Boys and Girls Club Receives Huge Monetary Gift to Boost STEM Programs

Apr 1, 2022 | partnerships, STEM E-learning

The clubs offer a variety of after-school, weekend, and summer programs for young people focused on homework, arts, STEM, leadership, mentoring, recreation and sports, and more. Many of the clubs operate in underserved neighborhoods. As with all of Scott’s previous donations since 2020, the gift is unrestricted.

“Gifts like this are rare and have incredible impact,” Jim Clark, president and CEO of the organization, said in a news release. “It’s a historic moment for our organization and the Clubs that received MacKenzie Scott’s significant support. We know now, more than ever, that with the right support system, positive mentorship, and opportunities, kids can thrive.”

The contribution appears to be part of Scott’s fourth round of giving, which she announced in December. It is also the latest in a series of donations Scott has made to large national nonprofits that have dozens or more local chapters scattered throughout the country that provide services to people in marginalized or low-income areas. Giving to national charity networks is one way Scott’s giving has had a ripple effect in the nonprofit world.

Overall, Scott has given more than $8 billion to nearly 900 nonprofits since 2020. Forbes estimates her net worth at more than $46 billion. Scott wrote in the Giving Pledge letter she signed in 2019 that she intends to continue giving the bulk of her wealth to charity in the coming years. Her husband, Dan Jewett, wrote his own Giving Pledge letter in 2021.

MacKenzie Scott donates $50 million to support USDA youth programs

The National 4-H Council, which supports The Department of Agriculture’s 4-H Youth Development Program, said in a statement that Scott’s gift will support “positive youth development” for nearly six million kids and their families. 4-H programs help kids and teens across the country complete health, science and other projects during after-school programs and other venues.

It’s the second largest gift known to have been made by MacKenzie Scott since she announced last year that she gave $2.7 billion to charitable nonprofits. In the past two years, Scott has given more than $8 billion of her wealth, estimated by Forbes at $45.7 billion.

New tech partnership brings more educational opportunities

Dec 7, 2020 | partnerships, STEM E-learning

Renewed efforts to bring more tech engagement to our community are underway: InnoPower, Rooted School (Rooted), the Indianapolis Recorder and Eleven Fifty Academy have announced a partnership to improve exposure to technology and light up career paths into the tech industry for African Americans. The shared mission is to create opportunities and a clear career roadmap, from high school to adulthood, for African Americans, who are currently underrepresented in tech.

By reverse-engineering clear pathways to entering the tech workforce, these partnering organizations are working to create a tech talent funnel. Creating change and opening doors to mentorship, internships and open forum discussions on career opportunities for people of color to enter the tech workforce has been a driver of Emil Ekiyor, CEO and Founder of InnoPower.

“Tech is supposed to be the great equalizer. It is projected that the Indianapolis area’s base of tech occupation employment — a subset of net tech employment — will grow by 7.8% by 2026*. We can’t just sit back and hope Black and brown students are prepared for these opportunities,” said Ekiyor, who was born in Nigeria and moved to the U.S. at the age of 15 to pursue his education. “We must create them.”

Community engagement is a major component of the plan, with town halls planned in 2021.

Creating awareness is critical so that people can discover their own potential for a career in tech. Starting young, as with Rooted School, provides students early experience and exposure to highly sought-after jobs in technology. A goal for Rooted School graduates is to go onto college with a sense of purpose and a relevant context for being there. All graduates will leave with a job offer in one hand and a college acceptance letter in the other.

Learn more

Best Buy Grant Supports Digital Literacy

Jul 1, 2020 | media, partnerships

Best Buy sponsors DigiU Tech Labs to Enhance Leadership and Learning Partnerships with Digipreneurship University

PRESS RELEASE

December 5th

Jacksonville, Florida – APEL Health Services Center, Inc. (APEL), was recently awarded a $5,000 technology grant from Best Buy Children’s Foundation. APEL, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, operating in Northeast Florida since 1999, is dedicated to health/wellness & disease prevention/ intervention.

The Best Buy grant is directed to local and regional nonprofit organizations that provide teens with places and opportunities to develop 21st-century technology skills that will inspire future education and career choices.

“Our youth need digital literacy training and knowledge about accessing and safely utilizing new media. We know that technology drives progress and the more our youth know, the more successful they will be,” says Mr. Stokes, Executive Director at APEL.

Project YouthLink is APEL’s signature comprehensive youth-oriented program designed to meet the needs of communities challenged with broadband education and access. The grant will assist in providing online and on-site technology mentoring to Teen Peer Educators (TPEs) in hopes of fostering peer leadership for youth who need critical access to new media skills. APEL’s Project YouthLink is facilitated by Teen Digipreneurs and is overseen by trained and qualified adult staff, YouthLink Program Coordinators.

APEL will administer the grant and Digipreneur specialist coaches and consultants will facilitate digital literacy. Mr. Shannon is a pioneer of innovative platforms and concepts with over 20 years of professional experience in business development and instructional design. Upon completion of training, the “Digipreneurs” will educate and tutor younger children in basic computer literacy, mobile safety, and learn to track their digital footprint.

APEL has strong ties to the community and has established confidential and trusting relationships, gaining the respect of community leaders, officials, stakeholders, and gatekeepers. These collaborations expose clients to culturally appropriate resources within their communities and meet multiple needs. APEL has served at least 9,000 Duval County residents.

“Digipreneurship is all about cultivating the best character in youth to grow the mindset that’s critical to success as an entrepreneur. We are excited to introduce a tech curriculum to APEL that’s more fully engaging for young people to embrace innovative technology. We truly need more private-public partnerships that emphasize STEM education and the importance of career mentoring.”, says Shannon, founder of Digipreneurship University.

To participate in DigiU Virtual classes Enroll today.

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Entrepreneurship programs can help ex-offenders stay out of prison

Oct 2, 2019 | coaching, financial literacy, partnerships

Indeed, given education and opportunities, ex-offenders often change their own antisocial behaviors. A rehabilitative approach more directly addresses the circumstances and attitudes that motivate individuals to commit crimes in the first place.

Most crimes are economically motivated. The employment barriers faced by ex-offenders only exacerbate the problems associated with returning to society.

Another arrest compounds the problems faced by ex-offenders, creating a rip-current against re-integration that intensifies over time.

Some rehabilitative programs show promise in breaking away from this pattern. Entrepreneurship, for example, helps marginalized individualized rebuild their lives by creating wealth and channeling a healthy disregard for rules into a personal and community asset.

Efforts like the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and Defy Ventures help offenders hone their existing skills through rigorous business classes and one-on-one mentoring, the culmination of which is a complete business plan.

These programs boast recidivism rates of less than 10 percent among graduates. This statistic alone represents both a social and fiscal feat, as each ex-offender who stays out of the criminal justice system reduces crime and frees up approximately $20,000 of Florida taxpayer funding annually.

These programs provide powerful testimony to the effectiveness of well-designed rehabilitative programs for soon-to-be released offenders.

The Promise: My Brother’s Keeper

May 4, 2015 | innovation, partnerships

The Executives’ Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color, launched in April 2013, is a growing network of national, regional, and community foundations. Our 30 member institutions engage in a broad array of initiatives and activities to support boys and men of color, including the recently announced White House public-private partnership My Brother’s Keeper. We applaud the nine alliance members and other foundations for joining the Obama administration in this important initiative.

The Executives’ Alliance is committed to:

Using our collective and individual voices to affirm the value and contributions of boys and men of color as indispensable to our nation’s success
Focusing the attention of policy makers to address and dismantle structural barriers to opportunity for boys and men of color; and
Increasing, leveraging and coordinating investments such that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

We are open to all philanthropic organizations that want to invest in America’s future by giving their support toward expanding opportunity for boys and men of color. We offer a venue for philanthropic organizations with a shared focus to connect with each other.

To learn more about the Executives’ Alliance, visit www.boysandmenofcolor.org/executivesalliance, or contact Jordan Thierry at jthierry@frontlinesol.com. Follow us on twitter at: @bmocexecallianc.

To learn more about philanthropy’s partnership with the Obama Administration through My Brother’s Keeper, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper.

Florida’s Digital Classroom Symposium in Tampa, FL

Nov 12, 2014 | innovation, media, partnerships

Join education tech developer and Digipreneur, Jermyn Shannon El at the Museum of Science and Industry, located at 4801 E Fowler Ave., Tampa, Florida 33617, for Florida’s Digital Classroom Symposium.

The State of Florida, local school districts, universities, not-for-profit education foundations, along with business and technology companies are all interested in this discussion; we have approximately 350 registrants. The panelists and moderators are equally enthused, and we expect a productive and fruitful exchange of ideas.

Tomorrow’s format allows for five panels, each with a 45 minute duration. During the initial 25 minutes, panelists will share their thoughts and observations. The remaining 20 minutes will be for questions and answers. Audience members will have two options for submitting questions. One option will be via Twitter, with a dedicated hashtag for each panel and there will also be microphones circulating in the audience.

Event Objectives:

Primary:

Advance student achievement by merging educational practices with digital innovation. Teaching professionals discuss with hi-tech specialists, adapting technology for enhanced learning.

Secondary:

That school systems uncover the effective approaches for integrating technology.
That technology providers collaborate toward enhancing student learning in doing so also grow their business.

Lutz, FL >

Senator John Legg proudly announces Florida’s Digital Classroom Initiative Symposium. This event will be hosted at Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) on Thursday, November 13, 2014, from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Education professionals and hi-tech specialists will discuss adapting technology for enhanced learning and advancing student achievement.

Select panels will cover an array of topics, addressing the goals, challenges and needs of educators, students and employers. The State of Florida, local school districts, universities, not-for-profit education foundations, along with business and technology companies, will share their insights, with the following leaders participating:

Jason Allison, Chief Information Officer & Executive Director, Florida Agency for State Technology
Tina Barrios, Assistant Superintendent of Information Systems & Technology, Polk County Schools
Anna Brown, Chief Information & Technology Officer, Hillsborough County Schools
Kurt Browning, Superintendent, Pasco County Schools
Neil Campbell, Policy Director for Personalized & Blended Learning, Foundation for Excellence in Education
Joseph Clark, Vice President, MGT of America
Craig Cowden, Chief Network Officer & Senior Vice President of Enterprise Solutions, Bright House Networks
Michael Eugene, Chief Operations Officer, Orange County Schools
President Andy Gardiner, President of the Florida Senate
Michael Grego, Superintendent, Pinellas County Schools
Don Hall, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Manatee County Schools
Senator John Legg, Florida Senate, District 17
Juhan Mixon, Executive Director, Florida Association of School Administrators
Tom Moffses, Superintendent, Hamilton County Schools
Senator Bill Montford, Florida Senate, District 3
Alexis Muellner, Editor, Tampa Bay Business Journal
Ron Nieto, Deputy Commissioner of Innovation, Florida Department of Education
Thomas O’Neal, Associate Vice President of Research & Commercialization / Executive Director of the Business Incubation Program, UCF”
Trish Parrish, President, Florida Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
Don Pemberton, Director, UF Lastinger Center for Learning
Chase Stockon, Chairman, Tampa Bay Technology Forum
James Welsh, Assistant Director, USF Florida Center for Instructional Technology
Cameron Wilson, Chief Operations Officer & Vice President of Government Affairs, Code.org

The Florida Legislature directed the Florida Department of Education to develop and implement a 5-year strategic plan for establishing digital classrooms (2014 – HB 5101). This $40 million initial plan is to support individual school districts with their respective efforts of integrating technology in classrooms. With the goal of improvement in student performance, it seeks to merge educational practices with digital innovation.

Anyone wishing to attend this event may register at: http://tinyurl.com/EdTechFL.

Have You Flipped Your Classroom?

Jun 30, 2014 | innovation, partnerships

Digipreneurship specialists are dedicated to the blended learning model because we realize the huge amount of confusion and misinformation surrounding school safety and attendance during the Covid crisis. There is no doubt virtual learning is the “go-to” method of education and will likely remain the best viable instructional methodology.

This article was originally published by…TheDailyRiff.com

Enroll

Thus the purpose of this article is to list out what we believe it is and what we believe online education is, as opposed to what it is not.

The Flipped Classroom is NOT:

A synonym for online videos. When most people hear about the flipped class all they think about are the videos. It is the interaction and the meaningful learning activities that occur during the face-to-face time that is most important.
About replacing teachers with videos.
An online course.
Students working without structure.
Students spending the entire class staring at a computer screen.
Students working in isolation.

The Flipped Classroom IS:

A means to INCREASE interaction and personalized contact time between students and teachers.
An environment where students take responsibility for their own learning.
A classroom where the teacher is not the “sage on the stage”, but the “guide on the side”.
A blending of direct instruction with constructivist learning.
A classroom where students who are absent due to illness or extra-curricular activities such as athletics or field-trips, don’t get left behind.
A class where content is permanently archived for review or remediation.
A class where all students are engaged in their learning.
A place where all students can get a personalized education.

In the upcoming virtual learning series, we will discuss more in-depth how to go about flipping the class and the stages involved in doing so successfully.

New Education Platforms Power Online Digital Literacy Curriculum

Mar 25, 2014 | coaching, partnerships, STEM E-learning

The first stage of Digipreneurhip is Interoperability, the ability of making systems and organizations to work together (inter-operate) or to which systems and devices can exchange data, and interpret that shared data. We understand the challenges faced by most low income families who do not have access to adequate computers, tablets and smart phones. For students and families who complete the Digipreneur training we strive to help provide access to refurbished or new computers and software loaded with educational resources, along with assistance in signing up for affordable broadband and access to 24/7 bilingual IT helpdesk support. These resources extend student learning after school, improve communication between parents and schools, and more fully engage parents in the learning process.

Teacher training is another important component of Digital Citizenship, the basis for our culture proficiency technology program. Career and technical educators benefit from students and parents exposed to Digital Citizenship and Basic Computer skills, especially when they incorporate relevant content into lesson plans to empower everyday choices. Both CommonSense.org and PowerMyLearning.com are platform we use to help enrich the curriculum for students of all ages. E-learning environments are vital to equip teachers with valuable tools to customize instructional materials for kids at different learning levels. With online learning activities tagged by subject, grade, academic standards and other categories, tech educators in more than 30,000 school communities nationwide are empowered more than ever.

Prince and Essence Partner for Innovation Fund

Feb 1, 2014 | innovation, partnerships

The Rebuild The Dream Innovation Fund is partnering with Essence and Prince to launch our newest initiative, #YesWeCode, at the 20th Annual Essence Festival on July 4-7 in New Orleans. On Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, Essence Magazine released the following press release, announcing this partnership.

#YesWeCode asks: What if you were given the opportunity to flip the current American status quo / economic landscape upside down? What if youth from the east side of Detroit, the southside of

#YesWeCode is a response to the negative image of low-opportunity youth in America. The unnerving death of Trayvon Martin has given us an opportunity to create a bold, game-changing strategy.

Chicago, the fourth quarter of New Orleans, etc. came together in collaboration to build amazing game-changing apps, support one another in partnership, mentorship and entrepreneurship and to begin elevating the condition of low-opportunity neighborhoods across the country? What if we mobilized the nation around the #YesWeCode initiative to train at least 100,000 youth from low-opportunity neighborhoods to become high-level computer programmers?

#YesWeCode is a response to the negative image of low-opportunity youth in America. The unnerving death of Trayvon Martin has given us an opportunity to create a bold, game-changing strategy.

“I always remember how Trayvon Martin’s hoodie was seen as a justification for his murder,” says Van Jones, the founder of The Rebuild the Dream Innovation Fund and #YesWeCode. “But billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wears hoodies — and nobody shoots at him. So let’s flip the script: let’s give our hoodie-wearing youth the same tools, training and technology that the kids taking over Silicon Valley have. I hope #YesWeCode creates 100,000 ‘Mark Zuckerberg’s’ — and that a whole lot of them look just like Trayvon Martin.”

So, what if youth of color, girls, and low-income youth were given the space and motivation to “geek-out” during a hack-a-thon, a robotics competition or a pitch mixer? Is that the secret sauce to increasing their economic employability and their neighborhood’s social prosperity? No, not entirely. You are. And you’re equipped with all the tools they’ll need – energy, excitement, wisdom, cultural values and tradition, coding knowledge, business and investment “know-how”, passion for economic justice, a commitment to thriving communities and to diversifying technology innovation.

Join the movement. Become a part of #YesWeCode.

What is Inclusive Competitiveness?

Jan 9, 2014 | innovation, partnerships

New job creators also play an outsized role in the development of innovative new products and services that can revolutionize industries and transform entire sectors of our economy. Research shows that innovation has been responsible for approximately two-thirds of our country’s economic growth since World War II.

Empowering these businesses, and embracing an inclusive view of entrepreneurship, is essential to our long-term economic growth and global competitiveness. We need more people across the country to start the types of businesses that make our economy more competitive and our industries more innovative. That’s why we’re making strategic investments that focus on increasing access to capital for high-growth businesses, strengthening entrepreneurial skills training and building regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (through clusters and growth accelerators).

We must also make the necessary investments in STEM fields so that we can have a workforce with the skills and expertise to compete and win in an increasingly competitive global economy.

By making these investments, we will build on our nation’s economic recovery, inject new energy and momentum into our economy, bolster new business starts and leverage the greatest driver of innovation and job creation in the world—the American entrepreneur.

— an excerpt from Karen Mills, Forbes

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America21 defines The Innovation Economy as the period in the late 20th and early 21st centuries marked by radical socioeconomic changes brought about by the following:

[alert color=yellow align=center] Further globalization of commerce ; democratization of information ; exponential growth of entrepreneurship, and ; acceleration of new knowledge creation [/alert]

[hr style=dashed-line margin_top= margin_bottom=]

Inclusive Competitiveness is girded by three pillars:
[list type=bullets-red ]

Education, specifically STEM (science, technology, engineering, math)
Entrepreneurship, especially high-growth
Access to Capital, capital formation and investment (including equity, debt and credit)

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[slideshare id=26629994&doc=inclusivecompetitivenessglossayofterms-130927152238-phpapp02]

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