Vote NOW for Time Warner Cable's first-ever STEM Super Connector!

There are thousands of individuals hard at work across the country working to connect young people in their communities to high-quality, high-impact science, technology, engineering, and math learning opportunities. Now, Time Warner Cable is seeking to recognize those individuals through their Super Connector search. Part of their Connect a Million Minds initiative, the Super Connector search will award one individual with $10,000 to support the non-profit of their choice, as well as the opportunity to appear in a Connect a Million Minds TV commercial!

Every nominee has an inspiring story to tell--including some Coalition for Science After School members--and you can view their video stories, and read more about them, on their page. Good luck to all of the contenders, and thank you for the inspiring work that you do!

Connecting Young Minds to STEM

Time Warner Cable's five-year Connect a Million Minds (CAMM) initiative has reached a major milestone just two years into its existence. The $100 million philanthropic initiative aims to introduce one million children in the U.S. the exciting world of science, technology, engineering, and math. Already, CAMM has connected 400,000 young minds to STEM. 

How has CAMM managed to reach out to so many kids and their families--and how can you support their effort?

• Educators, parents and other individuals can join the campaign and pledge to bring STEM learning opportunities to their communities.   
• Check out the CAMM-produced videos featuring kids from all over the world talking about why STEM is important to them.
• If you're in a Time Warner Cable market, you can request support from CAMM. In just the last few weeks, CAMM has supported groups in South Carolina and California, and Time Warner Cable corporate volunteers have volunteered as coaches for robotics teams.

We're proud to say that we have worked with CAMM by operating the National After School Science Directory. The STEM programs and events in the Directory populate the Connectory, where kids and families from across the country can find STEM learning opportunities in their hometowns. 

Thanks to Connect a Million Minds and Time Warner Cable for their great work!
 

Directory Update 2011

In 2009, the Coalition for Science After School partnered with Time Warner Cable's philanthropic initiative Connect a Million Minds to create the National After School Science Directory. The Directory is a fast, free way for organizations across the country to promote their opportunities for doing science, technology, engineering, and math in out-of-school time. Tens of thousands of students, parents, educators, advocates, and other stakeholders have used the Connectory to find STEM programs & events in their communities.

This month, we are working to include the many STEM opportunities that have been initiated since 2009 into the Directory, as well as updating past opportunities that have new dates. If your organization has not yet shared their opportunities in the Directory, we invite you to take advantage of this resource and share your activities on a national scale. If you have opportunities that have expired, please take a moment to log in and update those dates so that users can continue to have access to your great work. Remember, only active opportunities with current dates show up in public searches!

If you need assistance updating your entries, or have questions about the Directory, feel free to contact us at directory {at} afterschoolscience {dot} org.

Thank you for your continuing support of afterschool science. We look forward to reading more about your great work in the Directory!

Share your STEM opportunities in the National After School Science Directory!

The Coalition's Directory and Time Warner Cable's Connectory are a free, easy-to-use tool to share your opportunities for doing STEM in out-of-school time on a national scale. List your programs and events in the Directory to share them with parents, students, educators, policy-makers, and advocates in your community and beyond.

If you are already a part of the Directory, now is a great time to update your opportunities. Simply log in, click on "programs & events," and update your entries. Create new opportunities by clicking on the "create program or event" button. Remember, only active opportunities--those with dates that have not passed--show up in public searches, so keep your programs and events current!

If you're new, signing up only creates a couple of minutes at www.afterschoolscience.org/directory. For assistance or questions, feel free to email us directly at directory (at) afterschoolscience.org.

Thank you for supporting science in out-of-school time!

Science Education in the New Year

Early January is a great time to reflect on success of the past year and to create goals for the year to come. Here are some things to do to re-commit yourself to introducing young minds to science in out of school time:

• Visit the our partners at Connect a Million Minds and take the pledge to connect young minds to science! 
• Grant deadlines will sneak up faster than you think! Take some time to create or update your grant and fellowship deadline calendar. Check out places like Grantmakers for Education and The Foundation Center to search for foundations and funders relevant to your projects.
• This new year also brings a new Congress at the federal level, as well as many new representatives at the state level. Become familiar with your local and state representatives, the 112th Congress, and the changes to the federal Afterschool Caucus so that you can be a strong advocate for afterschool programs in the next two years. 
• Update your Directory listings to reflect any new calendar dates and/or times!
• Check out the conferences and events that you may be interested in attending.

Do you have any STEM or education-related New Year's Resolutions or goals? What are you going to do differently in 2011?

Conference Update: Keynote Presentation, Funding Plenary, and our Breakout Sessions!

For those of you not in LA with us, we just wrapped up our first full day of the 2010 National Conference on Science and Technology in Out of School Time! We started off the morning with an excellent Keynote Presentation from Dr. Pedro Noguera, who spoke eloquently and engagingly about the need for innovative education in STEM. After two rounds of breakout sessions and lunch, we heard from major funders of STEM programs, who spoke about what they look for in potential fundees and funding trends in the field. There are exciting collaborations and partnerships being made all around!

The folks at Project Exploration have been blogging all day over at http://www.projectexploration.org/blog/ and tweeting at #scienceafterschool. Lots of big updates over there, so take a look!