding about STEM opportunities that exist locally. Furthermore, there is a general consensus - supported by data showing limited diversity in STEM careers - that many don’t recognize the value of pursuing STEM and don’t see themselves in such careers.  The NeoSTEM community has decided that its top priority for 2021 is to make STEM opportunities visible and relevant to students, families and the entire community, with a focus on improving black and brown students’ engagement with STEM. We’re proceeding by designing a public awareness building campaign about STEM and STEM careers. This campaign, consisting of billboards, social media and other public outreach, will drive people to an online resource that explains STEM pathways, includes links to relevant providers and features key profiles of individuals (and students) who are pursuing STEM.  The idea is to use a variety of public messaging vehicles - websites, social media, billboards, busses and fliers to community centers, schools, corner grocery stores […]

Those who attended the May 2, 2021, meeting of the NeoSTEM Ecosystem discussed the possibility of NeoSTEM establishing a home in a Mid-Town location. The idea of co-locating in the building that MAGNET is renovating was discussed as a possibility. The foundational principle guiding this idea of NeoSTEM having a home is that it would not create programming and instead develop a space for multiple partners to bring programming there. NeoSTEM Ecosystem members broke into small breakout groups to identify some of the questions that would need to be addressed in order to properly plan for this. The discussion from the three breakout groups is summarized below. Key Takeaways: The planning process must be dominated by and centered upon those whom the NeoSTEM Ecosystem seeks to serve - students and their families of the surrounding neighborhood. Focus groups should be held with students, families, educators and other stakeholders to uncover needs, aspirations, potential challenges and opportunities. It might be advisable to pilot the idea at numerous sites. (For instance, NeoSTEM coordinates programing at various sites throughout the community.) Needed Teams: Feasibility  Operations Programming - including digital literacy Engagement - Recruitment  Training Community Outreach Access/liaison Assessment Sustainability  Questions: How will this […]

NeoSTEM has an important role to play in our community. At its best, NeoSTEM is an agent of change; it is a vehicle to create and facilitate meaningful STEM learning opportunities, particularly among Black and Brown students, throughout northeast Ohio. Through its DreamSTEM, WIR’ED, and Real World of STEM initiatives, NeoSTEM has created a framework to realize that change. We have good bones. But how can we accelerate the process? What can we do to bring us closer to our next great leap forward? And, more importantly, how can we help our partners, leaders, and community members, individuals and businesses, reach their own goals? We posed those questions to those who attended our August 3, 2021, ecosystem-wide meeting, and were thrilled with the answers we received. Our partners suggested that we: Create a directory of internship opportunities, allowing students to connect to the businesses and organizations looking for help. Create opportunities for students to become more familiar with the online platforms and tools they will use throughout their careers. Continue outreach to businesses and organizations - to STEM industry leaders in northeast Ohio - to help them understand the many benefits of being active partners in the NeoSTEM Ecosystem. Each […]

Federal Grants: Understanding the Opportunity Like most of the country, Northeast Ohio has struggled. Families across the region face economic insecurity. Students have been forced to adapt to changing classroom conditions. Businesses grapple with social distancing policies and the ever-present threat of future closures. And, as the Biden Administration has recognized, “Black and Latino Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, and women have never been welcomed as full participants in the economy.” In an effort to help all Americans cope with these new realities, the Biden Administration launched Build Back Better, a $1 billion agenda, an “ambitious plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families.” At our September 7, 2021, ecosystem-wide meeting, NeoSTEM partners, stakeholders, and participants learned how Northeast Ohio businesses and individuals can participate in Build Back Better’s recovery plan, and discussed how NeoSTEM can play a key role in this opportunity. Chris Spence, founder of the Cleveland-based New Growth Group, offered an overview of the many federal grant opportunities available through Build Back Better, and how to apply for them. Build Back Better is designed to grow new regional industry clusters or escale existing ones through planning, infrastructure development, innovation and entrepreneurship, workforce development, and […]