National Service Agency Announces New Commitment to STEM Education Initiative

STEM AmeriCorps program to expand to 15 new communities

NEW YORK – The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) today announced an effort to expand STEM AmeriCorps, an initiative first announced by President Obama at the White House Science Fair. The federal agency is inviting partners to expand the initiative to 15 communities across the country.

This announcement was made at the launch event for the third annual American Graduate Day, an initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Paul Monteiro, director of AmeriCorps VISTA, joined U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, as well as Wes Moore, host of American Graduate Day 2014, Patricia S. Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Neal Shapiro, president and CEO of WNET, and other education leaders at New York City’s Talent Unlimited High School to make this announcement.

“AmeriCorps members have a positive and lasting impact on the toughest challenges facing our communities, but we know they are especially valuable to the education community,” said Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which administers AmeriCorps. “By strengthening STEM education for students, especially those from low-income backgrounds, STEM AmeriCorps will spark greater interest in math and science and build ladders of opportunity these students might otherwise never have.”

STEM AmeriCorps is a multi-year effort to place hundreds of AmeriCorps members in nonprofits across the country to inspire young people to excel in STEM education. Current STEM AmeriCorps initiatives include partnerships with FIRST, Maker Education Initiative, Citizen Schools, US2020, Teach For America, and other organizations – efforts collectively engaging tens of thousands of students in STEM learning.

Later this month, CNCS will release their AmeriCorps VISTA Program Guidance, which outlines the national programming priorities for the VISTA program for coming fiscal year. The guidance will give priority to STEM education programs that will build partnerships between STEM students, faculty and staff, and community partners to develop long-term solutions for bolstering the number of underrepresented students who pursue and obtain STEM degrees.

This past summer, CNCS placed 256 AmeriCorps VISTA members in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia. This initiative connected more than 20,500- at-risk students in low-performing schools to STEM opportunities. 

STEM AmeriCorps advances the goals of the President’s Task Force on Expanding National Service to build public-private partnerships that expand opportunities for Americans to serve and increase the impact citizens have on our communities and nation.

The Obama administration has made STEM education a major priority.  In 2009, the President launched “Educate to Innovate,” a nationwide effort to move American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.  A growing number of jobs require STEM skills, and America needs a world-class STEM workforce to address the challenges of the 21st century. 

STEM AmeriCorps advances this national priority by using national service to spur greater interest by K-12 students in the STEM professions. The goals of STEM AmeriCorps include improving academic performance in STEM coursework, expanding the number of students on track to graduate ready for college and for careers in STEM fields, increasing interactions between youth and STEM professionals, and sparking the imagination and interest of students to pursue STEM subjects.