The Intel Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation joined STEM Next Opportunity Fund and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to launch the Million Girls Moonshot.

The effort is designed to engage one million school-age girls in the U.S. in STEM learning opportunities. The organizations will provide grant funding and in-kind resources to Mott-funded afterschool networks in all 50 states to increase access to hands-on, immersive STEM learning experiences.

"When my father, Robert Noyce, and Gordon Moore founded Intel, they built upon the experiences of their youth, where they had opportunities to build, invent, engineer and experiment. These hands-on experiences gave them a sense of initiative, perseverance, and a belief that they could create revolutionary new technologies," said Dr. Penny Noyce, founding board chair, STEM Next Opportunity Fund. "The Million Girls Moonshot will help girls from diverse backgrounds develop this same engineering mindset, and I’m thrilled at the way it continues the legacy of Intel’s founders and their passion for advancing STEM."

"The Million Girls Moonshot harnesses the spirit of innovation — in philanthropy and in afterschool programming — to reimagine our nation’s next generation of engineers, problem-solvers, builders, and makers," said Ridgway White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation. "We’re delighted that the Intel and Moore Foundations will join us in an effort to promote gender equity by empowering girls through STEM learning opportunities."

Just as the original moonshot united the nation behind a common goal and dramatically advanced scientific achievement, the Million Girls Moonshot aims to create a national movement to change the trajectory of women and girls in STEM. Led by STEM Next Opportunity Fund, the Million Girls Moonshot will tap a wide range of funding and programmatic partners, including NASA, Qualcomm Incorporated, Technovation, National Girls Collaborative Project, CSforALL, JFF, Techbridge Girls, STEMconnector, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

"Every girl deserves access to high-quality education to achieve their dream career, regardless of their ZIP code or family’s socioeconomic status," said Gabriela A. Gonzalez, deputy director of Intel Foundation. "The powerful synergies from collaborating with other organizations who share these values achieve a larger collective social impact to advance gender equity and parity in STEM fields, and more important, elevate girls’ future prospects for a better quality of life. Equipping youth with emerging technology skills in Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, and the Internet of Things is also critical for an inclusive and diverse future workforce. By joining this movement, we are expanding, scaling, and sustaining the spirit of Intel’s She Will Connect signature initiative, which is something that no sole organization can do alone."

Women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but are vastly underrepresented in STEM fields, comprising just 16 percent of engineers, for example. Black and Latina women have even less representation, at approximately two percent each. With economic projections pointing to a need for one million more STEM professionals than the country will produce at its current rate over the next decade, engaging and keeping more girls in STEM pursuits will be critically important for solving our nation’s most pressing challenges.

"We’re happy to be inaugural partners in the Million Girls Moonshot and its all-hands-on-deck effort to break down the systemic barriers that exist for girls in STEM," said Janet Coffey, Ph.D., program director, Science, for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. "This generation of young people will be the COVID-19 generation. By fostering an engineering mindset and a spirit of scientific exploration, curiosity, and discovery, we can empower them to build a better world."

Over the past several decades, afterschool and out-of-school programs have developed expertise in providing the kind of immersive, hands-on learning experiences that are critical to helping students gain fluency in STEM subjects. This school year, the opportunity is even greater as students and families face many more hours outside of the traditional classroom. From running STEM activities virtually and distributing STEM kits to students, to offering small-group, in-person services on remote school days and during traditional afterschool hours, afterschool programs have stepped up to keep students engaged and learning. The potential for impact is enormous: The nation’s 100,000 afterschool programs serve more than 10 million young people.