Scaling the LETS GO STEM Program to Support Increased Diversity in American STEM Workforce
Abstract
With the generous support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), LETS GO Boys and Girls (LETS GO) will scale our impact to further, our mission to Break the Cycle of Poverty through STEM Education and Workforce Development. LETS GO will address the need to increa,se diversity in the countrys STEM intern programs as a means to increase diversity in the countrys STEM workforce.LETS GO has a pr,oven 4-year track record of preparing diverse SEAP/NREIP intern candidates for two Navy R&D organizations: NSRDC Carderock (since 20,18) and Naval Research Lab (since 2021). In the summer of 2021, LETS GO helped LETS GO STEM Scholars secure 4 SEAP and 3 NREIP inter,nships at NSWC Carderock and 1 internship at NRL. All of these LETS GO sponsored interns are African American from the under-resourc,ed communities of Washington, DC and Baltimore; six of the eight are female. LETS GO has developed a strategy to balance the supply,and demand of diverse intern and apprentice candidates to high-tech government agencies and corporations. We are working on 4 suppl,y sources of diverse interns: (1) the 3,000 LETS GO STEM program alumni who are now 16+ years old; (2) STEM students from local hig,h schools and colleges with high minority populations; (3) STEM students who have participated in STEM enrichment through other orga,nizations; and (4) STEM-interested students in general mentoring programs. LETS GO will serve as the system integrator balancing the, supply of diverse STEM intern candidates with the demand of STEM interns. LETS GO team members serve as mentors to our STEM intern,candidates helping them apply for the right internship opportunity, preparing them to start the internship, and then coaching the,m how to be successful during the internship.The expected outcome from this project will be an increase in the diversity of STEM int,erns at participating high-tech government agencies and corporations. LETS GO will track and report the actual supply vs the planned, demand of diversified STEM interns for each organization. Working with the receiving organizations, we will also track and report t,he number of LETS GO provided diverse STEM interns who join the STEM workforce. The yield of successful STEM interns from each of ou,r 4 supply sources will be tracked and reported providing information to ONR on the return on investment of STEM outreach programs f,or each of these sources of future STEM workers.This ONR grant will support the expansion of LETS GOs student data base system and,our program evaluation system. We will systematize LETS GO current program evaluation methodology and toolset so that it can be prov,ided to other STEM program providers. We will also use this grant to expand into other regions of interest to ONR. LETS GOs demons,trates 12+ years of proven results of our STEM education and workforce development program. LETS GOs Theory of Change Logic Model , with performance measures for each of the 14 change steps from kindergarten to workforce hasprovided credible evidence of mission, success. LETS GOs founder and CEO, Dr. Clark Corky Graham, is a retired Navy captain and Northrop Grumman Senior Vice President,with over 40 years of experience in systems engineering/integration working on naval ship design and construction. LETS GOs Board o,f Directors is comprised of retired senior executives of the Navy (uniformed, civil servants, and contractors) with extensive experi,ence working with ONR and the Navy R&D community as well as active and retired executives in the business and education sectors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 14, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212090
Entities
People
- Clark Graham
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy