This morning New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, announced a $1.5 million grant from pharmaceutical company Pfizer has been added to the “Fund to Advance New York City”.
The grant is specifically aimed to award the goal of the two STEM initiatives in the plan for middle and high school students, which are: Exploring Futures and College for Now Careers.
“If we don’t education, we incarcerate, and this generous grant will bolster STEM educational programs to give our middle and high school students the ability to thrive in life by giving them the opportunity to explore careers many never thought possible,” said Mayor Adams.
Both of the programs that are receiving the grant are part of the Mayor’s Office of Youth Empowerment (MOYE), which was launched to support the city’s goal of universal career readiness for young New Yorkers.
Exploring Futures is a program that has the mission to support middle schoolers by providing them with resources when it comes to potential career fields that they may want to get into in the future. The grant from Pfizer will provide the program with $75,000 over the next three years while also helping support 750 students.
The College for Now Careers program is a partnership between the NYC Department of Education (DOE) and the City University of New York (CUNY). It serves the mission to give New York high schoolers the opportunity to earn college credits at CUNY by completing required courses for STEM majors. The grant from Pfizer will provide $675,000 over three years.
Officials from Pfizer are beyond excited about their partnership and released a statement stressing the importance of STEM innovation.
“We are delighted to partner with the Mayor’s Fund to advance STEM education in New York City. At Pfizer, we understand that the future of medical breakthroughs and American innovation as a whole depend on the strength and diversity of our workforce. It is never too early to attract, engage, and motivate students, of all backgrounds, to pursue careers in STEM,” said Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla.
