National Service Agency Announces New Commitment to
STEM Education Initiative
STEM AmeriCorps program to expand to 15
new communities
NEW YORK – The
Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) today announced an effort
to expand STEM AmeriCorps, an initiative first announced by President Obama at
the White House Science Fair. The federal agency is inviting partners to expand
the initiative to 15 communities across the country.
This announcement was
made at the launch event for the third annual American Graduate Day, an
initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Paul Monteiro, director
of AmeriCorps VISTA, joined U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, as well as
Wes Moore, host of American Graduate Day 2014, Patricia S. Harrison,
president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Neal Shapiro,
president and CEO of WNET, and other education leaders at New York City’s
Talent Unlimited High School to make this announcement.
“AmeriCorps members have a positive and lasting
impact on the toughest challenges facing our communities, but we know they are
especially valuable to the education community,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of the
Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers AmeriCorps.
“By strengthening STEM education for students, especially those from low-income
backgrounds, STEM AmeriCorps will spark greater interest in math and science
and build ladders of opportunity these students might otherwise never have.”
STEM AmeriCorps is a multi-year effort to place
hundreds of AmeriCorps members in nonprofits across the country to inspire
young people to excel in STEM education. Current STEM AmeriCorps initiatives
include partnerships with FIRST, Maker Education Initiative, Citizen Schools, US2020,
Teach For America, and other organizations – efforts collectively engaging tens
of thousands of students in STEM learning.
Later this month, CNCS will release their
AmeriCorps VISTA Program Guidance, which outlines the national programming
priorities for the VISTA program for coming fiscal year. The guidance will give
priority to STEM education programs that will build partnerships between STEM
students, faculty and staff, and community partners to develop long-term
solutions for bolstering the number of underrepresented students who pursue and
obtain STEM degrees.
This
past summer, CNCS placed 256 AmeriCorps VISTA members in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia. This initiative
connected more than 20,500- at-risk students in low-performing schools to STEM
opportunities.
STEM AmeriCorps advances the goals of the
President’s Task Force on Expanding National Service to build public-private
partnerships that expand opportunities for Americans to serve and increase the
impact citizens have on our communities and nation.
The Obama administration has made STEM education a
major priority. In 2009, the President launched “Educate to Innovate,” a
nationwide effort to move American students from the middle to the top of the
pack in science and math achievement over the next decade. A growing
number of jobs require STEM skills, and America needs a world-class STEM
workforce to address the challenges of the 21st century.
STEM AmeriCorps advances this national priority by
using national service to spur greater interest by K-12 students in the STEM
professions. The goals of STEM AmeriCorps include improving academic
performance in STEM coursework, expanding the number of students on track to
graduate ready for college and for careers in STEM fields, increasing
interactions between youth and STEM professionals, and sparking the imagination
and interest of students to pursue STEM subjects.
| 
