The Intel Foundation is excited to announce a partnership with the STEM Next Opportunity Fund (the legacy organization of the Robert N. Noyce Foundation), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and many other technology and philanthropic leaders to launch a nationwide initiative designed to help close the gender, socioeconomic and racial diversity gaps in STEM fields. The Million Girls Moonshot is a transformative, nationwide movement that will re-imagine who can engineer, who can build and who can invent.
Just as the original Moonshot nearly 60 years ago united the nation behind a common goal, the Million Girls Moonshot is taking a collaborative, collective impact approach to change the trajectory of women and girls in STEM. It will provide grant funding and in-kind resources such as technical assistance, access to educational resources and STEM mentors to the afterschool networks in all 50 states so they can provide high-quality, immersive STEM learning opportunities to the millions of children who participate in afterschool programs across the nation. By working with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation’s afterschool networks, the Million Girls Moonshot has the potential to reach up to 10 million school-age children in more than 100,000 afterschool learning programs – many of whom live in communities that have traditionally lacked access to high-quality STEM education.
As an inaugural funder, Intel Foundation is contributing $1 million in the first year, as well as technical assistance, access to our She Will Connect program, and support from Intel employee volunteers who can serve as STEM mentors and ignite a lasting passion for technology, engineering and computer science among girls and at-promise youth.
We’re thrilled at the way the Million Girls Moonshot brings together the charitable organizations of Intel’s founders Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore in leading the charge on this important initiative. By helping girls from diverse backgrounds develop an engineering mindset that encourages building, experimenting and perseverance, this is carrying on the legacy of Robert Noyce and his oft-repeated declaration, “Don’t be encumbered by history, go off and do something wonderful.”
Visit the Million Girls Moonshot website to learn more.