Million Girls Moonshot

Today, while women make up half of workers with postsecondary degrees in the U.S., they compose just 25% of STEM workers, a disparity that is even greater for women of color. And of women in STEM professions, only 15% are in engineering – even less for women of color, with only 2% who identify as Latinx and 3% who identify as Black. By 2029, the U.S. needs to fill 10.7 million STEM jobs, which on average pay more than double the median wage. The gap in gender equity in STEM means women miss out monetarily, and the U.S. economically, as diverse workforces financially outperform non-diverse workforces. Not enough is being done early enough for girls to build the interest, identity and skills required to persist to STEM careers, especially in underrepresented communities.

For the 74 million children in the U.S., of which half are girls, every afternoon holds the possibility to build, invent, and discover. But only about 8 million young people are participating in afterschool programs, of which 74% offer some STEM activities, and only 2 million participate in summer STEM camps. Overall, girls are less likely to have out-of-school time (OST) STEM learning opportunities than boys, especially summer learning where boys make up the majority–53% of STEM camp participants compared to 47% who are girls. Children from higher income households are 3x more likely to participate in a summer STEM camp than children from households with lower incomes. STEM camps are the most expensive summer offering for families. The biggest gender gaps are in technology and engineering OST opportunities. Boys are more likely to have opportunities to participate in technology and engineering activities in their afterschool program than girls (42% vs. 36%). This six-point difference is the largest of the STEM disciplines. 

Research shows the quality of OST STEM programming, experiences, and exposure over time, especially between 4th-8th grade, have the greatest impact on girls’ path to STEM careers (Maltese & Tai, 2010). While many high-quality programs exist (e.g., Engineering Adventures, Techbridge Girls), reach is limited and those with a gender equity focus are few. Connections between programs to create handoffs from one program to the next and sustain interest and build skills are weak or nonexistent. In addition, research suggests that the majority of informal educators in OST programs lack strong STEM backgrounds (Chi et al., 2008), leading to repeated calls for professional learning opportunities that will help increase program quality (e.g., NRC, 2015; Rosa, 2018). The Million Girls Moonshot seeks to solve the gender equity gap in STEM by working upstream, supporting girls in STEM early and often. The Moonshot Afterschool and summer professionals receive training, content, curriculum, and other technical assistance and support to more effectively facilitate high-quality STEM learning. Girls and other underrepresented youth then have broader access to high-quality STEM opportunities that are culturally and socially-relevant to help them build STEM identity. And families feel supported to facilitate and champion their children in pursuit of STEM pathways.

A myriad of research demonstrates that informal STEM learning, including afterschool and summer, is effective at preparing and inspiring girls to pursue STEM careers. These flexible, low-stakes environments are rich in features that fuel positive youth development. The Million Girls Moonshot is a national initiative of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund aimed at eliminating barriers to STEM for girls of color and other underrepresented groups of young people and fostering engineering mindsets through afterschool and summer. STEM Next identifies high-quality program models and resources that are accessible, research informed, and girl-based, then brings them to scale by coalescing over 18 national partnerships. The Moonshot does not create new programs, because this is not where the need exists in the STEM learning landscape. Rather, Moonshot leverages the existing infrastructure of the 50 State Afterschool Network – with reach to 100,000+ local programs and 8 million youth – to get more programs to use what we know works best to engage girls in STEM. OST programs across the country are providing millions of young people with enrichment opportunities. The Moonshot gets them doing more STEM, better. Watch this short video about the Moonshot. STEM Next has extensive experience working with national networks to build capacity. The 50 State Afterschool Networks serve as a driving force within each state, bringing stakeholders together and sharing best practices to ensure availability of affordable, sustainable afterschool and summer programs. For over 9 years, we have partnered with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation 50 State Afterschool Network. This collaboration was designed to leverage and build on the existing network infrastructure in order to expand the availability of quality STEM in afterschool and summer and impact more students across the country.  This successful effort has grown from 30 states to all 50 states through the Moonshot.

Launched in 2020, the Moonshot uses a systems approach to layer in resources, training, technical assistance, curricula, a STEM Access framework, and awareness building tools into existing OST programs. Through these supports and resources, the Moonshot strengthens the capacity of the afterschool network in each state to support a regional STEM focus and local program capacity is built to incorporate research-based, proven strategies including: implementing inclusive culturally and socially relevant content, building an engineering mindset, supporting families as mentors, and creating transitions between programs to ensure consistent opportunities over time. Resources are delivered across the country using several effective strategies including communities of practice, in-person and virtual conference tracks, webinars, and individualized technical assistance. To ensure a strong youth voice in the co-design and implementation of the Moonshot, the initiative includes the Flight Crew, a youth leadership and development program. 

 Lastly, the Moonshot shifts perceptions and attitudes of who can be an engineer, an inventor, a leader for society and for individual girls. Through broad reaching awareness campaigns the Moonshot influences society-level narratives. Moonshot raises awareness about girls’ capabilities while educating parents and support systems about encouraging girls toward STEM futures.

Research shows that STEM activities in afterschool and summer programs get kids interested, builds their identity as an engineer or scientist, sparks career pathways, and encourages persistence in STEM experiences and courses. This is especially true for girls and youth of color. Youth spend the majority of their learning time (80%) in informal settings afterschool and during the summer, providing a golden opportunity to leverage an existing national infrastructure of these programs to reach more girls with STEM experiences that build skills, change narratives and nurture interest (Allen, Noam, Little, Fukauda, Chang, Gorrall, & Waggenspack, 2017). The Moonshot aims to serve girls and youth from underrepresented communities. The young people served through the Million Girls Moonshot constitute a diverse cross-section of youth nationally. Overall, 67% of youth served are from low-income households; 56% identify as Black, Indigenous and other people of color; 35% identify as rural or frontier youth; and 23% are English Language Learners. Approximately 61% of youth served are elementary school age; 28% are middle school age; and 15% are high school age.

Input is gathered from youth and local program service providers using formal and informal methods including surveys, focus groups, studies, and program/training evaluations. For example, through direct feedback from youth in the Moonshot Flight Crew, we learned that they needed and wanted more opportunities to connect with each other and as a result we enhanced the peer-mentoring model. In addition to helping us understand how to better meet needs, feedback also validates what’s working. For example, input from approximately 300 youth in Moonshot-connected afterschool and summer programs showed that 7 in 10 agreed their afterschool program helped them to feel more engaged with STEAM, and half were more likely to think of themselves as “a person who does STEAM.” These early indicators are linked to longer-term outcomes like majoring in a STEAM field in college or pursuing a STEAM-related career. STEM Next has established feedback loops that continuously inform program improvements. For example, from students, parents and program providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, we heard and responded to the need to provide quick, low cost, turnkey STEM activities that supported learning at home, and in wake of the pandemic all stakeholders are requesting more resources to strengthen math supports.

The Moonshot is led by a three-women team, with lived experience and dedication to advancing the economic empowerment of girls through STEM education. Teresa Drew, Deputy Director, oversees Moonshot and has spent the last five years working to eliminate barriers to STEM for underrepresented girls through managing complex, national multi-stakeholder projects. As the mother of two girls, Teresa experienced first-hand the inequities and challenges of navigating the public school system. These experiences led her to organizing a grassroots parent group to increase access to opportunities in the San Diego school system. She is the co-founder and was the director of UPforEd, where she gained experience community organizing and mobilizing disenfranchised stakeholders in the educational system. Teresa is a credentialed preschool teacher. Her personal experiences as a parent stakeholder led her to pursuing a lifetime's work in the nonprofit sector. 

Sabrina Gomez, STEM Education Advisor, teacher and daughter of Mexican immigrants, leads STEM programming technical assistance. Sabrina has a strong commitment to advancing equity and improving educational and economic outcomes for Black and Latino youth through STEM. Sabrina launched her career in education advocacy as a teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina and later in the South Bronx, New York. She has served as Senior Director at ExpandED Schools in New York City where she led local and national initiatives that empowered youth to achieve success in STEM fields and co-led the NYC-STEM Learning Ecosystem. 

Victoria Wegener, Afterschool and System Building Facilitator, is a national expert in afterschool providing technical assistance to the 50 State Afterschool Networks and has deep experience working with marginalized youth, including within the foster care system. She has delivered extensive training in afterschool and child care programs across the country, as well as national organizations positioned to catalyze change, including Afterschool Alliance, National Summer Learning Institute, AIR, National League of Cities, National Conference of State Legislators, and 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Victoria is also mother to a female engineering college student and has seen first-hand the ratios of women to men in college programs and barriers for youth to become engineers, especially for those in the LGBTQ community. 

STEM Next works to understand needs of youth and programs, both within the context of systems change. First, we study trends in youth development and education to understand the system in which learning takes place, including literature reviews, studies and internal research. A recent example includes applying the recent McKinsey & Company study on COVID-19 related learning loss, which illuminated stark racial divides in math learning disruption nationally, to inform our national math strategy. We also gather input directly from youth to co-design, such as through the Moonshot Flight crew (a co-designed youth development program), surveys and focus groups in conjunction with planning and evaluation processes. We gather input from OST program providers through communities of practices, listening sessions, and feedback loops embedded in learning offerings. This approach enables us to hear directly from youth and parents and to learn with the field for continuous improvement.

Launched in 2020, to date the Million Girls Moonshot has reached a total of 69,055 local afterschool and summer programs and 171,983 educators across all 50 states. These programs and educators have served a total of 2,762,556 youth overall, including 1,400,051 girls. The overall depth of Moonshot engagement for girls varies across programs: 1,097,837 girls have been lightly engaged; 186,059 have been moderately engaged; and 76,181 have been deeply engaged.

STEM Next is a committed learning organization. As such, we welcome and need the internal capacity building that comes with participating in this Challenge. The Moonshot has experienced exponential growth since the launch. In fact, we exceeded by nearly double our million girl goal in half the time. But this exponential growth and the demand for further growth has presented organizational structure challenges that STEM Next could greatly benefit from Solve and Tiger Global Impact Ventures as thought partners. STEM Next is a collective impact backbone, researcher, strategic guide, and policy advocate that operates with a small core team. We desire an organizational structure that can support the Million Girls Moonshot and additional national moonshots in alignment with our 2027 strategic plan as well as deep work on the regional and state levels.

National data on STEM in OST is disjointed. STEM Next is working with leading researchers in this area like the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Institute for the Study of Resilience in Youth at Harvard’s McClean Hospital to build and pilot tools that measure youth outcomes in STEM interest, identify and the engineering mindset and local program quality. STEM Next is also collecting large data sets through the Moonshot initiative. But we do not have a seamless, aggregated system for collecting, housing and analyzing these data at scale. Nor have we developed a sustainable way forward for continuing this data collection. This is another area, both in solution design and in understanding and vetting potential technology capabilities, that STEM Next would benefit from Solve and Tiger Global Impact Ventures expertise.

STEM Next has plans to further scale and deepen the STEM equity strategies of the Moonshot by recruiting and aligning with additional implementation and coalition partners and developing a significantly increased volunteer engagement system leading to more engaged role models and mentors. STEM Next has attempted solutions with VolunteerMatch and Salesforce for example, but has not yet been successful, in part due to the depth of technical knowledge that is required.  STEM Next would greatly benefit from Solve and Tiger Global Impact Ventures to assist us in design thinking, product management, information technology and systems expertise to realize a nationally scaled volunteer engagement platform that connects local opportunities with trained role models and mentors in an impactful manner to support girls in STEM. This solution not only meets the needs of young people, but also can serve as a potential revenue generation stream as companies are continuously seeking out partners that can provide employee engagement opportunities at scale and/or across many locals.

As described in the previous team section, Teresa has shared experiences and is well connected to the stakeholders of the Moonshot including youth, families, implementation and coalition partners, and the OST community at large. She serves as a youth mentor and chaperone for the Moonshot Flight Crew members, hearing first hand youth challenges and successes. She works closely with the co-development and piloting of the Moonshot’s family engagement tools gathering input from both families and OST providers. She participates in listening sessions with OST providers across the country and facilitates trainings and workshops where feedback loops are standard practice to inform the work.

As a community activist, Teresa is passionate about educational equity and the gender equity framework in which the Moonshot is grounded. Teresa has and continues to ensure that the Moonshot design and implementation partners are leading experts with lived experiences (e.g., National Girls Collaborative Project, National Center for Women and Information Technology). The 50 State Afterschool Network has continuous feedback loops from local programs, of which 92.4% are female school age child care workers. We recognize that not every community is the same. That’s another reason why the 50 State Afterschool Network is key to ensuring representation in the initiative from each state specifically to connect the national initiative to the unique challenges and opportunities in differing communities. Moonshot coalition partners include the Society of Women Engineers among others. All are gathering input that is reflected in the Moonshot.  The evaluation design includes program staff and girl participant level surveys and case studies to continuously improve the initiative and measure impact. These methods ensure that Teresa and the entire Moonshot team are and continuously stay connected to the communities we serve.

While many STEM programs exist on the local level, the gender equity gap in STEM persists. The Moonshot takes two distinctly different approaches. First, the Moonshot focuses on fostering an engineering mindset in young people by embedding them into everyday afterschool and summer program practices and curriculum. An engineering mindset refers to the values, attitudes, and thinking skills associated with engineering. Engineers solve problems using systematic, iterative processes. The technologies (objects, systems, or processes) they design address the needs and desires of people, animals, society, and the environment. Engineers shape the world we live in. The clean water, toothbrushes, traffic patterns, smart phones, stain-resistant materials, and electric vehicles we use have all been developed by engineers. Though the products of engineering are diverse, engineers approach their work using a common set of engineering practices. High-quality engineering experiences that engage youth in these practices help them develop and strengthen an engineering mindset. The Million Girls Moonshot embeds 10 engineering practices grounded in the research (Cunningham, 2018; Cunningham & Kelly, 2017) like design thinking, working in teams, persistence, and applying math and science. While many STEM programs focus on a specific component or discipline of STEM like coding for computer science or robotics, the Moonshot is preparing America’s students with an engineering mindset– a set of research-based attitudes, knowledge and skills transferable across disciplines and supporting youth success not only in STEM, but in life. 

Secondly, Moonshot is innovative in that it takes a systems approach to creating a sustainable, long-term solution to gender equity in STEM. STEM Next holds a unique position to scale access by coalescing over 18 national partnerships and using existing national networks. The Moonshot leverages the infrastructure of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation’s 50 State Afterschool Network—reaching over 100,000 local programs and 8 million youth—while tapping an underutilized opportunity for impact, the 80% of time students have outside of school. This partnership is particularly unique because the majority of programs linked to the 50 State Afterschool Network (over 70%) provide services in under-resourced communities, targeting youth and families from historically marginalized groups, providing Moonshot with an efficient distribution mechanism to reach those who face the greatest inequities. The Moonshot also encompasses an intensional gender equity lens with proven strategies to attract and keep girls engaged in STEM: inclusive culturally and socially relevant content, building engineering mindset, supporting families as mentors, and pioneering transitions between programs to ensure consistent opportunities over time. The Moonshot’s premise is that creating more access for girls and youth of color, first requires us to help existing programs reach and serve those youth with the best practices that work by building capacity and effectiveness.

The Million Girls Moonshot has a single, laser-focused goal–to cultivate one million more girls with an engineering mindset by 2025. To achieve this, we start by raising awareness in the OST field for the best practices in engaging more girls in STEM. Then, we provide training, tools and resources for providers to embed and execute those practices. In doing so, Moonshot eliminates large barriers that contribute to the STEM gender gap. For example, research shows that instructors ask boys more higher-order thinking questions–like how/why, while girls are asked simple yes/no questions. When a notetaker is needed in an activity, more often than not, a girl is assigned to this role rather than a boy. These small experiences matter and add up, creating structural barriers for girls in STEM. Through Moonshot’s STEM Access framework, program leaders receive training and tools needed to create rich STEM learning environments that intentionally lift up girls, their participation and ideas. This also broadens local programs participation; fuels skill development; and facilitates culturally relevant activities in communities. But the Moonshot doesn’t stop with OST providers. Research informed Moonshot’s Family Engagement Strategy and STEM Role Models Strategy, so girls can “see it to be it”. Alongside national partners like Lyda Hill Philanthropies IF/THEN, Geena Davis Institute’s Mission Unstoppable, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, and a cadre of corporate partners to expand and diversify access to STEM role models. Results from the first two years of the initiative have proofed the Moonshot’s awareness building components and uptake from 50 State Afterschool Network leads and local OST programs has been tremendous, exceeding the reach goals. Still, more work is required to deepen STEM engagement for girls and our partners/researchers have developed national assessment tools to measure youth impact and engineering mindsets. And we know that STEM program quality across the country still varies widely in the wake of the pandemic as this field faces significant hiring and retention challenges, which is why we will continue this work well beyond 2025.

The Moonshot is designed to empower women and girls, ultimately transforming lives by addressing SDG-5.5 - Ensure Full Participation in Leadership and Decision-Making. Research shows skilled STEM-trained women are absent from leadership positions across academia, government and industry. For example, nearly 80% of healthcare workers overall are female, but only 21% of health executives and board members are, and only about a third of doctors. Women are also more highly represented in lower-paying positions such as home health workers, nurses, and in lower-paying specialties like pediatrics. Additionally, gender gaps are particularly high in faster-growing and higher-paid jobs of the future, like computer science and engineering. The Moonshot aims to equip more girls with confidence, skills, and opportunities to pursue STEM careers, critical to increasing equality in STEM careers. Its impact will narrow the gender pay gap; enhance women’s economic security; and ensure a diverse and talented STEM workforce by overcoming biases contributing to lack of women in leadership roles.

STEM Next worked with Cary Sneider, an Associate Research Professor at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, on the overall evaluation design for the Moonshot. Dr. Sneider is an expert in research methodology, is a NSF-recognized researcher, has served as Chair of the LinkEngineering committee for the National Academy of Engineering. He was the lead consultant on engineering to the National Research Council committee that developed a framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas, and served in a similar role on the writing team for the Next Generation Science Standards. 

STEM Next contracts with Public Profit, a leading evaluation firm in the out-of-school time and STEM learning fields, to evaluate the reach and impact of the Moonshot. The evaluation documents progress toward reaching the 1 million girls goal and percentage and numerical increases in Girls’ STEM Exposure and Engagement, Identity Formation, Interest, Engineering Mindset, and those pursuing a STEM Course of Study. Case studies and sampling data using Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) at Harvard’s newly developed engineering version of the Common Instrument Suite will be conducted to document changes in youth’s engineering mindset. The evaluation and case studies inform ongoing course corrections to the initiative, and share examples of culturally responsive practices in STEM to contribute to the knowledge base in the out-of-school time field, particularly in engaging more girls in quality STEM learning. Additional data collection tools include PEAR’s Dimensions of Success-a validated observation tool that measures the quality of students’ STEM learning experiences- the Common Instrument Suite- validated student and educator surveys that measure a variety of STEM-related attitudes and 21st Century Skills- and interviews with OST program staff and youth.

Key Performance Indicators: The Million Girls Moonshot

Program Outputs & Demographics

• Total # of youth served (including lightly, moderately, and deeply engaged)

• Total # of educators served (including lightly, moderately, and deeply engaged)

• Total # of programs served (including lightly, moderately, and deeply engaged)

• % of Girls/non-binary youth in STEM
• % of Youth from low-income households
• % of BIPOC Youth
• % of Rural/Frontier Youth
• % of English Learner Youth
• % of youth served by grade level (elementary, middle, high school, and other)

Youth Outcomes: Attitudes & Beliefs

• STEM Interest: How interested and enthusiastic a student is about engineering/science and engineering/science-related activities

• STEM Identity: How much a student self-identifies as a engineering/science person

• STEM Career Interest: How motivated a student is to pursue a career in engineering/science

• STEM Career Knowledge: How knowledgeable a student is about obtaining a career in engineering/science

• STEM Participation: How often a student seeks out engineering/science activities

Youth Outcomes: Skills & Abilities To... 

• Identify constraints and criteria that require tradeoffs

• Consider problems in context

• Use of a problem-solving process

• Investigate the properties and uses of materials

• Envision multiple solutions

• Apply science and math knowledge to problem solving

• Evaluate designs and make improvements

The Million Girls Moonshot addresses the persistently small number of girls and women who pursue STEM fields. A key outcome of this initiative is an increased number of girls who develop an engineering mindset—a research-based set of attitudes, knowledge and skills that empowers individuals to meet challenges in daily life and as workers and citizens. The Moonshot theory of change is rooted in decades of change management and informal STEM learning research, and poses that: 1) by raising awareness through state network leads or through outreach directly to local programs, program leaders will understand the power of STEM learning and be provided a set of transformative practices and resources that have been shown to encourage girls to engage in STEM learning activities; 2) local program leaders will apply these insights by working with frontline facilitators, partners, parents, and other community members; 3) more girls will elect to engage in these programs; and 4) girls who do participate will develop an engineering mindset. 

Through the Moonshot, STEM Next ensures informal educators have the resources, support, mentorship, and expert guidance they need to deliver high-quality, hands-on STEM learning experiences built on the following Moonshot transformative, evidenced-based principles.  

To promote equity and increase gender and racial diversity in STEM, Moonshot includes a STEM Access Framework that is youth-centric and culturally responsive (Sammet & Kekelis, 2016). The framework illustrates the particular concepts and variables that are connected to equity and inclusion, and provides a map for identifying strategies and actions to eliminate barriers.

With increased training and access to engaging STEM activities and curriculum, the Moonshot increases opportunities for girls to engage in socially-relevant projects to solve problems that matter to them and their communities (Billington, Britsch, Santiago, Schellinger, Carter, & Becker, 2019). 

Build STEM identity through a continuum of experiences–critical to increasing a sense of belonging (Billington, Britsch, Santiago, Schellinger, Carter, & Becker, 2019). The Moonshot is testing strategies for effective transitions and handoffs between programs to identify and scale a model for communities to establish a seamless continuum of experiences.

Engage STEM role models to inspire career awareness and increase youth interest in, positive attitudes toward, and identification with STEM (Maltese & Tai, 2010). The Moonshot partners with private industry and industry associations to engage employees as role models and mentors and other national initiatives aimed at increasing visibility and awareness such as the Lyda Hill Philanthropies IF/THEN and the Geena Davis Institute.

Empower families by supporting programs to scale family engagement (Kekelis & Sammet, 2019). Encouragement matters, especially for girls.  The Moonshot includes families as a critical stakeholder, piloting and now scaling and evaluating family engagement communities of practice through the 50 State Afterschool Networks, and co-developing with the Institute for the Study of Resilience in Youth the Family Engagement in STEM Instrument (FESI). The FESI is a culturally responsive, research-informed program planning tool to better evaluate and inform implementation of quality programming for families to engage their young children in STEM across broad contexts and diverse communities

Not applicable. The Moonshot is considered “action research,” in that practices previously found to be effective in limited settings are being rolled out on a massive scale, while data are being collected periodically to monitor progress. Therefore, the initiative is likely to provide useful knowledge to the field, whether to confirm or refute prior findings, or to discover entirely new effects of implementing transformative practices on girls’ engagement in STEM. In order to reach our bold goal of developing an engineering mindset in one million more girls by 2025, the national initiative also leverages and combines selected technology tools at scale.

STEM Next has a total of 7 full-time and 3 part-time staff who work on the Million Girls Moonshot. In addition, two contractors each work part-time on the solution team, providing expertise on capacity-building in out-of-school time programs.

To assist with the execution of major programmatic aspects, three external partners provide seasonal or part-time assistance as needed on designated programmatic components. This includes a major event planning/implementation partner; a partner that provides technical support on public relations and media; and a partner that leads the overall evaluation of the Million Girls Moonshot initiative.

The Moonshot was designed with the OST field and partners from Boeing, Intel, and Mott Foundation 2-years prior to the 2020 launch. Spun out of the Noyce Foundation, STEM Next has 25-years’ experience building the informal learning field to better serve marginalized communities. We commissioned Afterschool & STEM System-Building Evaluation 2016 assessing impact of afterschool programs, surveying 1,600 youth grades 4-12 across 11 states, and STEM Ready America, a compendium from 40 authors presenting bold, persuasive evidence on effective practices, programs, and partnerships. This research and prior 9-year partnership with the 50-State Afterschool Networks also informed Moonshot's design.

STEM Next recently launched our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan, including an updated set of Core Values to guide how all STEM Next stakeholders — including board, staff, and consultants — work. Aligned to our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, our first Core Value is “We Put People First.” This means that we have empathy for those who we work with and for, and we treat people with dignity and professionalism. We learn from one another and are open to different perspectives. As part of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan, we have also launched a strategy to grow and diversify the STEM Next Board of Directors, which is currently 50/50 Male/Female and includes 1 Black board member and 5 white board members.

STEM Next’s management and staff are reflective of the stakeholders we serve, representing a diverse cross-section of racial and ethnic identities, ages, lived experiences, and geographies. Overall, 48% of our staff identify as people of color, including 23% who identify as Black and another 23% who identify as Latinx. As mentioned previously, Moonshot works with three external partners/consultants on designated programmatic components, including major event planning/implementation; public relations and media; and external evaluation of the Million Girls Moonshot initiative. All three key contractors are women-led, and one is also LGBTQ-led. STEM Next is committed to continuing to increase employee diversity in all forms, including racial and ethnic identities and will continue to prioritize creating space for discussions, planning and actions that support this commitment through continuous quality improvement.

As a national organization, STEM Next was founded with an explicit mission to close the gender gap in STEM careers. In doing so, we’ve focused on testing and scaling strategies with girl focused youth development organizations and increasing intentional inclusive programming in co-ed national organizations. This work has included: national investments in Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, and Techbridge Girls to develop high-quality programs; partnering with the National Girls Collaborative to build a gender equity framework that is being scaled nationally through the Moonshot; and bringing together the largest national youth serving organizations in the Imagine Science Initiative to scale equitable STEM strategies within these networks collective reach of 18 million youth annually, that has resulted in independent evaluations showing that girls grow in their interest in STEM and STEM career pathways at a greater rate than national trends (75% Imagine Science, versus 69% national sample) as a result of the program. 

In our day to day work, including the Million Girls Moonshot national initiative, our actions are informed by the knowledge that culturally responsive program design matters for youth, educators and communities. To promote equity and increase gender and racial diversity in STEM, Moonshot includes a STEM Access Framework that is youth-centric and culturally responsive (Sammet & Kekelis, 2016). The framework illustrates the particular concepts and variables that are connected to equity and inclusion, and provides a map for identifying strategies and actions to eliminate barriers.

STEM Next is a national intermediary organization. The ultimate beneficiaries of our work are young people in terms of greater access to high-quality STEM programs that support them in building STEM interest, identity and skills whether as a means to enrich their lives, or to join STEM professions. Our customers are state afterschool networks, large youth serving OST providers and local OST programs across the country. The research-based services we provide to our customers include: training, consultation, planning, tailored implementation assistance, learning opportunities, resources, cross-state peer exchanges and curated curriculum. These services are delivered both virtually and in-person and in response to the real-time needs of local educators and programs. To support implementation, STEM Next also provides funding to networks and programs through aggregated collective investments. These programs need our services in order to build career readiness in STEM careers- one of the most lucrative, fasting growing sectors of our economy and one that holds the power to lift youth out of poverty.

STEM Next sets big goals, rallies partners behind them, and resources what works in programs across the country to bring great STEM to millions of kids, faster. Our business model includes four key levers that transform access and quality of informal STEM learning opportunities across the nation. 1) We grow STEM leaders – both adults and youth. The Informal educator field needs and is calling for more training, support, and confidence to do STEM really well. Through program strategies like the Million Girls Moonshot Flight Crew, we’ve seen the impact that elevating youth voices in STEM can have on raising awareness and shifting mindsets. This requires an intentionality that combines both grassroots and grasstops approaches in order to make opportunities a reality for all kids. 2) That’s why we work to go deeper into state, regional and local ecosystems. Piloting new ideas and strengthening connections in their local programs and igniting innovation. 3) Through our policy and advocacy work, we are launching new ideas into action and ensuring that STEM is top of mind with decision makers at all levels so that the resources are there to support learning for all youth. 4) And we know that it takes Moonshot thinking and Big Bets to realize our vision of STEM learning for all kids. We put a stake in the ground, coalescing partners around a big shared goal to make a difference. Creating national momentum and systems change that will continue inspiring more girls and youth with an engineering mindset. We power these 4 levers with simple and effective ingredients–funding to support execution, resources in the form of curriculum, training, technical assistance, and subject matter expertise, and Collaboration with powerful partnerships industries and sectors, to convene investors, supporters, advocates, and implementation experts in order to provide the exponential reach and impact necessary for sustained change.

For STEM Next, going beyond providing capabilities (e.g., equipment, curricula, one-time assistance to local programs) is key to sustainability. The Moonshot systems approach aims to build human and institutional capacity--the process by which people, networks and organizations are taught how to deploy a capability and to integrate the use of tools, knowledge, and skills. This approach ensures the Moonshot’s impact will be sustained. STEM Next aims to continuously expand this system building work through the Moonshot by partnering with corporate, foundation, philanthropists and individual donors. By building a system for scaled volunteer engagement with local programs, we can meet the high-demand needs of companies and attract their support. In addition, our strong track record for impact, commitment to learning and sharing our research and evaluation, and the visibility we are gaining through raising awareness for girls in STEM, has and will continue to attract new financial support.

STEM Next has built a diversified revenue model to support the organization’s work. Revenue streams consist of donations from individuals (from large six and seven figure gifts to recurring monthly and annual donations), grants from foundations and corporations, event sponsorships, and contracts with other entities (public and private) to provide training, technical assistance, and research. STEM Next adheres to relationship-based fundraising principles leveraging the networks of our coalition partners, existing funders and board members to make introductions and recommendations of those who might be interested in supporting the work. The STEM Next board and executive team are actively engaged in fundraising discussions and solicitations. Its small fundraising staff (1.5 FTE) support the resource development program. The majority of the Moonshot budget is covered through corporate and foundation partnerships seeking lasting systems change and seeing the value and alignment of the initiative with their diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental, social and governance; and UN Sustainable Development goals. The organization’s core operations are covered by the indirect costs rate applied to all grants. We augment this team with a pool of capacity building experts and strategic advisors in STEM disciplines to flex up staffing. This model enables us to take advantage of unique opportunities and source leading talent across key speciality areas. STEM Next has identified two immediate opportunities for revenue model expansion. First is with government funding at the state and federal level as well as securing agency contracts to provide technical assistance. Second, in serving as an intermediary, STEM Next is able to amplify an individual investor's contribution and streamline distribution in a geographic local or to achieve a specific goal (e.g., a focus on improving math, etc.).

To date, STEM Next has raised approximately $14 million of the $20 million needed to power the Million Girls Moonshot through 2025. This includes funds raised from a diverse cross-section of industry partners, philanthropic leaders, individuals, and STEM trail blazers committed to making the future of STEM more diverse and inclusive. 

Here is a sample of partner investments in the Million Girls Moonshot for FY2022, listed alphabetically: Amazon Fire TV ($50,000); Arconic Foundation ($125,000); The Boeing Company ($1,000,000); C.S. Mott Foundation ($1,600,000); Frito-Lay Variety Packs ($150,000); Hopper-Dean Family Foundation ($2,000,000); Illumina ($50,000); Intel Foundation ($3,000,000); Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation ($1,000,000); OTIS Elevator ($10,000); Panasonic Foundation ($750,000); Qualcomm ($750,000); Rambus, Inc. ($10,000); Samueli Foundation ($400,000); Society of Women Engineers ($3,500); Takeda Pharmaceutical ($2,000,000); among others. The size and diversity of these commitments is generally representative for the Million Girls Moonshot. STEM Next will continue to garner resources through a coordinated approach to build diverse, sustainable funding streams for the program.