Thanks to a generous $7.5M commitment from the Permian Strategic Partnership over the next five years, we will open STEM Centers in every elementary school located in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, impacting 60,000 kids.
In 2016, the Ripken Foundation launched our national evidence-informed STEM Center program to give vulnerable youth ages 3 to 14, primarily in urban and rural areas, much needed access to STEM education in communities where STEM learning does not exist. We partner with local school districts and youth organizations across the U.S. in need of STEM resources to help students succeed academically in STEM subjects. During each STEM Center installation, we train educators to use age-appropriate educational STEM products and the Ripken Foundation’s custom-designed elementary and middle school STEM curriculum which is based on Next Generation Science Standards to spark the imagination and creativity of youth. Kids are able to discover, explore, develop, and engage using experiential, hands-on learning throughout the year-round Ripken Foundation STEM program. Each STEM Center is equipped with the latest technology, educational STEM products, a custom-designed curriculum with easy-to-use lesson plans, furniture, and consumable materials. To date, we have 179 completed STEM Centers in 16 states which impact over 58,000 kids in elementary and middle schools across the country.
To learn more about the Permian Strategic Partnership's support of the Ripken Foundation STEM Centers, click here.