CHICAGO, Sept. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group
Foundation will award more than $900,000 in new grants to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and local
nonprofits to support in-school and after-school computer science
programs with the goal of reducing "computer science deserts" in
Chicago.
Grants are being allocated for summer and after-school programs
for K-12 students in Chicago,
based on the results of a first-ever study funded by the Foundation
to identify neighborhoods in most need of computer science
programs. Northwestern University's
Office of Community and Education Partnerships conducted the
research, which identified Chicago
neighborhoods that did not have any computer science programming
open to all neighborhood students. Of those neighborhoods that
offered programming, the study also showed most only provided
introductory-level opportunities. The study will be repeated later
this year to gauge progress throughout the city.
"We believe all students need to have computer science education
throughout their K-12 years today in order to be best positioned to
fill tomorrow's job opportunities in the financial and technology
sectors," explained Kassie Davis,
Executive Director of CME Group Foundation. "These grants are a
step toward closing the digital divide and increasing access to
computers and technology throughout our entire
community."
Grants include continuation of CME Group Foundation's support
for the Computer Science 4 All (CS4All) program at Chicago Public Schools. The Foundation has
provided over $1.2 million in support
to CS4All since 2014, including funding to launch after-school
clubs across the city. Other support includes funding Mission
Measurement to build nonprofit capacity for effective and efficient
computer science programs.
"The computer science study is an important first step in
understanding the opportunities available to youth in Chicago and connecting them to those
opportunities, so they can pursue pathways to college and career,"
said Sybil Madison, Deputy Mayor for
Education and Human Services, Office of the Mayor of Chicago and former Director of Center for
Excellence in Computer Science Education. "CME Group Foundation is
providing a model for funders on how to use data to prioritize new
efforts that address gaps in ways that make pathways possible for
youth."
"We are so grateful for CME Group Foundation's support over the
last decade and willingness to bring these enriching learning
experiences to our students," said Francie
Richards, CPS Chief External Relations Officer.
Grants will be used for programs in place now and throughout the
next two academic years. Through these programs, Chicago youth will gain hands-on experience
with dozens of coding languages, computational thinking and
engineering skills, video game and app development, robotics and
other computer science activities. A complete list of beneficiaries
follows:
- Northwestern University Office of
Community and Education Partnerships
- Children First Fund, the Chicago Public Schools Foundation
- After School Matters
- Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program
- Code Nation
- Loyola University Chicago
- Museum of Science and Industry
- Project Exploration
- Project SYNCERE
- Distinctive Schools of Illinois
- Illinois Science and Technology Institute
- STEMConnector
- 100Kin10
- Illinois Network of Charter Schools
For more information about CME Group Foundation, please visit
the website: www.cmegroupfoundation.org.
About CME Group Foundation
CME Group Foundation works
to advance the economy by supporting education from cradle to
career. The Foundation partners with universities, school
districts, charter networks and non-profit organizations that work
to ensure at risk young children are prepared for kindergarten;
provide effective K-12 education that prepares disadvantaged
students for success in college and career; prepare university
students for careers in financial services and risk management. The
Foundation was created in 2008 and endowed with a gift of
$16 million from the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Trust, which was established by CME in 1969 to
provide financial protection to customers in the event a CME member
firm became insolvent or unable to meet its obligations to its
customers.
About CME Group
As the world's leading and most
diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com)
enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets,
optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market
participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture
opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global
benchmark products across all major asset classes based
on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign
exchange, energy, agricultural
products and metals. The company offers futures and
options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed
income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the
EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's
leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME
Clearing. With a range of pre- and post-trade products and
services underpinning the entire lifecycle of a trade, CME Group
also offers optimization and reconciliation services through
TriOptima, and trade processing services through Traiana.
CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange,
Globex, and, E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board
of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York
Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York
Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity
Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec, EBS, TriOptima, and Traiana are
trademarks of BrokerTec Europe LTD, EBS Group LTD, TriOptima AB,
and Traiana, Inc., respectively. Dow Jones, Dow Jones
Industrial Average, S&P 500 and S&P are service and/or
trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, Standard &
Poor's Financial Services LLC and S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC, as
the case may be, and have been licensed for use by Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Inc. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
CME-G
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SOURCE CME Group