Million Girls Moonshot
Increasing Diversity and Equity in STEM
The SC Afterschool Alliance is joining the Million Girls Moonshot, a collective impact initiative designed to increase diversity and equity in STEM. The Million Girls Moonshot will help close the persistent gender gap in STEM fields by engaging 1 million girls across the United States in STEM pursuits through high-quality, innovative afterschool learning opportunities over the next five years.
Afterschool programs were a lifeline for underserved communities before the pandemic. Now they are even more important. With many schools physically closed, afterschool programs have stepped up, serving the families of essential workers and supporting families in need.
We’re proud to join the Million Girls Moonshot movement, and plan to use this extraordinary opportunity to greatly increase STEM opportunities for youth in afterschool programs in South Carolina,” said Zelda Quiller Waymer, President & CEO of the SC Afterschool Alliance. “With scientists across the globe racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, and students and parents alike relying on computers and the Internet to learn and work, it has never been clearer how vital STEM is to our children’s future. Afterschool programs have a strong track record in STEM, and the Million Girls Moonshot will give them an opportunity to go even deeper. We’re grateful to STEM Next, the Intel Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for their generous support, now and over the years.
What Makes Million Girls Moonshot Unique?
- The Million Girls Moonshot is a collaborative, nationwide effort involving a wide range of cross-sector partners that is designed to break down the systemic barriers that have kept girls and youth of color out of STEM for too long.
- A wide range of charitable organizations, technology leaders, and all 50 state afterschool networks are involved:
- Additional partners include NASA, Qualcomm, Technovation, STEMconnector, National Girls Collaborative Project, Jobs For The Future (JFF), Techbridge Girls and Lyda Hill Philanthropies. More are joining every day to provide grant funding, in-kind resources and mentors.
- By leveraging the 50 state afterschool networks, the Million Girls Moonshot has the potential to reach more than 10 million youth and 100,000 afterschool programs across the country.
- Just as the original “Moonshots” nearly 60 years ago united the nation behind a common goal and advanced scientific achievement, so too the Million Girls Moonshot will “move the needle” and truly change the trajectory of women and girls in STEM in the U.S.
About South Carolina’s Million Girls Moonshot
SC Afterschool Alliance will provide after school professionals with STEM resources, tools and strategies for engaging youth. In partnership with Augusta University, we will expose and inspire 500 underserved and underrepresented students in a unique engineering and artistic design-based problem solving competition called STEAMIFY. Students across South Carolina will have an opportunity to tackle real-world problems relevant to their community where they are able to design, build, test a prototype to the solution and pitch their innovation as a team.
STEAMIFY is a design-based problem solving competition that gives students an opportunity to apply content learned during classes and in their community through the design process into the contexts of either engineering or art. By doing so, students can construct deep understanding of how this knowledge can be authentically used in their daily lives. Student participants can improve their 21st century habits of mind and hand that are needed in a world yet to be imagined!
STEAMIFY can also provide afterschool educators and teachers the opportunity to implement a problem that can be aligned to South Carolina standards. Through the use of the problem, teachers can begin the practice of planning and implementing design-based STEAM approaches in their afterschool programs and classroom and potentially include all students in the kind of dynamic, fun, deep and significant learning outcomes that can be possible!
Livable Communities Initiative
This year, our competition is inspired by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Livable Communities Initiative. AARP Livable Communities is a national initiative that supports the efforts of neighborhoods, towns, cities and rural areas to be great places for people of all ages. Together with AARP, the STEAMIFY team believes that “communities should provide safe, walkable streets; age-friendly housing and transportation options; access to needed services; and opportunities for residents of all ages to participate in community life”. Links to AARP’s resources are found under Resources.