Community Foundation awards $902,400 in grants

With careers in health care, financial services and information technology earmarked to be the fastest growing professions by 2018, nationwide efforts continue to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education as critical to developing a workforce to meet those future demands. Recently, however, it has been recognized that infusing the arts into a STEM education can transform the way our youth think and learn. Adding the arts to STEM now expands education to STEAM and creates a forward-thinking, transformative concept that builds creative thinking, analysis and problemsolving skills — all vital abilities to prepare our future innovators.

The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties recently approved $902,400 in grants to support STEAM curriculums that will reach 27,000 students.

Ten non-profit organizations from Palm Beach and Martin counties were awarded grants for programs that integrate STEAM activities into their curriculums. The grants were made possible though The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fund, an endowed fund of the foundation, which addresses needs in arts and culture, education, the environment and community development. Since 2005, the MacArthur Fund has awarded $3.3 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the two counties.

The STEAM grants were awarded to the following nonprofit organizations:

¦ The ARC of Martin County for an At-Risk STEM CareerTraining Project that transitions at-risk teens from school to STEM careers in health care.

¦ Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County for the Science with an Artistic Perspective Program (SWAP) that blends the arts into an existing STEM curriculum.

¦ Education Foundation of Martin County for Full STEAM Ahead which expands their STEM curriculum to include arts education for students in grades K-12.

¦ Family Central Inc. for Full STEAM Ahead, which integrates STEAM activities in low-income child-care centers.

¦ Florida Atlantic University Research Corp. for the Biomedical Outreach Program that prepares disadvantaged students for health professions in Florida.

¦ Florida Press Educational Services for the production of “STEAM and You!,” a free curriculum guide distributed to Palm Beach public and private schools to build awareness about STEAM.

¦ Habitat for Humanity, Palm Beach County, for its Seminole Ridge High School Partnership Housing Project, which enables students of Seminole Ridge H.S. Construction Academy to build a Habitat house.

¦ My Choice Community Development Inc. for the My Choice STEAM Project designed to improve students’ knowledge and opportunities in STEAM related fields.

¦ Palm Beach County Cultural Council for Full STEAM Ahead, a program that enhances student learning through outreach and integration of the arts through science at Pioneer Park Elementary School.

¦ Prime Time Palm Beach County Inc. for Generate Some STEAM in Afterschool Project that provides STEM education through engaging activities that incorporate the arts.

¦ Zoological Society of the Palm Beaches for the Palm Beach Zoo STEAM Program that uses distance learning technology to bring zoo animals and zoo educators into classrooms, followed by field trips that bring students into the zoo environment. ¦