Together with the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center, Ignite Afterschool kicked off 2021 with the launch of Minnesota’s STEM Justice Afterschool Cohort, a part of the Million Girls Moonshot.
Five cohort members are dedicating five months to embedding social justice into their programs, using the lens of STEM Justice to identify, address and dismantle systems of oppression. With a focus on giving young people agency, the Minnesota STEM Justice Afterschool Cohorts seeks to:
- Address harmful cultural norms many women and people of color experience when they enter STEM fields while incorporating indigenous and non-Westernized knowledge into STEM;
- Lift up the leadership and contributions of BIPOC communities in STEM while making STEM relevant to young people’s daily lives; and
- Ensure girls and young people of color have experiences to explore and discover STEM in a socially-conscious and civically-engaged way that leads to STEM-literate citizens and leaders.
