California Girls in STEM (CalGirlS)

The Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley is proud to be partnering with the National Girls Collaborative Project as its California hub—California Girls in STEM (CalGirlS).

The vision of the National Girls Collaborative Project is to bring together organizations throughout the United States that are committed to informing and encouraging girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).The NGCP began in 2002 as the Northwest Girls Collaborative Project through funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 2004, NSF awarded additional funding to replicate the NGCP model.  To date, 21 Collaboratives, serving 29 states, have been established as a part of the NGCP, facilitating collaboration between more than 8,800 organizations and indirectly serving more than 5.3 million girls. The National Girls Collaborative Project has received funding from the National Science Foundation to extend its work through 2016 and to reach additional states identified as high priority areas.

The National Girls Collaborative Project maximizes access to shared resources and disseminates research-based, promising practices that advance the work of existing and evolving girl-serving projects.
The goals are to:

• Strengthen the capacity of girl-serving STEM programs to effectively reach and serve underrepresented girls in STEM by sharing promising practice research and program models, outcomes, and products.
• Increase the effectiveness of Collaboratives by providing professional development focused on sustainability, organizational effectiveness, and shared leadership to more effectively deliver services to girl-serving STEM organizations.
• Maximize K-12 school counselors’ access to and use of relevant, high-quality resources that increase awareness of barriers to girls’ interest and engagement in STEM.

Kick-off conference 2012

CalGirlS will be having a Kick-off conference in the Fall of 2012. We invite program managers, guidance counselors, business partners, technical professionals, teachers, and representatives from professional organizations and higher education to partner with us. You can register your program here http://www.ngcproject.org/directory/index.cfm.

For more information about CalGirlS, contact Rashmi Nanjundaswamy at Lawrence Hall of Science.

Please contact Amy Foster, National Program Manager, if you have questions about the National Girls Collaborative.