Pulling Together to Fill in the Gaps
While Virginia is rich in out-of-school time STEM learning programs, they are not connected on a state level. Individually, these programs face the same challenges in engaging with girls, youth with marginalized genders and BIPOC children and in preparing our future workforce for a Virginia that is steeped in demand for a STEM-based careers. VPOST aims to address this void by forming a Virginia Coalition for Equity in OST STEM Programs. This coalition will be a learning community that pulls together key stakeholders with a dedicated interest in increasing access and quality of STEM-based out-of-school time opportunities for underrepresented kids. We will discuss the state of STEM Learning, future careers pathways and demands in our Commonwealth, challenges and successes members are seeing and how we can we collaborate to maximize impact.
About the Million Girls Moonshot
VPOST will convene the Equity in OST STEM Coalition with support of the Million Girls Moonshot Initiative, which seeks to re-imagine who can engineer, who can build, who can make. It will inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators by engaging one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities through afterschool and summer programs over the next 5 years. Visit VPOST’s Million Girls Moonshot page or the national page to learn more.
Join the Coalition
The success of the coalition in building core capacity for STEM education and inclusion in out-of-school time programs is dependent on a wide array of stakeholders. We encourage participation from community and school-based out-of-school time educators and administrators, higher education, professionals and business rooted in STEM, policy makers and influencers, museums, libraries, parents and more.
Questions about the coalition can be directed to Christine Jones Monaccio at Christine.jones-monaccio@v-post.org
[1] After-School and STEM-System Building Evaluation. 2016. https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/e45463_e14ee6fac98d405e950c66fe28de9bf8.pdf [2]Virginia After 3 PM: Full STEM Ahead. 2014. [2]This is Afterschool STEM. 2019. http://afterschoolalliance.org//documents/this_is_afterschool_stem.pdf[3]This is Afterschool STEM. 2019. http://afterschoolalliance.org//documents/this_is_afterschool_stem.pdf [4]STEM Analyzing Education, Employment and Earning Data report from Trailblazers Career and Technical Education in Virginia. February 2020. http://ctetrailblazers.org/files/2020/01/STEM_2020-02.pdf
