NCWIT Seeks Grant Proposals and Crowdsourced Funding for AspireIT
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is now accepting grant proposals for the 2014 grant cycle of NCWIT AspireIT – a technology outreach program for girls at the middle school level supported by Intel, Northrop Grumman, and Google.
NCWIT AspireIT capitalizes on a “near-peer” approach, giving middle school girls an inspiring, hands-on introduction to computing from high school and college women. Middle school girls learn programming, game design, robotics, and more at tech-related camps, clubs, and workshops hosted by K-12 organizations and higher education institutions.
Grant funding for NCWIT AspireIT programs is open to NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing recipients working in partnership with NCWIT Academic Alliance or K-12 Alliance member organizations. Grant recipients will receive up to $3,000. Detailed application instructions are available at www.ncwit.org/aspireit. Applications close on January 24, 2014, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
In an effort to amplify the impact of the initiative, NCWIT launched a fundraising campaign to support 30 sites and serve an additional 1,000 middle school girls through NCWIT AspireIT programs in 2014. Donation options begin at $10 and support a range of program components including toolkits, participant stipends, and goodie bags. Google has generously agreed to match donations up to $150,000. More information about the AspireIT fundraising campaign is available at www.razoo.com/story/Ncwitaspireit.
“Young women sharing their excitement about technology with younger girls is a win-win!” said Ruthe Farmer, Director of Strategic Initiatives of NCWIT. “Young women get the opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ as technical program leaders, while the middle school girls learn about tech skills from a near-peer role model.”
In its 2013 pilot year, NCWIT granted more than $100,000 to 24 AspireIT programs, providing more than 25,000 instruction hours to more than 800 girls in 15 states. NCWIT AspireIT is a component of NCWIT Aspirations in Computing, a talent development initiative designed to increase female participation in technology by providing structured, long-term engagement and support from middle school through high school and from college into the workforce.
About NCWIT
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 450 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT helps organizations more effectively recruit, retain, and advance girls and women in K-12 through college education, and from academic to corporate and startup careers. Find out more at http://www.ncwit.org.
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