FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2018 | Contact: Becky Carroll | [email protected] |312-350-5260
Lumity will receive $20,000 as part of the Project Innovation Grant Challenge presented by NBC5, Telemundo Chicago, and the NBCUniversal Foundation.
Chicago, IL – Lumity, a Chicago-based non-profit that provides teens and youth from underserved communities with transformational experiences to prepare them for lifelong STEM careers, was named a 2018 ‘Project Innovation’ Grant Challenge Winner. Lumity will receive $20,000 from the NBCUniversal Foundation and will use the money to expand STEM programs for 400 incoming freshmen at three underserved Chicago high schools next school year.
Lumity prepares every student for a career in STEM through hands-on experiences in the workplace in partnership with STEM professionals and corporations. Lumity’s commitment to their community, in addition to their outstanding programming that leverages technology to solve everyday problems in the areas of civic engagement, skills for the digital economy and STEM youth programming are among some of the reasons for their selection.
“We could not be more thrilled with this grant, which is a recognition of the great work that our team, corporate partners, and school partners are doing every day to engage young people and prepare them for both life and a career in STEM,” said Kara Kennedy, Executive Director of Lumity. “We are so grateful to the NBCUniversal Foundation for their support of organizations like ours that are working every day to make a meaningful impact on the future of our youth.”
Lumity’s holistic program model is built upon a public-private partnership with firms across the Chicagoland area. Accenture, Allstate, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Cognizant, with additional support from CDW, Deloitte, PWC, USG Corp., Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust and Tata Consultancy Services and their employees generously donate their time and talents to help prepare high school students for employment through hosting career site visits and/or One-Day Challenges.
Unlike other programs that take short-term approaches, Lumity’s four-year program supports students through each of their high school years. To learn about Lumity, visit its website at www.lumity.org.
Background on Lumity:
Lumity provides a free, four-year (freshman through senior year) STEM curriculum at public high schools serving students in disadvantaged communities, with a goal of getting 25% of all its students to pursue careers in STEM. Its current partners include CPS and Waukegan public schools. Lumity employs a holistic approach to helping students not only prepare for careers in STEM, but building the life skills needed to be successful, no matter what profession they choose. Lumity aims to build and strengthen students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills, ability to work in a team and effectively collaborate, develop stronger inter/intra-personal skills and teach valuable presentation skills through the combination of real-world projects, STEM talks, career site visits and career and life readiness skills. As part of the organization’s commitment to their school partners, they help students gain hands-on job experience by working with them to create their own social enterprise business where they learn how to manage clients, collaborate, meet deadlines and overcome conflict.
