September 16, 2020

The STEM Next Opportunity Fund today announced a multi-year grant to the North Dakota Afterschool Network as part of the Million Girls Moonshot. The Intel Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have joined STEM Next Opportunity Fund and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to launch the Million Girls Moonshot. The effort is designed to engage 1 million school-age girls in the United States in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning opportunities over the next five years. The organizations will provide grant funding and in-kind resources to Mott-funded afterschool networks in all 50 states to increase access to hands-on, immersive STEM learning experiences. 

The ND Afterschool Network plans to use the funds to help afterschool programs in the state provide STEM education. It will provide professional learning opportunities to afterschool staff to learn how to incorporate STEM learning into afterschool programming of all ages, increase awareness of the opportunities for STEM learning in North Dakota, and foster relationships between afterschool programs and business & industry. Kicking off this learning series is a webinar on the engineering mindset on October 7 in collaboration with Gateway to Science, North Dakota's hands-on science center, and Bartlett & West engineering firm, Bismarck, ND. 

"The Million Girls Moonshot provides an extraordinary opportunity for afterschool programs in North Dakota to make an enormous impact on the lives of all our youth, and particularly our girls," said North Dakota Afterschool Network Lead Kristin Knorr. "The future economy of our state and our nation will rely heavily on the STEM fields, and afterschool programs are uniquely situated to help prepare our youth for those career opportunities. We're deeply appreciative of the work of STEM Next, the Intel Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation for their generous support, now and over the years."