2024 Grants

PUBLIC PREP (NEW YORK CITY)

Public Prep opened the first all-girls public charter school in New York City in 2005. Today it runs three successful non-profit, single-sex, elementary and middle charter schools in the Bronx. We’ve supported Public Prep programs twice in the past and are happy to support a program this year.

Environmental science curriculum

Public Prep uses the Amplify STEM for Girls program to teach a comprehensive science program focused on earth sciences, green energy, and environmental sustainability. Amplify provides a range of resources including print materials, hands-on investigations, and digital modeling tools. Each unit engages students in a relevant, real-world problem where they investigate scientific phenomena, engage in collaboration and discussion, and develop models or explanations to arrive at solutions.

The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day. Each kit contains hands-on materials, both consumable and nonconsumable, and various print materials (e.g., Vocabulary and Key Concept cards). Students access digital simulations and modeling tools through a digital student experience. Developed exclusively for Amplify Science, these digital tools serve as venues of exploration and data collection, allowing students to explore scientific concepts that might otherwise be invisible to the naked eye.

Public Prep uses the Amplify program for students in Kindergarten through 8th grade. The Grade 6 units include:

  • Microbiome

  • Metabolism

  • Traits and reproduction

  • Thermal energy

  • Ocean atmosphere and climate

  • Weather patterns

  • Earth’s changing climate

There are also two 6th Grade “internships.” In the first, students act as food engineering interns to design a health bar to feed people involved in natural disasters, with a particular emphasis on two populations who have health needs beyond what can be provided by emergency meals: patients and rescue workers. Student plans must meet three design criteria: 1) address the metabolic needs of a target population; 2) taste as good as possible; and 3) minimize costs while serving as many people as possible. Students consider trade-offs while designing solutions to deepen their understanding of metabolism.

In the second internship, students act as civil engineering interns to design a plan to modify the way a city’s roofs reflect light and heat, in order to reduce the city’s impact on climate change. These plans must meet three design criteria: 1) reduce impact on the climate; 2) preserve the city’s historic character; and 3) minimize costs. Students focus on the practice of isolating variables in planning and conducting tests to deepen their understanding of climate change. They also learn about the cause-and-effect mechanisms involved as changes to albedo and combustion of fossil fuels affect climate.

The Foundation’s grant of $7500 will support the Amplify program for 50% of the non-personnel costs for Grade 6, which has 78 students.

GIRLS ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (LOS ANGELES)

The Girls Academic Leadership Academy in Los Angeles (GALA) is the first (and only) all-girls STEM-focused public school in California. We’ve supported them for several years in the past and this year are happy to support two programs. 

Financial literacy event for middle-schoolers

As we have for the past two years, we’ll support the “Reality Store” event this year. The Reality Store is a financial simulation that teaches financial planning, goal setting, decision making, and career planning. After several weeks of preparing materials and training student managers, teachers will introduce students to basic financial planning concepts in classroom preparation sessions. After the classroom component, the students will all participate in the Reality Store event, which will consist of 15-20 booths.  Each student will visit the booths (“stores”), including the one they helped build, with a mock debit card and checkbook. Each booth will represent an aspect of adult life where money is involved, e.g., Banking, Investments, Housing, Utilities, Child Care, Insurance, and so on. When students visit a particular booth, they’ll have to spend money for that service or necessity, and deduct that amount from their paycheck or bank account. By visiting the booths (some of which are mandatory, and some of which are optional), the students learn about making wise financial decisions, and learn how much money they might need to make as an adult to sustain a particular lifestyle.

Along the way, the students will calculate after-tax monthly salaries, percentages of income that must be spent on basic necessities, loan payments, and interest rates. The program helps students see math in a practical light and will highlight the importance of math in their everyday lives. It’s a great fit for the Foundation, and we’re happy to support it again.

The grant is for $3000, which will benefit 350 students.

Financial literacy event for high-schoolers

GALA’s curriculum includes an Economics class for High School Seniors. As part of the class, 83 GALA Seniors will participate in the “JA Finance Park” with Junior Achievement of Southern California. The programming consists of a 12-lesson classroom curriculum in personal finance, a field trip to the Finance Park, and a post-trip classroom debrief. At the Finance Park, the set-up is similar to Reality Store (see above): each student is provided a tablet with a randomly generated persona with details of their “adult life,” including job title, annual salary, age, marital status, debt, savings and credit score. The students visit various “storefronts” corresponding to monthly budget line items. The big difference between this high-school-level experience and the Reality Store is that the booths are staffed by volunteers from local businesses: for example, the students can talk to a real Bank of America employee at the storefront for home loans, a real Capital One employee to apply for a student loan, a real Toyota employee to explore car pricing, and so on -- and in the process learn which purchases are realistic based on their persona’s salary and credit score. It’s a great way to step up to the next level of financial literacy. You can find more details here: https://jasocal.org/finance-park/

Foundation funds of $3947 will be used for all 83 students in the program.

THE GIRLS’ MIDDLE SCHOOL (PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA)

The Foundation has supported programs at The Girls’ Middle School since 2010. This year, we’re happy to continue our support with a special robotics program.

Robotics competition

As we did last year, we will support a special robotics team. At GMS, the Bennett Scholars Program supports young women from under-resourced backgrounds who are often the first generation in their families to be college-bound. The program covers tuition, laptops, lunches, uniforms, one-on-one tutoring, field trip costs, and general school supplies.

In the 2024-25 school year, GMS will field four teams in the VEX Robotics competition. One of those teams (the Fantastic Six) team consists entirely of six 7th and 8th Grade Bennett Scholars once again. The VEX teams are led by the 6th Grade computer science teacher, with the support of parent volunteers (who are typically established Silicon Valley professionals).

Each student is strongly encouraged to take on a role within the team -- builder, coder, note taker, driver, etc. Teams meet twice per week, for a total of three hours per week to collaborate, receive mentorship from established Silicon Valley professionals, and learn from each other. Returning students are considered area experts and share their knowledge and experience with new members, who actively seek their advice on robot assembly and best engineering documentation practices.

One of the students we supported last year had this to say:

“With these experiences, we, the Fantastic 6, were able to reconnect with GMS alums and their Robotics teams, meet people who have been in the field for a long time, visit bigshot impressive Robotics Labs, and talk with women engineers who presented clear examples of resilience and perseverance. We have been presented with leadership opportunities in and outside of GMS. 'You have an engineering mind' were the words [my teachers] used to describe my work... Five simple words that for me encompass so much and made me believe that I could reach higher than I ever thought I could!”

The Foundation’s $7500 grant will fully support the 6-student Bennett Scholar team, with a competition base robot, prototype robots, parts, competition fees, and transportation to events.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP NETWORK (NEW YORK CITY)

We have supported Student Leadership Network (and its predecessor organizations) with a variety of grants since 2007 and we're happy to continue our support again this year. Hundreds of young women get a quality single-sex education at these schools across New York City.

Ecology program

As it has for the past few years, the Foundation will support a winter ecology program for students from SLN’s four New-York-area schools (Astoria, Booklyn, East Harlem, Queens). The Christodora Winter Ecology Program is a seven-week inquiry-based science program for middle school students. Past topics have included:

  • human impact on the environment

  • where drinking water comes from

  • conservation

  • the impact of urban sprawl on the environment and animals

Activities include dissecting owl pellets and identifying what the owl ate, and examining how animal skull formations show if the animal was a predator or prey.

The grant is for $4500, which covers more than 500 students.