“We’ve been very fortunate to have an almost 20-year partnership with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. From Bill White to Ridgway White and An-Me Chung to Gwynn Hughes, we’ve just been so fortunate to work with the leadership of the Mott Foundation to excite and engage young people across the country in all 50 states, taking advantage of the confluence of the 50 State After School Network and STEM Next’s wonderful work across the country.
“It’s really been incredible. Together, we’ve equipped educators with practical strategies to lead hands-on STEM activities to help kids build confidence and competence. We’ve built a coordinated national approach — a national platform that’s reached programs already serving young people in their own communities, particularly kids who’ve been left out of the STEM economy. We’ve helped establish a shared language, shared practices and shared goals across partners.
“And we have research from a long-time researcher, Deborah Vandell. We have research from one of the great urban afterschool organizations, ExpandED Schools from Every Hour Counts. Really quite a few studies now have shown that an ordinary non-STEM-background person can facilitate a very robust STEM activity.
“Those same studies say co-learning between adults and kids is one of the strongest versions of learning. When a young person says, ‘I don’t understand,’ or ‘How do I do this? I have no idea.’ And the adult can say, ‘Well, how would we find out the answer? Where would we go?’
“So I think that the Mott Foundation, through its research, and first the Noyce Foundation — now STEM Next Opportunity Fund — through the research that we’ve supported, we’ve all together shown how possible this is. We have, as Jim Collins used to say, the old flywheel of innovation turning. I think now is the time to invest together in the tools that will reach as many young people as we can across the country.”
— Ron Ottinger, executive director, STEM Next Opportunity Fund