A New Exciting Beginning for SEM Link

In January 2010, SEM Link began its journey to become a national nonprofit organization by expanding our programs to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since it has been March since we last posted on our blog, you can see that it has been a busy but exciting time of transition for us to lay the foundation for becoming a national nonprofit. With today being the final day of the 2009-10 fiscal year, we thought it would be appropriate to give a summary of how we spend the final months of the 2009-10 fiscal year that we are about to close and what is to come in the new 2010-11 fiscal year.

The main reason, San Francisco Bay Area was chosen as the city that we would provide programs and services in addition to Metropolitan Atlanta, because establishing a presence in the West Coast would truly establish us as a national organization by offering programs on both coasts. Over the past few months, we have experienced the successes and challenges of this transition. Some of our challenges have been the same ones that other nonprofits are facing with decreasing financial support from individuals, corporations and grantors. The other challenge was while our Executive Director and Founder was in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was hard to determine who in the organization (staff, board of director, volunteer) in Atlanta would step up and do some of the things that she did when while she was living in Atlanta. It was also a challenge to determine what programs and services would be offered in each city and how our program structure would be affected as we transition beyond just serving Metropolitan Atlanta K-12 students, parents and educators.

However, we have had several successes with the transition. We were able to secure new corporate sponsors for our 3rd Annual Science, Engineering and Career Fair and Exhibition in Atlanta. We were able to establish a Bay Area community partnership with the ASA Community Science Center in Oakland. We have increased our presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Group as well as discussing a partnership with an online community for high school students www.TrackAhead.Com. In this past few months more people all over the country and the world have learned about who we are and what we do as an organization and that is exciting.

So what should you expect in the 2010-11 fiscal year, that will start on August 1st? The first major project before all of our programs start in September is to update our website to reflect the national nonprofit organization that we are now. We will offer programs in Metropolitan Atlanta, San Francisco Bay Area and possibly the DC Metropolitan Area as well as offer more activities on our website and through social media for K-12 students. You will see our web presence increase with articles about current trends in STEM research, policy and education as well as more articles for our Executive Director. We will establish partnerships with other nonprofits, corporations including small and medium sized businesses, college and universities, government agencies, and media outlets to either collaborate on programs or obtain resources to help us achieve our mission. Focus on getting individuals that support our organization and believe in our mission to show their support with financial contributions. As a nonprofit organization, we can't achieve our vision of "unveiling potential through exposure" if we don't have resources and the relationships to do so. In order to do our part in contributing to the creation of the pipeline of the future STEM workforce, we must build a community that supports our organization with their time, professional expertise and finances.

Rewards for Scientific Research: Why our Experimental Design Program Exists

On facebook of all places, I came across the story of a high school student, a young female that had won $100,000 for her research in computer science from the Intel Science Search. From this contest over 30 high school students won some monetary prize for engaging in research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (to see the article visit the http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35902666/ns/technology_and_science-science/). I was throughly impressed by these young minds and the various topics of there research. It seems like these students love for science and math was fostered at an early age by their parents, educators and mentors. I am confident that these students are well on their way to become a part of the future STEM workforce.

As I read this story, I reflected upon several things and had several questions about these kids. Most of the kids weren't photographed for this story, so I wonder how many of these students were African American or Hispanic or would be labeled "at risk" youth. Did all of these kids come from families where they had strong parental support and an atmosphere at home where academic achievement was not only expected but promoted. How many of these engaged in hands on math and science activities at school, at home or in the community? How many of these kids went to math and science summer camps? How were this kids about to over the peer pressure that math and science isn't cool. How many of these kids were able to meet and interact with STEM professionals. What facilities and other resources did they have access to in order to conduct their research? How did they learn about this contest?

The Experimental Design Program is our program that provides math and science fair project support for K-12 students and educators. This is one of the program activities that we started day one of our existence. My vision is that more K-12 students independent of school district, parental support or racial identify can have the resources available to them to conduct experiments for math and science projects. I want any students that has a project and a desire to complete it to be able to come to us to get the support to be competitive in not only those math and science fair that are supported by their district, but for contest such as these. What encourages me about these type of contest and this story is that student can learn at an early age that there is just as much financial and other rewards for being a STEM professional as being an athlete or entertainer.

So our goal is truly to continue to increase the quality and quantity of math and science fair projects by providing students with the resources necessary to conduct experiments that are competitive. We have to "unveil potential through exposure" on math and science fair project at a time.

Future Women STEM Professionals

Although it is women's history month, I want to take some time to reflect upon the future history makers, our young girls. On Tuesday morning, I was having a conversation with a program manager at the WGBH foundation in Boston. She manages several programs on the station that focus on getting young girls interested in stem careers. Their programs were segmented into age appropriate (elementary, middle and high) content and was a mixture of curriculum and interactive media. The interactive media consisted of games, videos of girls their age engaged in hands on math and science activities as well as women who were stem professionals. I was very excited to see all of these resources to let young ladies not only learn about STEM careers, but to see their peers engage in hands on math and science. I am curious about how many young girls have visited their website to see a picture of girls and women not only excelling in math and science, but having a blast doing science.

But I was hit with the reality that not enough girls are seeing these resources on the website as I spend some time with some Bay Area elementary school girls. These girls had no clue what engineers did, let alone thought of the possibility that they could be an engineer or another STEM professional. The good news is I spent a time with them and told them that I was a chemical engineer (at least by training) and their eyes lit up and the questions became to come. So we talked about what chemical engineers do, what they make and evidence of the work of chemical engineers in their every day lives. We had the same conversation about civil, computer, electrical and mechanical engineers as well. I am not sure if these young girls will be able to remember the distinctions between the engineering disciplines. However , they did leave learning two lessons, they could be an engineer one day because they just meet a female engineer. The second lesson was the engineers design things that we use in our everyday lives.

I must admit, that I never meet a female engineer while I was in elementary, middle or high school. I actually didn't meet my first female chemical engineer until my freshman year in college. But what I can appreciate about my teachers, is that I was a girl that enjoyed and excelled in math and science and my teachers and family encouraged that in me. If we want to ensure that our young girls become women in science, we must start there letting them know that achieving academically in math and science is okay and encouraging them when they do. The second step is exposing them to as many resources such as these that these organizations produce to let them see other girls and women in science.

As SEM Link looks to organizations that we can partner with, I am so glad that we are establishing relationships with organizations that are focusing on getting young girls academic achieving in math and science and exploring STEM careers. A slogan I once heard, Science is Woman's Work, that is what I want young girls to believe. You are brilliant and talented and can be anything you want to be when you grow up, including a STEM professional.

Celebrating Women's History Month

This month is women's history month and I am very excited. As women, we don't always take the time to get recognized for our achievements because we just do what we feel is needed to be done in order to meet the needs and desires for ourselves and of those around us. I just want to take a few moments to salute the many women STEM professionals. I will start by saluting those wonderful STEM professionals on our boards, Niara Adero, Keli Holmes, Dr. LaToya Myles and Kimberly White, who are making their contribution to the workforce and doing an exceptional job in their respective fields. I want to salute our program assistant Ms. Angela Hardin, who is creating her own path as a STEM professional.

What I have been noticing this women's history month is that there is more focus on celebrating the contribution that women have made to the STEM disciplines. Even government agencies are celebrating the women that have made contributions in science. Unfortunately, we don't know enough about the stories of women past and present that are having great careers and making a great contribution to society. So it is my quest to learn more of the stories of these great women scientists, engineers and mathematicians, past and present. Not only do I want to honor their contribution, but provide an example for young ladies that are currently in school of women who footsteps they can follow. For STEM careers are truly a woman's work and i want to ensure that women are a part of the future STEM workforce. For those of you who are women STEM professionals be sure to "unveil potential through exposure" by speaking to young ladies about what you do. We truly need to debunk the myth that women can't be great STEM professional; history tells us otherwise. So make some time this month to learn the history and contribution that women have made in science.

Our world, our environment our climate

These past two weeks, I have been focused on a new topic of interest that I would love to expose our students to, environmental science and justice and climate science. It started when one of our advisory board members, who happens to be an environmental scientist, gave me information about funding from a federal agency to support climate literacy educational projects. In addition, to preparing a letter of intent for this grant, I attended a 2 day conference on climate literacy. Both of these disciplines, environmental and climate science, not many people want to explore mainly because how many of us have an environmental scientist in our network; but it is a topic that is so relevant to our everyday lives.

A few years ago, I started paying attention to environmental science and justice based on some cases in the news (mainly on NPR) about neighborhoods, mostly in disadvantage communities in which its residents were getting sick due to toxic dumping by corporations in their neighborhood. In these stories, the communities had issues with their drinking water, air quality and/or their houses where built on land that wasn't properly cleaned prior to building residences on it. Unfortunately, most of these incidents were happening in communities of people of color and/or lower socioeconomic status. It made me wonder about the policy that allowed this to happen as well as if this was happening in these communities because most of the communities don't have enough scientific literacy to understand what is happening to them until it is too late.

Environmental and climate science are so intertwined. In climate science there is this debate if things such as global warming, ocean acidification etc are a result of human pollution or the natural evolution of the planet. Climate science in a nutshell is observing how patterns in climate over a period of time affect our planet. A simple change in weather patterns can affect so much of our lives. It isn't as simple as if we will have more hurricanes or rain or if it will be a brutal winter. Climate science issues can truly affect our food and water supply.

Environmental science is such a broad topic but in a nutshell it covers how we protect and preserve our planet. Yes, there is the big push for going green by reducing our waste, water consumption and paper use etc, driving hybrid vehicles, trying to figure out ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels and non clean energy. We are counting our carbon footprints. We are utilizing more recycled paper or trying to go paperless. Put what is also covering is holding corporations accountable for the damage that they do to the planet. There are companies that have polluted our water supply, air and land and not only are they getting fined, but they are responsible for the cost of cleaning up their mess and in some cases, the medical treatment for those who suffer medical issue such as cancer, asthma etc.

But what I've learned most about these two sciences, is that it truly is where science and policy intersect. We can't have effective policy to protect our planet without scientists and engineers nor can scientists and engineers do enough research without policy that not only requires research but funds the research. This is going to be problem not only for the scientists of today, but as part of an issue that the future STEM workforce both those who stay in research and/or chose to pursue a career in scientific policy to continue to solve.

The Need for Nonprofits to Diversify Revenue Streams

In the 5 years, since I have founded SEM Link, there has always been the challenge of obtaining the resources that are needed to achieve our mission. As a non profit organization, although our goal isn't to make a profit, it costs money to run our programs and operate our organization. The constant task that is set before me as an executive director and for me to engage my board in assisting me with is ensuring that we have enough funds in the account and other resources for our needs as an organization. I must sadly admit, that unfortunately most times we don't have enough funds and other resources to achieve all of our programming goals or operations projects.

There are several reasons for this and it has nothing to do with the economy. The main reason that we don't have enough funds is due to apathy in the community. This apathy is based on several misconceptions of how nonprofits get their funding and what each individuals, community organization, corporation, professional society and small business owner can do to provide the resources necessary for non profits like ours to achieve all of our programming goals.

One of the ways that I have changed my approach to ensuring that we have enough resources to achieve our goals as a organization is to look at what we need beyond just funds. So the past two years, I have took the bigger picture approach to fundraising by developing a resource development year. Each year, when I set our annual budget, I determine what resources are needed to achieve the programming goals. In the revenue I look at the actual funds that are needed to achieve programs and operations and set the budget based on that, for that is my ideal situation. Then I look at the items in our budget that can be replaced by in kind service or good donation by an individual or business. Then I look at the number of volunteers needed for our programs. Then I set goals to obtain those resources for myself and SEM Link's board and we pound the pavement to get what we need.

However, I know that the most important resource that any non profit organization is financial contributions that individuals and corporations make to the organization. You see the reason that many people don't give including some non profit board members is that they assume that because you are a non profit organization you can get your fundings from grants. However, typically non profits organizations only get receive funding from about 25% of the grant proposals they submit annual. Why does this take place. Mainly because funders have limited resources and can't support every organization that submits a request for funding. Even if you have a great proposal or program, you can not receive proposal simply because your project didn't fit their funding proposals or your organization is less known that other organizations that may have submitted proposals.

So what does an non profit need to do in order to survive, we must develop and implement a diversified revenue stream. A diversified revenue stream means that your organization has multiple methods for obtaining funds for its organization. This include earned income strategies where nonprofits do things to earn revenue for themselves, this can be as complex as selling a good or service or signing up for programs such as goodsearch that allow non profits to earn money when its supporters do everyday things like search or shop online. The next part of a diversified revenue stream is ensuring 100% participation from your board in their required annual contribution to the organization. Whenever you apply for grant or seek corporate funding they want to know how is your board giving. The board given is an important aspect of this diversified stream in how can we ask others to give, if the one entity that is committed to the organization, the board of directors doesn't give to the organization.

The next components of the diversified revenue stream are a corporate giving, individual giving and annual giving fund. The corporate giving plan sets up an infrastructure for corporation to exhibit corporate social responsibility. It lets corporations understand the benefits of giving to your organization and how they will be recognize for their gift. It usually is a structure that has multiple levels so that corporations can give to either the level of their ability or to the level they want to be recognized in the community. The second part of this is an individual donor campaign, which encourages and provides an venue for individuals to make a financial contribution to your organization. SEM Link's individual donor campaign is "Donate Your Lunch Money" which stresses to individuals that even a small amount of money like your lunch money can make a difference in helping an organization achieve its mission. An annual donor campaign allows individual or corporations to make a pledge to make an annual contribution to an organization. It provide an organization security that ever year, they will receive a certain amount of funds from certain individuals or corporations.

So I say all of this to say, that we can no longer afford to be apathetic. Non profits don't achieve their mission with funds from grants alone. It is up to the community (individuals, corporations, small business owners and professional societies) to do their part in providing the resources to help non profit organizations. So I encourage you to help SEM Link "unveil potential through exposure" by donating your lunch money, become a corporate partner, volunteering or becoming an annual giver.

Creating a Partnership with Elected Officials to Promote Student Achievement and Career Exploration in Math and Science

As non profit organization, we are constantly looking for ways to obtain resources and support for our programs and services; for without resources we can't achieve our mission. People always see grants, volunteers and corporations, but have we explored the resources and connections that we can get form our elected officials.

I know that me personally,although I am the first person to vote in an election and sign a petition, I don't have much interaction with my elected officials on the local, state and federal level. However, as I am beginning efforts to make SEM Link a national organization, I am getting suggestions that I can't do that without building relationships with elected officials on the city, county, state and even federal level. What resources can these elected officials provide to our organization? The first thing that I can think about is name recognition, even if the elected official doesn't give you a dollar, it validates your organization's presence in the community having the endorsement and support of the elected official. The second resources is connections in the community, it takes a lot of money and influence to become an elected official, if he or she believes in your mission that politician can connect you to all the money, power and influence that helped them get elected to not only get the resources that are needed, but to get your name out in the community as well as build your brand. Finally, the new relationship with the staff of elected officials can get you access to discretionary funds, information about upcoming grants and in some cases a voice to affect policy in the area in which you serve.

As I think about what we can do to become a national organization, that is able to "unveil potential through exposure", I have to look at building relationships with the elected officials in the areas we serve.