STEAMbassadors

https://steamville.org/playlist?ref=explore&id=1139

Chicago has a STEAM opportunity gap due to the lack of trained STEAM educators (teachers and mentors) providing engaging STEAM learning activities for all youth, but particularly youth in grades 6th- th-8th, who are old enough to move around a community but not old enough to move across the city. STEAMbassadors is an ecosystem approach designed to address four core barriers impacting our ability to provide sustainable, high quality, STEAM programming in communities majority populated by members of historically discriminated against groups. • The preparation of a representative workforce facile with the content, social and technical skills needed to connect and motivate youth to discover their STEAM identities and build their STEAM superpowers. • The provisioning of engaging STEAM programming across the parks, libraries, and schools in local communities. • The curation of culturally engaging STEAM learning experiences. • Limited awareness of and desire for organized STEAM learning activities in under-resourced communities. STEAMbassadors: A Hyperlocal Approach to Ensuring Equity in STEAM Learning Opportunities STEAMbassadors is an ecosystem approach that tackles all barriers at the same time by using our understanding of the Chicago learning ecosystem to align key initiatives to drive and coordinate key stakeholders to redefine the quality and content of out of school programming offered in trusted spaces (i.e. parks, schools, libraries, and community-based organizations) equitably across our communities.