JetBlue Foundation Provides Emergency Grants to 12 STEM Organizations Severely Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic
February 05 2021 - 1:00PM
Business Wire
-- Focused on Addressing Economic, Gender and
Racial Disparities and Increasing Diversity in STEM and Aviation,
the JetBlue Foundation Issues Rapid Response Grants to Help STEM
Education Programs Continue to Soar --
JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) today announced a round of rapid response
grants from the JetBlue Foundation. The COVID-19 pandemic has
severely affected funding for non-profits and education programs.
To help with immediate needs, the JetBlue Foundation issued a round
of emergency grants to 12 aviation and science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) education grantees and partners in need
of financial support to continue their critical work reaching
students and communities traditionally underrepresented in these
fields.
The JetBlue Foundation, founded in 2013, is independent from
JetBlue and has a separate Board of Directors and an Advisory
Committee both made up of JetBlue crewmembers from across the
airline. These grants are provided directly from the JetBlue
Foundation.
The JetBlue Foundation, the first airline foundation focused
solely on supporting aviation and STEM education, invited a group
of previous grantees and partners to apply. This round of grants
supports education programs focused on mentorship, technical
education training and social justice, with a joint goal of
increasing access and awareness of STEM and aviation careers. The
rapid response cycle will help organizations committed to racial
and gender equity that have encountered financial setbacks in
achieving their missions due to the pandemic. Considerations were
given to programs providing opportunities for virtual engagement
and those in need of technology resources for online and remote
education.
“Race, gender and economic disparity disproportionately affect
communities of color and women and girls. This became more apparent
during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Ursula Hurley, president of
the JetBlue Foundation. “Several of our partners’ survival was at
risk due to a lack of funding. Our grantees are actively working to
advance diversity, social justice and equity, especially in STEM
and aviation where barriers to access already exist. If these
organizations are not able to continue their work today, our
industry’s future talent pipeline will be impacted. The JetBlue
Foundation issued rapid response grants to help these programs
survive so students’ STEM paths would not be deterred.”
The 2020/2021 rapid response grant recipients
include:
- America on Tech (AOT) (New York) – AOT prepares the next
generation of tech leaders and helps decrease the economic and
racial wealth gap. With support from the JetBlue Foundation, AOT
will provide technology programming to nearly 400 high school
students, place over 100 alumni in internships and hire 24 AOT
graduates as peer mentors.
- Artists For Humanity (AFH) (Boston) – AFH provides
under-resourced teens with the keys to self-sufficiency through
paid employment in art and design, bridging economic, racial, and
social divisions. AFH will use this grant for its virtual 3D Design
and Digital Media Studios to build teen’s confidence in STEM.
- Aviation High School (New York) – Aviation High School provide
students with a rigorous academic and technical program, preparing
them for careers in aerospace. The school will create a Saturday
aviation maintenance course and hands-on learning opportunities to
help students impacted by the quarantine meet their license
requirements on time.
- Broward County Schools (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) – BCPS is based
in South Florida, ground zero for a multitude of issues due to a
changing climate. This grant will go towards climate change
education for students in the Youth Climate Task Force as part of
the annual Broward Youth Climate Summit.
- Columbia Memorial Space Center (Downey, Calif.) – The Center is
an innovative STEM learning center whose mission is “to ignite a
community of creative and critical thinkers,” located near Los
Angeles. Funding will allow the Center to continue offering
Challenger Learning Center simulated missions through virtual
platforms free of charge for under-resourced school groups.
- Girls Inc. of Worcester (Worcester, Mass) –The Girls Inc.
experience equips girls to navigate gender, economic and social
barriers. Girls Inc. will ensure some of the most underserved and
vulnerable girls in the Worcester community continue to have access
to vital services and academic support.
- Latino Pilots Association (LPA) (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) – LPA is
a non-profit, volunteer organization focused on giving back to the
Latinx community. LPA will redesign and manage its website, which
will be used for job placement support and access to financial
resources for members who were furloughed due to the pandemic.
- Lower East Side Girls Club (LESGC) (New York) – The LESGC
addresses the historic lack of services available to girls and
young women on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As access to
healthy meals is vital to the education process, this grant will
support the Girls Club Food Pantry – a weekly distribution of food
staples in this low-income neighborhood impacted by food insecurity
and pandemic-related recession.
- Oliver Scholars (New York) – Oliver Scholars prepares
high-achieving Black and Latinx students from underserved
communities for success at top high schools and colleges. This
grant will support curriculum development for virtual and remote
STEM programming, test prep partnerships and Computer Science
coursework.
- Project Scientist (Charlotte, N.C.) – Project Scientist began
with a dream to increase diversity in STEM by inspiring girls. It
was created to change the world's view of "who" a scientist is and
"what" a scientist does by offering hands-on STEM learning. This
grant will support the STEM Club afterschool program, serving Black
girls, ages 4-12, from low-income areas.
- Reach the World (New York) –Reach the World’s virtual exchange
programs connect STEM explorers and classrooms online, inspiring
youth to become curious, confident and compassionate global
citizens. This funding will help bring STEM Through a Global Lens
programming to 21 elementary school classrooms in Bronx and
Brooklyn.
- Variety Boys and Girls Club (VBGCQ) (New York) – VBGCQ is a
nonprofit organization that inspires children to discover their
passions and cultivate their futures through a diverse array of
development programs. Their grant will support the Teen Center
where more than 100 local students will have access to arts, STEM,
financial literacy and college and career readiness
programming.
COVID-19 Pandemic Support – Early in the pandemic as many
school districts shifted to virtual learning, issues such as the
digital divide became apparent. The lack of access to technology
especially in underserved communities became clear. The JetBlue
Foundation and its ambassadors quickly jumped into action to donate
refurbished laptops to assist students in need with the transition
to virtual formats. Throughout the summer and fall, the JetBlue
Foundation also created virtual programming with partners including
Project Scientist, Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals
(OBAP), Artists for Humanity and Tools & Tiaras to continue to
spark an interest in STEM and aviation among students.
The JetBlue Foundation seeks out programs focusing on
communities traditionally underrepresented in STEM and aviation
fields including women, minority groups and veterans. Beyond just
grants, the JetBlue Foundation provides programming, mentoring,
internships and more to make a difference for the next generation
of aviators, dispatchers, aircraft mechanics and pilots.
About the JetBlue Foundation
Since 2013, the JetBlue Foundation has built lasting
relationships with more than 90 science, technology, engineering
and math (STEM) and aviation-focused programs and provided grants
and in-kind support to help these programs take off. The JetBlue
Foundation furthers JetBlue’s work to place aviation top of mind as
a future career choice for students. The JetBlue Foundation
provides financial, in-kind and mentorship support to education and
pipeline initiatives focused on STEM to ensure that even more women
and traditionally underrepresented groups are present in the
hangars, boardrooms, airports and airline corporate offices of the
future. To learn more visit jetbluefoundation.org.
About JetBlue Airways
JetBlue is New York's Hometown Airline®, and a leading carrier
in Boston, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Los Angeles, Orlando, and San
Juan. JetBlue carries customers across the U.S., Caribbean, and
Latin America. For more information, visit jetblue.com.
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