National Girls’ Collaborative Project: Message from the South Atlantic AAUW Regional Liaison

AAUW is now participating in a new NSF-funded grant related to this topic of encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers.  I was chosen as one of two Regional Liaisons for the South Atlantic region (VA, WV, NC, SC, GA, FL, PR).   (See Nancy’s post from 11/07/06 regarding the announcement of this new position.)   

AAUW is partnering with the National Girls’ Collaborative Project, which is developing regional collaboratives across the country to help girl-serving organizations, education, business and industry work together to leverage resources and provide more opportunities for girls and young women in the STEM fields.  Both AAUW and NGCP have a strong interest in advancing the cause of gender equity, making this a great partnership opportunity.

A major goal of the NGCP is to create connections between organizations and individuals interested in helping girls pursue STEM interests so that resources are better used and outcomes of the programs (e.g., more women pursuing STEM careers) can be better tracked.  Programs participating in the NGCP receive many benefits, including access to a directory of organizations with similar goals and the opportunity to apply for mini-grants to fund collaborative projects basec on encouraging girls in STEM fields. 

Further information can be found at http://www.pugetsoundcenter.org/ngcp/index.html.

One of the Lead Collaboratives for the South Atlantic region (NC, SC, and WV) is The Science House, located at North Carolina State University (http://www.science-house.org/). 

All AAUW members can help make this project a success by directing interested organizations to register with the program directory at the NGCP website listed above.  I look forward to working with you to ensure that girls are given the opportunities they deserve to pursue these rewarding STEM interests.  The next newsletter will have more information on my interests in this field and how you can contact me to help out with this program.

-Michelle Staben