22 States Committed to Mentoring 140,000 Girls in STEM Skills

This week, the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP), a founding partner of the Million Women Mentors (MWM) initiative, will announce over 100,000 new STEM mentor commitments from more than 20 states. 45,000 additional pledges will come in from the Lt. Governor for Iowa, several other MWM State leader networks, and The National 4-H Council. The goal of the movement is to garner one million mentors in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professions over the next four years, to collectively increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women in these academic areas.

The 22 states that will announce commitments include: Alaska, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Each mentor will commit to a minimum of 20 hours and the initiative has five suggested mentor pathways. For more information on the pledge please visit www.MillionWomenMentors.org.

“We salute the state-level leadership and know how hard they have worked to submit the mentoring pledges,” said Edie Fraser, CEO of STEMconnector® and Million Women Mentors. “Adding these new pledges to the 93,000 already made through our official site MillionWomenMentors.org takes us past the 200,000-mark – which is tremendous since our four year initiative only launched in January, 2014. We expect big corporate and government pledge announcements in the fall.”

One of the key leaders spearheading the national push and call to action is Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa. Lt. Governor Reynolds will announce Iowa’s mentoring commitment and has recently issued a challenge to her fellow lieutenant governors to mobilize the business communities in their states to commit to Million Women Mentors pledges.

"The Million Women Mentors initiative is an opportunity to become actively involved in mentoring. Mentors will be able to guide, encourage, and open doors for young women to be fully equipped for the great jobs of tomorrow in STEM-related careers," said Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds. "In the United States, STEM is a driving force behind economic growth, stability, and educational success. That's why we're creating an environment in Iowa that prepares all of our students with the necessary skills to compete in a global knowledge-based economy."

Karen Peterson, Principal Investigator of the NGCP, also praised the work being done on the state-level. “We celebrate the NGCP Collaborative network leadership teams who support large networks of programs with resources and services. Collectively, the National Girls Collaborative Project reaches over 8.5 million girls through their work. Our joint vision, to get STEM mentors activated from America’s top corporations and associations, is key to increasing the STEM workforce of the nation.”

Listed below is the schedule of state by state announcements:

TUESDAY, July 29, 2014
11:00 AM EST Kentucky
1:00 PM EST MAGiC: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C.
2:00 PM EST Tennessee
4:00 PM EST Georgia
WEDNESDAY, July 30, 2014
11:00 AM EST North Carolina
1:00 PM EST Montana
2:00 PM ESTNGCP MWM Mentor Fireworks Webinar and Iowa Pledge Announcement
4:00 PM EST Pacific NW: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Washington
THURSDAY, July 31, 2014
11:00 AM EST Pennsylvania
1:00 PM EST New York
2:00 PM EST Texas
FRIDAY, August 1, 2014
11:00 AM EST California
1:00 PM EST Southern New England: Massachusetts, Rhode Island
2:00 PM EST Oregon
4:00 PM EST Oklahoma

For additional details about the Mentor Fireworks Announcement and to learn more about how your state or organization can get involved, please visit: www.millionwomenmentors.org

About Million Women Mentors: Launched on January 8th, 2014, MWM is the collective action of over 54 national partners and 22 corporate sponsors (as of July 2014) designed to increase the number of girls and women within the high school to work age continuum that persist and succeed in STEM programs and careers. For more information on MWM please visit www.MillionWomenMentors.org.

About STEMconnector®: STEMconnector®is a consortium of over 110 companies, associations, academic institutions and government entities concerned with STEM education and the future of human capital. STEMconnector® focuses on the STEM workforce and jobs, with a particular emphasis on diversity and women. Our work spans the entire pipeline (K-J—Kindergarten to Jobs) and how STEM education experiences translate into careers. For more information, visit STEMconnector.org

About the National Girls Collaborative Project: The National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) is a network of individuals, programs, and organizations sharing resources and collaborating to better engage girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The NGCP facilitates collaboration between 12,800 organizations (who serve 8.35 million girls and 4.5 million boys) through their network of 31 collaboratives, serving 39 states. Through this network of collaboratives and initiatives like the FabFems Project (a national directory of female STEM role models), the NGCP is bringing together organizations throughout the United States that inform and encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM.

Contacts:

Million Women Mentors
Julie Kantor, 202-431-5016
Julie.Kantor@STEMconnector.org
or
National Girls Collaborative Project
Karen Peterson, 425-977-4750
kpeterson@edlabgroup.org

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