STEAM the Streets + Big Picture Anthems

I’ve had discussions with educators that conclude with comments like, "Where have you been all my life?"  Career coordinators from public school and community college districts call, asking me to pilot STEAM the Streets' CareerHub in their district.  But they can't pay (much).  

Support would fund and advise me, my colleagues Angel Diaz and Myron Miller, and our digital platform development with Mobile App Hero (c/o 100 Black Developers) to engage Beta users. 

We will use what we’ve learned from our powerful, place-based model to build a scalable digital solution into a culturally relevant, community-building platform engaging the thousands of mentors around the country who want to mentor youth of color in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.

Typically, 9th grade students explore a career pathway such as health, IT or environmental sciences, yet most students and guidance counselors have not been exposed to the rapid evolution of STEAM careers. Funds will support hosting and development including login and profile pages, tracking features for lessons and video viewings, an overall management system to track students’ progress, curriculum development including video lessons to engage students around relevant career awareness, and exit questions to gauge learning progress.

I utilize media and creative passion for maximum social impact, having started Big Picture Anthems to produce dynamic video campaigns that convey compelling stories from conception to completion. I've directed several cutting-edge music/video edutainment projects for the National Park Service, garnering national attention and awards. 

Through teaching and founding an organization when I was 20 (3rd EyE Unlimited), I've worked with thousands of underserved youth over the past 20+years, and therefore have my finger on the pulse on how to reach them. My experience in youth development and media production led to founding Big Picture Anthems and then #STEAMtheStreets (StS), which inspires and activates underrepresented youth to pursue STEAM career pathways. 

I am proud to partner with 100 Black Developers to scale STEAM the Streets CareerHub platform, a gamified approach to humanizing the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math career fields through interactive media, spotlighting diverse, relatable Black and Brown stories and role models, and engaging students in a road map and action steps to reach success in those fields. 

As S.T.E.A.M. jobs increasingly power our economy Black and Brown youth will develop their voice, identity, vision, networks, and skills to fuel a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Connecting students who most need opportunities with high-demand career pathways bridges several gaps and provides a larger pool of qualified, diverse employees to fill the jobs of the future: Education Gap - Only 25% of secondary schools across the United States have a high-quality computer science program. Diversity Gap - In STEM fields there is a glaring lack of people of color, especially in the fast-growing technology sector, as less than 10% of technical employees at major tech companies are Black and LatinX; Employment Gap - Across the STEM spectrum nationally there are not enough qualified people. More than 500,000 computer science jobs are currently unfilled, and the demand for software engineers, data scientists, designers and media artists is booming.

Career exposure and access for high school students leads to significant increases in social and economic assets for families. StS' CareerHub provides career exposure and STEAM subject study motivation among Black and Latinx students whose families and communities do not have the resources for college and career bridge opportunities, tutoring, mentorships, and internships; who lack dynamic curriculum in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math; and who otherwise do not have the social capital to gain access to these opportunities.

Role models fuel this program. In a constantly evolving technological landscape, students need to know what options they have, and need to see relatable people in these fields to inspire them. STEAM the Streets humanizes and reverse-engineers career paths so that youth are first exposed to someone who looks like them, then they learn what skills are needed to get to that career, launching an “ah ha” moment for the youth when they see how their studies are applicable to a career, answering the question, “Why do I need to learn this?”. 

Youth are attracted to a role model and then want to pursue a similar career path. The CareerHub incorporates the “cool” factor and incentivizes youth along their career exploration and skill building journey. Ultimately, STEAM the Streets is fueling a diverse and inclusive workforce pipeline.

Teachers and students have praised STEAM the Streets’ live and online presentations, for motivating students to study STEAM subjects. 

 “It’s about equity, it’s about access.  You don’t know what you don’t know.  You don’t know about these opportunities if you don’t have role models.  STEAM the Streets should be doing this at every school.” 

Especially relevant for distance-learning and resourcing teachers with dynamic and relevant teaching tools, STEAM the Streets has created the online CareerHub platform. The next phase develops this scalable digital solution by building on our proven model of career awareness and engagement with the following programs. 

1) Career challenge: 9th graders explore ten different career modules on the Hub by watching a 5-minute video career profile of a person of color in a specific field and dig deeper into that career with a “Bridge Lesson”. This engaging video lesson portrays the many different opportunities and road maps of that specific field. 

2) Rewards accumulate on the students’ CareerHub profile as they complete video lessons and concepts quizzes. Upon receiving points, students’ individual accomplishments will be posted on their profile page, providing a virtual resume that they can continue to build upon. 

3) Students will be then poised to build up to Phase III where they will be connected with a virtual support team, including mentor STEAM professionals and other students interested in particular career fields.  STEAM the Streets will partner with tech companies to sponsor workforce development activities, challenges, internships, and apprenticeships, such as in environmental sciences.