SOA is a nationwide initiative committed to tapping America’s culturally rich, innovative and diverse talent pool to expand the STEMM workforce. Along with unveiling the national strategy, SOA announced that its partners, which have more than doubled in size since the December 2022 launch (200+), have collectively committed more than $2 billion to realize the vision of the national strategy.
"America’s diversity of thought, derived from our diversity of geography, background and identity, is one of our nation’s strongest assets,” said Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. “Growing the STEMM workforce to its greatest potential enables us to create a world where every child, regardless of their background, sees participation in STEMM as their birthright.”
Each SOA partner has aligned new or existing commitments and projects under the metrics laid out in the national strategy, all committing to multi-lateral, cross-sector collaboration to achieve systems-level change (view all partner commitments). Additionally, SOA announced 10 organizations to serve as anchor partners, each of whom will facilitate working groups within the strategy’s foundations, five pillars, and capstone. The anchor partners will build strong networks, drive toward ambitious, measurable goals, and realign SOA partners’ support, systems and accountability measures.
“Since Day One, President Biden has made it a priority to give each person in America a fair shot,” said Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar. “Science and technology is integral to achieving our nation’s great aspirations. That means coming together and opening pathways to the future—for everyone.”
A strategic overview, including anchor partners and select new partner commitments, includes:
Foundations: Accountability and Partnership is focused on developing systems and processes for tracking SOA partners’ and national progress toward key success metrics, holding partners accountable for their commitments and building infrastructure for cross-sector coordination and collaboration. Anchor partner: American Institutes for Research
Uber will collaborate with the Tech Accountability Coalition (also an SOA partner) to establish best practices and a consistent and comparable measurement framework in 2024 and 2025 for the corporate sector to report on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Uber will also facilitate collaboration among industry leaders, policymakers and advocates to develop effective DEI strategies. Pillar 1: Engagement, focused on nurturing curiosity in every child, will work to ensure all schools provide high-quality STEMM coursework and provide children and families equitable access to STEMM learning experiences. Anchor partners: STEM Next and Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM
Microsoft recently launched a refreshed educational program, FarmBeats for Students, in partnership with the National FFA Organization, which will support at least 60 FFA classrooms in rural communities around the country. The program empowers educators to introduce students to fundamental concepts in data science, coding and artificial intelligence through the lens of agriculture and sustainability. Battelle is joining the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network (SITG!) as a partner and new Network host. As a long-time network convener, Battelle aims to help grow the Network to support even more students and districts to increase student attendance. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Dundee Township (BGCDT), which serves 2,000 youth from under-served and under-represented communities across the Northwest Chicago suburbs, will announce for the first time that it has secured $8 million in public and private funds to convert a closed school into a 45,000-square-foot STEM Impact Center. Pillar 2: Inspiration, focused on developing skilled and diverse educators, will end the shortage of STEMM pre-K-12 educators and work to diversify the STEMM educator workforce. Anchor partner: Beyond100K
Education Development Center will use a new five-year, $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program to expand the Math for All professional development program to schools in Illinois, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York, reaching an estimated 960 teachers and 44,800 students in Grades 3 through 6. Pillar 3: Discovery, focused on creating opportunity for all in higher education, will ensure higher education programs are designed to support the talent development of all people and create systems and policies that will support the development and retention of STEMM faculty from historically excluded and marginalized populations. Anchor partners: Oak Ridge Associated Universities and University Innovation Alliance
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is investing about $5 million in a Creating Equitable Pathways to STEM Graduate Education portfolio. This program will support educational pathways from minority serving institutions (MSIs) to master’s and doctoral degree programs, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science and data science. Pillar 4: Innovation, focused on leveraging diverse minds in research and development, will ensure researchers from historically excluded and marginalized communities receive equitable opportunities and support and encourage entities across the R&D ecosystem to implement equity. Anchor partners: Morgan State University and Spelman College
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Charles H. Revson Foundation have joined forces to advance diversity and inclusion within the scientific research community. Their total investment of $2.7 million aims to support the advancement of minority scientists and amplify their impact across various research fields. Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) is allocating $25,000 toward continuing and expanding programs supporting graduate students in STEM development and persistence, ensuring they graduate with advanced degrees. Success will be measured by the impact on graduate students, with a target of 500 in 2024. Pillar 5: Opportunity, focused on ensuring all workers thrive, will remove barriers for historically excluded and marginalized communities to enter and succeed in STEMM workplaces and ensure all workplaces feel supportive of historically excluded and marginalized communities. Anchor partner: Jobs for the Future
3M is providing $5 million in STEMM and skilled trades learning experiences for individuals from marginalized and underrepresented groups by 2025 and is pledging $16 million to support STEMM and workforce development initiatives. Jobs for the Future (JFF) is launching two efforts for Black learners and workers, one to understand how AI is positioned to accelerate economic equity and another to increase access for them to complete postsecondary programs associated with high-demand STEMM careers, in partnership with community colleges. JFF is also piloting pathways for in-demand tech jobs for frontline workers in retail. Capstone: Strategic Communications will ensure demographics of STEMM professionals depicted in entertainment are consistent with the demographics of the country and effectively illustrate the importance of diverse perspectives in achieving excellence in STEMM. Anchor partner: The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, in partnership with #GirlsLeadSTEM, is launching an initiative that amplifies the voices of girls engaging in STEM as well as the organizations supporting girls in their STEM journeys. “SOA is about elevating and celebrating the powerful movement happening at all levels of our society to ensure that our globally competitive edge in science and technology reflects and benefits from our highest ideals. A national strategy to achieve equity in STEMM fields elevates this aspiration to the status of a national imperative—where it belongs,” said Sam Gill, President and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation, SOA founding partner.
“To solve our greatest global challenges, from future pandemics to climate change, we will need to tap into the brilliance, passion and capacity of everyone on this planet. We’re looking forward to collaborating on SOA’s national strategy to end the STEMM teacher shortage with equity, representation and belonging,” said Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Founder and Executive Director of Beyond100K.
“We must expand access to STEMM education, remove barriers throughout STEMM talent pathways and create a culture of belonging to ensure each and every individual can participate and thrive in the STEMM ecosystem. The only way to do so is through the kind of cross-sector, multi-lateral coordination SOA facilitates,” said Oona King, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer of Uber.
SOA launched in December 2022 at the first-ever White House Summit on STEMM Equity and Excellence with founding partners AAAS and the Doris Duke Foundation. In its first year, SOA engaged more than 1,500 cross-sector leaders and community members around the nation to co-construct the national strategy. SOA hosted 12 in-person convenings across the country, five virtual town hall sessions and a written comment period to co-develop the strategy, which is rooted in the lived experiences of those doing the important work to achieve greater equity in STEMM.
At the 2024 White House Summit on STEMM Equity and Excellence, leaders in science, government, education and industry gathered at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to celebrate the national strategy launch, reflect on the co-construction process and reaffirm commitments for the next phase. The day-long summit also included panels with national leaders like Dr. Arati Prabhakar, director of OSTP and assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and breakout sessions by pillar.
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The STEMM Opportunity Alliance is a national effort by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), with the support from the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF), dedicated to building a STEMM ecosystem rooted in equity, inclusion, and scientific excellence to power progress, innovation and prosperity for all by 2050. This effort brings together organizations and entities from across sectors and scientific communities that are committed to developing and advancing a national strategy for achieving shared goals for equity in STEMM.
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