STEM Next Opportunity Fund

STEM Next Opportunity Fund is a national, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to scaling high-quality STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) learning to millions of youth with a particular focus on kids of color, girls and youth in under-resourced communities. Our mission is expanding exceptional STEM learning opportunities outside the classroom for all children everywhere. Through STEM learning in afterschool and summer, STEM Next creates pathways to economic opportunity and fuels innovation.STEM learning beyond the classroom inspires youth and prepares them for future success in STEM as well as many other fields. Outside the structured school day, hands-on STEM learning provides a fertile environment to experiment, build confidence and develop life skills like critical thinking, collaboration, perseverance, creativity and communication. Despite this power and potential, STEM learning in afterschool and summer is underutilized and under-prioritized across the U.S a critical issue STEM Next is working to solve as a national nonprofit.What We DoSTEM Next brings together a diversity of partners and leads synchronized efforts to achieve our common goal of equity in STEM. By leveraging partnerships, STEM Next mobilizes funding and accelerates what works to reach the 10 million young people served in more than 100,000 local afterschool and summer programs across all 50 states. For youth, our work increases STEM access, interest, identity, and career knowledge. Our three big strategic initiatives to Engage Learners Everywhere are: - Growing STEM Leaders: Raising awareness, building skills & connecting problem-solvers across communities- Advancing Policy & Research: Powering lasting change in STEM learning by putting ideas into action- Leading Moonshot Bets: Local, regional & national challenges that create seismic STEM learning shifts for youth & educatorsEvery $1 invested in STEM Next Opportunity Fund programs: - Enables more youth to build, invent and discover every afternoon.- Sparks summer STEAM learning opportunities for youth.- Brings STEAM opportunities to more families and communities across the U.S.Nationally and locally, our programs create seismic STEAM learning shifts for millions of youth and hundreds of thousands of educators. Our 2023 Program ImpactLaunched in 2020, the Million Girls Moonshot is a flagship initiative of STEM Next Opportunity Fund aimed at engaging millions more youth, particularly girls, in quality out-of-school time (OST) STEM learning experiences. By the end of 2023, the initiative had reached more than 4.3 million young people, including 2.1 million girls. In 2023 alone, the initiative had engaged about 85,000 adult staff members from 45,000 afterschool and summer programs.Many youth demonstrated more engagement in STEM after participating in Million Girls Moonshot-connected programs in 2023. In a recent survey of 1,700 students, the majority reported increased excitement about technology (63%), science (54%), and engineering (52%). These findings demonstrate how hands-on, real-world STEM activities are cultivating not only skills but a passion among girls and youth for STEM.Another core initiative of STEM Next is the Flight Crew a youth leadership initiative to engage girls from across different communities to serve as youth ambassadors for STEM.These young ambassadors share their stories on national stages, engage in mentorship programs, and lend their voices to policy conversations at all levels to advocate for greater STEM opportunities in out-of-school settings. Because of their participation in the Flight Crew experience, 100% of the 2023 Flight Crew members surveyed agreed that they feel like they belong in STEM, are interested in pursuing a career in STEM, and feel their voice is heard.