By Danny Gross | Communications Manager
We’ve got some exciting news to share with you.
Washington STEM has received the 2017 Community Impact Gold Award in Workforce Development from Seattle Business Magazine! The Community Impact Awards honor Washington state businesses and organizations that have a tangible, measurable impact on their communities.
Washington STEM connects businesses, community organizations, and schools to advance STEM education. Check out the “Creating Pathways and Opportunity” video to see how together, we are creating Career Connected Learning opportunities for students across Washington state. Your continued support is vital to keeping these programs going.
We are honored and humbled to know that some of you nominated Washington STEM for this award. Thank you. We couldn’t have done any of it without YOU and your support.
“We need to go further, faster. Our young people don’t have time for us to wait.” -Caroline King, CEO
Why Career Connected Learning?
Washington state ranks first in the nation in the concentration of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs. Opportunities to access family wage STEM careers are rapidly growing. Students can work for some of the world’s most innovative companies as marine engineers, dental hygienists, viticulturists, wind turbine technicians, or programmers. There are multiple education pathways to these and other STEM jobs - post-secondary certification programs, two year technical degrees, and four-year university degrees.
Yet, many young people-especially youth of color, rural youth, youth from low income communities, and girls-don’t have access to experiences such as internships, job shadows, and technical training programs that will position them to enter STEM careers. Students can’t pursue a career that they do not know exists. And, in many cases, education programs are not aligned with workforce needs.
What We’re Doing
Our regional STEM Networks are engaged in on-site business learning experiences, teacher and business collaborations, job shadows, virtual internships, and other career connected learning opportunities.
We’re mapping the current career connected learning system. We’re designing solutions in partnership with educators, students, community members, and businesses about the needs, challenges, and solutions available in career connected learning.
We’re engaged with business leaders and synthesizing data to identify high demand STEM jobs. Across the maritime, health care, technology, agriculture, and food manufacturing sectors we are learning what employers are looking for in new employees and matching skills training with workforce needs.
We’re analyzing the programs that are working and determining how to scale these programs and increase access for underserved youth.
We're doing a deep dive in King County, Yakima, Vancouver, and Spokane to identify best-in-class programs to scale across the state so students have access to great preparations for great jobs.
For more information, please contact senior program officer Gilda Wheeler at gilda@washingtonstem.org.
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