One of the most satisfying roles in my career has been as a Board Member and Officer at Science Club for Girls (SCFG).
When I was young, I thought DEI challenges were no more. In the 1970s, my favorite high school teacher was a young black woman, Mrs. Kenison who taught Biology in West Hartford CT. At Colby College, my friend, roommate & fellow Biology major was a Black woman, Salome Riley. The Chairman of our Biology department in the 1980s was a woman Dr. Miriam Bennett . When I moved from the lab into sales in 1982, the first Director of Sales that I reported to at Collaborative Research Inc. was a black man, Paul Williams. Fast forward to now. It saddens me that women and people of color are disadvantaged in pursuing a career in STEM. In fact only 4% of Engineers & Technologists are Black or Latina women. I wanted to do something to help change that and stumbled on to a nonprofit that figured out the secret of driving inclusion, SCFG. They had been diligently doing that for almost 30 year and it was working. The organization offers free clubs in person and on line plus vacation and summer programs. And they created a TV show, #SCFG Live which can be seen on local community channels, Comcast and Youtube.
The SCFG Secret Formula for Success is...
!. Start early and play the long game (Grades K -12 and throught the year)
2. Group Mentor lead so the girls see themselves in STEM
3. Hands on fun clubs where they can experiment, learn and make connections with others
4. Remove barriers: Programming is free and in their neighborhood or on-line so they can access it
Recruiting people to the organization, fundraising and developing a strategic approach to scale SCFG to has been a dream for me. I hope that you will consider joining our movement to Transform the Face of STEM.
As our Executive Director, Bonnie Bertolaet says "It takes 13 years to develop a drug and 13 years to develop a scientist." Contact me to learn how you can help!
Science Club for Girl Board Members and Catalyst Honorees April 2023 at The Broad Institute