OpenWise Learning: STEM Education and Youth Service

In the U.S, 42% of black males are educated in under-performing schools. Young black females are being “pushed out” of education because they receive the majority of unfair discipline. Nearly 62% of Latinx children live in or near poverty, and fewer than 20% of low-income Latinx live with someone has completed post-secondary education. In Kenya poverty affects all regions to varying degrees. Kenya has a young population with 42% under age 15, and unfortunately 40% of ages 3-5 are not in school. Our goal is to diversify the STEM fields. We plan to broaden the STEM exposure of under-represented youth, thereby increasing future options. We introduce youth to the problems identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals to stress the importance of public service. Creating a larger spectrum of minds to apply STEM solutions to these issues will have a global positive impact.

Exposing marginalized youth to STEM topics at an early age can increase the chances of them attaining a career in a field that can be challenging and fulfilling. Also, by making rewarding STEM careers more inclusive, we can prevent minorities from being locked out of economic success. The Schott Foundation for public education noted that in the United States 42% of black males are educated in under-performing schools. Fewer than 33% of high schools serving the most Latinx and African-American students offer calculus and only 40% offer physics. Additionally, about 75% of both African-American and Latino students attend schools where a majority of their classmates qualify as poor or low-income. It is also noteworthy that many of the problems identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals tend to disproportionately affect marginalized people. Communities benefit when all of their members are able to fully realize their potential. By closing education and income gaps, families will have the means and the ability to better engage in the future of their local and global communities. Armed with awareness and STEM skills, these youth can grow to directly affect change via policies or innovative solutions.

Black and Latinx make up 13.4% and 18.1% of the US population, respectively. However, according to statistics they have the highest poverty rates at 21% and 18%, respectively. We closely collaborate with families to understand their situation and their kids’ particular needs.
In Kenya 50% of the population is below the poverty line. We serve children from low and middle income families in Nairobi. Using a purchasing power parity comparison with the US all these kids would be classified as economically disadvantaged.
The 11-13 age range is a crucial time, as youth are coming into themselves and what they see as their place in world. This is the time to show that possibilities are not limited.
Our program’s goal is to provide tools to build academic success--creating an educated populace; which can then be leveraged into financial success. Our objectives also include raising awareness about social and environmental issues. This can lead to individuals who have the desire, the education, and the means to positively impact their local communities, and the global community.

Our vision is “A world where every child can develop their potential in science, technology, engineering and math.” We are doing our part through Open Source technology, STEM education, global youth collaboration, mentorships and apprenticeships. We are opening new pathways to STEM careers for marginalized youth--expanding their world understanding, and allowing them to contribute to society.
Through our approach to STEM education we hope to provide marginalized youth with college and career skills. We want our OWL scholars to develop an appreciation of their place in the world, their responsibility to themselves, and their communities as global citizens. Our aim is to develop leaders that are driven to make a positive world impact; who have the knowledge and tools to turn their ideas into reality.
Our STEM curriculum centers social justice and ecological justice through youth service and service to community. The social justice and ecological justice aspects of our curriculum are based on the UN 2030 Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and our STEM curriculum is based around the use of open technology. Our program teaches Internet technology (e.g. website design), game design, computer programming and coding. We also provide computing equipment. Our intent is to guide the youth from middle through high school, providing educational & professional opportunities in the form of apprenticeships.
Our high-level organizational goals are to (1) Provide real world education and experience in STEM careers. (2) Promote self-discipline and leadership skills. (3) Launch young women and men into careers in STEM, after their post-secondary education or through continued education in college/university. (4) Change life trajectories by providing the tools to build financial stability and independence. (5) Provide social education and exposure to global issues to cultivate community and global leadership.
We are driven by a certain set of values which include (1) We believe technology, governments, education and society at large are all improved through openness and collaboration. (2) We believe in social justice for all regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and place or circumstances of birth. (3) We believe realizing one’s potential in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is an opportunity every child should have. (4) We believe in, and are endorsers of, the Principles for Digital Development. (5) We believe in and support the SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 and we believe that they must apply to all countries to better the world.

OpenWise Learning’s approach to increasing the representation of those from minority communities in STEM careers is innovative in that we stress the importance of public and community service. We want the numbers to increase not just for the sake of representation (which alone is key) but knowing that people with advanced skills in these fields can directly influence issues that tend to affect their communities out of proportion (e.g. do not give them a fish, but teach them to fish). Poverty, lack of quality education, environmental racism are just some of the problems identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development goals and they illustrate how minority populations tend to bear the brunt of the effects. Often the policy makers and the executives armed with the tools to make change are not addressing needs of specific communities simply because they are unaware of them. A diverse set of minds is required to adequately brainstorm new and innovative solutions.
By using primarily open source technology as the foundation of our curriculum, OpenWise Learning emphasizes that while each individual has important contributions to make to the world, no one is an island. Working together and on the shoulders of those who came before, we all can make social and environmental equity a reality.

We teach our OpenWise Learning students using Open Source Technology as it best suits our program’s philosophy. As best described by The Open Organization Definition: “Open source projects, products, or initiatives embrace and celebrate principles of open exchange, collaborative participation, rapid prototyping, transparency, meritocracy, and community-oriented development.” With our coding and programming curriculum, the language we use is Python. Using these open source tools, we show how collaboration can lead to evolving uses and forms of technology. Our equipment is based on utilizing Raspberry Pi computers. These affordable units allow us to supply our participants with contemporary technology for direct hands-on learning using Linux as our operating system. The versatility of these computers helps us educate the students that a computer can take many different forms. Having them think outside-of-the-box serves our service initiatives where the goals are to think of innovative solutions to social, societal, and ecological problems.

As an organization our primary objective is to provide STEM access to youths who are often left behind due to educational and economic hurdles. During the course of their participation they are exposed to advanced level topics, mentors in STEM fields with similar backgrounds, and will have the opportunity to participate in real world situations via apprenticeships. This education and experience can have beneficial effects on their scholastic achievements. Whether they go directly into the workforce or pursue post-secondary education, they are in a better position to secure middle to high income employment. While influencing the socioeconomic positions of our students and their families is a long term goal, our secondary objective is to raise awareness on local and global issues. With STEM careers this population will have the means to aid in crafting policies, innovations, and services that directly affect their communities. In 2017, a Vanderbilt University study concluded that “many black and latino [STEM] students felt it was important for them to use their careers to help others…they were concerned about people who have been marginalized because of race or ethnicity— maybe because of the way they have suffered themselves— but they also had broader concerns about global disparities”. With evidence of a strong equity ethic, we would be remiss not to equip a willing populace with the necessary tools to affect change. Underrepresented individuals not exposed to STEM education and careers are an untapped resource of diverse experiences and ideas.

We currently have 44 students in the OpenWise Learning program. In the next year we hope to retain them, and induct an additional 40 to total 84. With growth we would like to expand to other cities in the U.S, and internationally. If we are able to launch pilots in one to two new cities a year, in five years, with an ideal retention rate of 75% we could be serving about 300 students. When considering the impact that quality education and service oriented youth could have on their families and communities, we could be directly benefiting a much larger number.

Over the next year we aim to hold our 4th Annual Summer STEM Program in Washington, D.C and our 2nd Annual Fall Program in Nairobi, Kenya. As our participants make their way through the 5-week Immersives and the Academic Year programs we aim to instill in them a thorough understanding of technology and how they can use it to improve their lives and communities. By the time they graduate high school our goal is for them to have to skills and experiences to enter college with confidence or the workforce competitively. Over this time our objective is to attain grants and support in order to become financially stable which in turn will allow us to host and staff Immersives and yearly programs in an increasing number of locations locally and globally.

As OpenWise Learning approaches our 4th Summer Immersive in Washington, DC and 2nd Fall Immersive in Nairobi, Kenya, we have become aware of certain barriers that can impede our efforts. Annually, our restricted budget has limited our options when choosing a site for our programs. Often the location, and subsequently the hours availability, are not conducive for families to easily bring and pick up their children; 8am- 12pm can be a difficult time for working parents and guardians to navigate.
We also have to combat a higher than desired attrition rate. Out of the 50 participants that have completed our immersive program, only 26 have remained with us for our programs that continue throughout the school year. We need to identify and address the issues that affect the attrition rate.
In Kenya, while we do note some cultural barriers in how instruction is implemented there are similar issues with transportation and ability of students to participate long term.

Before starting the program this year, we are planning more in-depth community information sessions at local libraries. If families are more aware of the long term commitment and hours in advance, this should decrease the attrition rate. Also to increase our retention rate of OpenWise Learning Scholars we plan to have more family meetings. We want to assess and address individual needs or barriers. We have also considered coordinating carpools for participating families. In Kenya, we initiated providing travel vouchers and plan to continue that if we are financially able to do so.
When OpenWise Learning is in a position to hire more educators with technical experience, we can also bolster the curriculum and better engage the students. We will identify practical and reasonable ways to incentivize and motivate interest, thereby maintaining participation when the students have other scholastic and after-school obligations during the academic year.
In Kenya, we have had more meetings with local our staff and volunteers so we can breach cultural differences and make sure everyone is on the same page about our day to day and long term goals and how that can coincide with the typical Kenyan school day schedule.

Not Applicable

We have two full time staff members and two part-time staff members who are active members of our solution teams in Washington, DC and in Nairobi, Kenya. We have several volunteers whom we depend upon to make the day to day activities with the students run smoothly.

Roger Ashby, the Executive Director, has worked as a technologist in multiple sectors for over 19 years. His areas of expertise include solutions development and engineering, cloud solutions, data science & visualization, managed application and hosting services, and project and program management. He has degrees in computer science and business. Additionally, he has a graduate certificate in International Development and earned a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Sustainable Development Practice.
Abigail Hazelwood, the Education Director, has more than 18 years teaching experience. She has exclusively worked with marginalized youths in urban schools and Latin America. She is Certified in Elementary Education, and Certified in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She holds a degree in Curriculum and Instruction, a Master of Science in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and is a K-12 National Board Certified Teacher.
Operations Director Danielah Gautier has practiced OB/GYN for a decade. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biology then received her Doctorate of Medicine. In her residency training she was the Administrative Chief Resident and on the Education Committee. She has experience working with underserved populations and takes interest in health awareness and education. 

Kendi Gikunda, a veteran Human Resource Consultant, holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resource Management, worked with consulting firms and built structures for startups. She is a founding partner at Meru Hub, a lead Human Resource Consultant at Synapsis Consulting and has worked as the Operations lead at WEB4ALL.

OpenWise Learning is an officially recognized Out-of-School-Time partner with Washington, DC Public School System. With this partnership we are able to offer the program to local students while providing them with meals. We are also able to reserve space in their schools for our STEM Immersive. In Kenya we have been lucky to partner with Moi University to provide an accessible site where we can provide tech and service education to our student cohort there. In both locations we are reaching out to tech firms to establish partnerships where STEM staff could provided guest speakers, mentorships and apprenticeships.

Our for-profit arm is OpenWise, Inc., and it's social business model is a modified professional services value-added reseller (VAR). Our consultancy adds professional services to existing Open Source Software or Infrastructure services, and when appropriate resell the products or services as an integrated solution or complete "turn-key" solution. Additionally, we provide Data Science and ICT consulting services. Our value add comes from professional services such as systems integrating, customizing, consulting, training and implementation. Our target clients in the nonprofit, global development, educational or government markets, purchase professional services when they lacked the time, experience, or personnel to assemble the system themselves. Additionally, we expect a portion of the funding for our beneficiary programs will come from direct-marketing fundraising and (private, corporate, and government) grants. The primary beneficiaries of our services are black and latinx youth ages 11 to 17 years old.

We are a young organization and part of our sustainability plan includes the sale of services through our for-profit organization, OpenWise, Inc.
With OpenWise, Inc. we practice what we teach our OWL Scholars by providing strategic planning and technology management services via consulting services and solutions to our clients who produce public goods either in nonprofits, global development organizations, educational institutions or government.
When OpenWise, Inc is able to provide for a larger portion of the nonprofit’s budget, we plan to continue fundraising and grant writing to supplement operational funds for beneficiary program expansion. As OpenWise, Inc. grows we plan for it to provide 50% or more of the budget for our beneficiary activities. We currently also hold direct-marketing fundraisers twice a year: in the Spring and at the end of the year commencing with Giving Tuesday in November.

The individualized support that MIT Solve could provide would be invaluable. The connections made available would increase the number of professionals we could have interacting with our students. The advice that this association could supply OpenWise Learning as we enter our growth phase could guide us so that we have the greatest positive impact on the communities we work in. Additionally, MIT Solve can help OpenWise Learning better serve our goals of reaching out into the community. Since funds that raised go primarily to purchasing equipment for the students, making sure they are nourished, and a hosting site, it limits our ability to market on a scale that would increase awareness about not only what we offer but the issues we are addressing. $10,000 could easily cover computers and accessories for the 40 students we plan to enroll in a year in Washington, DC, and Nairobi, Kenya. The remainder covers food costs for both sites. This frees fundraising revenue along with any grants we may be awarded to be applied to marketing, insurance coverage and working on partnerships with tech firms to provide mentorships and apprenticeships. MIT Solve’s aid can also help with retention. Often families are unable to participate due to an inability to bring their children to the hosting site or lack of compatibility with the hours of the program. With the additional resources, we could provide travel vouchers or be able to attain a site better located or available during more compatible hours.

Not Applicable

We want to work with organizations that make an effort to diversify and include minorities in their ranks. We believe that including a broad spectrum of experiences and cultures strengthens productivity and success; we will seek organizations whose philosophies reinforce this tenet. Companies that use technology to provide goods and services, and public-good organizations aiming for social and ecological justice are who we would like to partner with now and in the future.

Not Applicable

If OpenWise Learning were to receive this prize, it would be used primarily for educational equipment and materials for the pre-teens and teens involved in our program as well as salaries for the staff working directly with them in the program. Since our focus is to increase representation of minority communities in STEM careers, it is important for to us to hire staff who come from the same backgrounds as the youth. Having the means to hire multiple technology oriented and experienced staff members would strengthen our curriculum, increase the potential to partner with tech companies and make the program more attractive to potential families. The ability to provide students with more hands-on technology would make the lessons more tangible and further their exposure and education.

Our OpenWise Learning program focuses on increasing diversity in STEM, specifically tech. Coupling this principal with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we also stress increasing the presence of girls and women in these fields. One of our first SDG lessons is gender equality and we continue to advocate for women being on the forefront of technological and STEM solutions to our collective local and global issues. 

OpenWise Learning wants to approach solutions to local and global problems by harnessing the often neglected intelligence of minority communities and the often overlooked girls and women in STEM. By exposing those who are marginalized to STEM fields, we can make an positive impact on multiple aspects of their lives. This includes changing scholastic trajectories, elevating families out of poverty and transforming individuals into leaders who can influence their communities. STEM-fluent individuals have the capacity to create and implement solutions or craft sound policies that can guide others towards the common goal of creating a sustainable, and equitable future.