Youth Leadership Powered by STEAM

The Urban Lady Foundation Hey Girlfriend Network

K-12 STEAM Education

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

Working in a low income and urban area, I am able to see first hand that lower income, BIPOC children and families have less access to technology and other financial success reaources. This lack of access and resources provides an uneven playing field when it comes to breaking the cycle of poverty. I have witnessed many youth, and former students sacrifice higher education because the immediate needs in their lives dictate that they must forgo the delayed gratification of higher educational attainment, and thus breaking some economic barriers, to address more immediate and pressing needs of daily life and survival. I have studied these disparities extensively and understand that certain, targeted opportunities must be in place for this demographic to successfully achieve as do their non-minority counterparts. I have been in a position to observe that the main factor that impedes the success of these youth and by extension, their families is the lack of information and access.

This project will develop youth leaders through targeted and intentional participation in a varied spectrum of STEAM activities, emphasizing Servant Leadership and Youth Economic Development. Some of the activities that the youth will participate in include field trips to technology based workspaces, as well as cultural performances and college tours and other vocational workspaces. They will also participate in the Congressional Service Award which will foster leadership development as well. The project will provide exposure to various areas of STEAM, including educational opportunities, networking, careers options and recreation while developing leadership skills and financial literacy among Opportunity youth and through community service. One of the goals of this project is to also introduce youth to career fields that they characteristically have not been exposed to. Embedded within this project will be community service and leadership development. Servant Leadership is what the students will actually be learning about, practicing and implementing through guided interventions with school site staff (whom we will train and support) and vetted community partners to enhance overall learning and acquisition of the concepts being introduced and applied. Students will learn to develop and lead their own projects and learn to lead and support teams that will work with them to execute the projects that they develop.

The vision for this project is to foster a love for learning in children who are disenfranchised and view education as a chore and not a privilege. We seek to develop youth leaders with a heart of service, but who are also highly skilled in technology. We seek to develop well-rounded youth who are able to navigate through a variety of educational, social, civic and professional settings with confidence, skill and experience from participation in this program. We will use the backdrop of STEAM to teach financial literacy, leadership development; most specifically, Servant Leadership) that acknowledges citizens responsibility to be of service to others through the knowledge and skills they have acquired. Our goal is to produce a group of young leaders who will serve as mentors for the next group of youth that will come after them. Ultimately we want to produce well-rounded, well-versed youth who are on the pathway to becoming self sufficient adults and productive members of society.

In working with the schools, we will define success by increasing the number of STEAM classes that students are enrolled in. We will also provide educational support such as tutoring to help facilitate success in those courses. We will also define success by having newly opened bank accounts for youth, where we will provide the initial deposit, we will have youth leaders signed up and participating and completing the Congressional Award Program and this will be evidenced by Logged hours and reflections of Community Service activities, and pre and post assessments of we will also measure success based on how the youth sustain their financial literacy, their participation in community service activities and how they access and implement STEAM activities, most especially cultural performances once the initial year has been completed.

The Urban Lady Foundation: Fincial literacy Hey Girlfriend Network: Community Service, Servant Leadership