Edison’s initiatives, STEM Days Out, is a
partnership with area museums, particularly
the New York City area and Westchester,
to stimulate the interest of middle school
students in STEM. Over the first 3 years of
STEM Days Out, $725,000 grants were given to
11 partners and reached 17,000 students.
In addition, the Con Edison Scholars
Program, which awards endowed scholarships
at 15 local colleges and universities, pairs
scholarship recipients with employee mentors
and provides professional development
workshops and networking opportunities
throughout the year. Over the past three
years, Con Edison gave $1.6M in endowment
gifts to 15 local colleges and universities
to support students pursuing degrees in
STEM disciplines.
As part of Con Edison’s technical career
pipeline development strategy, the company
partners with Energy Tech High School, in
Queens, New York. Energy Tech is a 6-year
program, preparing students for engineering
and technology majors and careers. Con
Edison engineers helped build the curriculum,
provide teacher externships, student
internships, employee mentors and recently
funded the Con Edison engineering lab.
Con Edison has also introduced Con Edison
Smart Kids Energy Kits to teach students
easy ways to use energy more efficiently in
their homes. Program content supports New
York State Learning Standards so it is easily
integrated into existing curriculum.
“Our different perspectives help us see
the bigger picture as we power the lives and
livelihoods of the 10 million people we
serve in New York City and Westchester
County,” shares Alvarez. “We are proud of
our culture of fairness, respect, and inclusion.
Forty-seven percent of our workforce is
made up of minorities and we continue to
build on this effort.”
Today 17 local New York colleges and
universities offer Con Edison Endowed
Scholarships. Alvarez encourages participants
to check individually with participating schools.
“Our mission at Facebook is to give
people the power to build a community
and bring the world closer together,”
shares Lauryn Ogbechie, Education Partnerships
Director, Facebook. “Schools and learning
communities are among the most important
communities that we all belong to during our
lives – and one of the few experiences we
all have in common – where everyone can
build a community.”
Facebook for Education aims to contribute
to building equitable and inclusive learning
communities worldwide through programs,
tools and products designed to bring the
world closer together and ensure all learners
can be successful.
“It was essential to us that we get this
right from the beginning - that our work
should directly support and be developed in
partnership with underrepresented
communities in order to create equitable
learning opportunities and increase access
to resources, as well as skill-building
opportunities, that are good for impacted
communities and good for us all,” shares
Ogbechie. “Facebook’s mission is to give
people the power to build community
and bring the world closer together. Our
products and programs help educators
and learners build communities, expand
opportunities, and engage in issues important
to them. Together, these efforts support
lifelong learning and support fulfilling our
company’s mission.”
A few programs and resources Facebook
has in place targeting the Latinx/Hispanic
community include: TechPrep
(https://techprep.org/) and CodeFWD
(https://techprep.org/codefwd/), which are
computer science education programs
designed to inspire the next generation
of tech innovators and are available in English
and Spanish.
Programs that Inspire: Computer Science
Education: TechPrep, CodeFWD, TechStart,
Engineer for the Week, InspirED, Our
Best Selves, School Kindness Challenge,
Soapbox Nation.
Most recent, Facebook launched a new
Facebook for Education website that
connects educators and learners with
products, programs and resources
relevant to building inclusive learning
communities. A comprehensive list of all
of the education resources currently
available can be found on the Facebook
for Education website.
Diversity and inclusion are key to
Intel’s evolution and driving forces
for continued innovation and growth.
“We believe that diverse and inclusive
teams with unique perspectives are more
creative and innovative,” says Isaura
Gaeta, Intel’s Vice President, Labs and
University Research in the Intel Product
Assurance and Security Engineering
Group (IPAS). “For that reason, we are
dedicated to driving an industry
transformation and increasing the number of
LatinX STEM graduates.”
Intel’s most successful educational
initiative with the Hispanic community is
the ‘Latinos in Technology Scholarship
Initiative’ with the Hispanic Foundation of
Silicon Valley. In 2015, Intel pledged
$3.75 million over five years to support
a total of 125 scholarships for Latino
college students who have chosen a science,
technology, engineering, or math major.
For Intel, investing in education is not
only the right thing to do but also a
business imperative.
“If��we want to shape the future of��
technology, we must be representative of��
that future,” states Gaeta. “More diverse��
and inclusive teams simply produce��
better results����
Two years ago, Intel and the Dalberg
Institute released a study that found
improving ethnic and gender diversity
in the U.S. tech workforce represents a
massive economic opportunity, one that
could create $470 – $570 billion in new
value for the tech industry, and could add
1.2–1.6 percent to national GDP.
20 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol. 24, No. 5, 2018
/)
/)
/www.latinastyle.com
