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 –
This work can take the form of some or all of the following:
- Asking organizations – DigitalC, Digital Equity Fund, PCs for People and others to join with NeoSTEM and working to help support and leverage their work.
- Asking those without access to share their stories to share to call more attention to the technology and access challenges and how they are impacting life and learning.