STEM Next Opportunity Fund
Project Title
For general support
Date
Dec. 10, 2020
Duration
12 months
Description
The research is clear that families are vital to the success of youth in STEM, especially for girls and underrepresented youth of color. Yet, with few exceptions, when it comes to leveraging family engagement for youth success in informal STEM, there is a disconnect between research and practice. To bridge this gap, STEM Next with Corporation support will pilot a community-of-practice within the 50 State Afterschool Network and formatively assess the implementation of the Family Engagement in STEM Instrument recently created by them with the community. Criteria for selection will include organizational capacity, existing family engagement in STEM strategies, and ability to leverage other resources to complement Corporation funding. This work will build capacity among providers by sharing promising practices, lessons learned, and resources for supporting families in STEM from out-of-school-time programs in various settings and will add knowledge to the field of family engagement.