Comments
There’s no time like the holiday season to reflect in gratitude about what matters most. For us, that’s providing game-changing learning experiences for kids! Today, we are excited to kick off our 12 Days of Giving! Over the next 12 days, we will be highlighting our incredible partners that have helped us empower kids of all backgrounds to access world class STEM education. 🙌💚
✨ Starting with our incredible partner Salesforce. Together, we have been able to provide virtual summer STEM education to 400 underrepresented students in the Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto metro areas.
✨ On Martin Luther King Day 2021, we partnered with Black Student Fund and Congressional Bank to raise funds to support BSF students to attend life-changing STEM programs. Together, we raised $30,000 and provided top-notch learning experiences for students like Hannah!
✨ We are excited to highlight our partnership with (tag) Dominion Energy and Nubian Village Academy for STEM. With support from Dominion Energy’s Social Justice Grants Initiative, scholars from NVA STEM will receive personalized instruction and encouragement from caring mentors on top of building cutting-edge tech skills!
✨ This summer, Coding Her Future ignited STEM aspirations in girls by providing scholarships to attend Virtual Tech Camps and Semester courses, including computers if students needed them. T-Mobile, Hudson River Trading, and PayPal were some of our lead partners and provided life-changing opportunities for more than 200 girls from across the US and around the world, with impact spanning from Seattle to Nigeria.
✨ In addition to receiving iD Tech scholarships, students attended the Salesforce Empowerment Speaker Series featuring inspirational tech trailblazers. The series included industry leaders including Daymond John, Founder & CEO of FUBU and star of Shark Tank, Rachel Williams of, X, the moonshot factory, Gerard Andrews of NVIDIA, Jennifer Stredler of Salesforce, and many more!
✨ The T.D. Jakes Foundation in partnership with Dallas Summer Musicals provided a STEAM education program themed to the Broadway-smash hit Hamilton. Over the course of multiple weeks, 3,400 theatre students and teachers from 25 Dallas ISD High Schools participated in a specially iD Tech-created curriculum that relates to the Hamilton production.
Together, we are proud to make a difference! We are committed to building a bright, equitable future in STEM for the next generation of innovators. Follow along next week for more 12 Days of Giving updates! "
When it comes to creating an educational system that truly serves all students, there is much work to be done. Together with the Black Student Fund, we are creating change.
The 49th Annual Black Student Fund and Latino Student Fund School Fair was a great success! Thank you to all the schools and programs that participated as well as all the families that stopped by!
As always, a big thank you to the Black Student Fund for all of their hard work and dedication to this event.
11 DAYS 📚 until our annual school fair with the Black Student Fund! Dont forget to register TODAY at blackstudentfund.org for the event on October 17th!
Support MelaninPreneurs: Black-Owned Small Business
https://www.4giving.com/donation/7ED6
Black-owned and Black-led lifestyle and/or creative small businesses in the DC metro area will benefit from the donations.
The mission of The Melanin Preneurs™ Black-Owned Small Business Program is to create more opportunities for emerging and established Black-owned businesses across the United States by helping them accelerate their spending power by reinvesting in themselves, their community, and their businesses.
Funds donated will be used for the MelaninPreneurs program. MelaninPreneurs initiative is the black-owned, black-led small business training and technical assistance program for lifestyle businesses to include fashion, beauty, music, arts & entertainment, travel, hospitality and home décor. This program was created in response to the social injustice and the inequity and inequality of financial distribution of capital and resources for black-owned creative businesses.
Donors have been supporting DCFF its formation in 2009, because they see the funds going right back into the fashion and/or creative businesses and see the impact that the DC Fashion Foundation has had on sustaining the fashion business community and youth fashion arts programs. From afterschool, summer camp to capstone programs at UDC, CCDC, Marymount University and Howard University DCFF has helped students transition from school to career.
We are excited to announce that we are continuing our partnership with the Black Student Fund. 10 BSF students will be joining our upcoming Virtual Summer Camp!
Esther Productions, Inc is presenting WOMEN ARE POETRY IN MOTION—EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY LED BY JOY JONES and scheduled to take place on Saturday, Feb 27, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST. It is an online event and hosted by Esther Productions, Inc. If you are interested in registering for the workshop, please register at
www.estherproductionsinc.com/events-1/women-are-poetry-in-motion-every-day-in-every-way.
"Joy Jones is a writer and educator in the United States, a magna cm laude graduate of the University of Detroit. She spent 12 years as a teacher, trainer, and administrator in the Washington D.C. public school system. She has written a children's book and her articles have been published by The Washington Post."
Born and raised in Washington D.C., 12-year-old Jermaine is a fearless, old-soul, basketball-playing, track-running mathlete aspiring to attend Yale, UNC - Chapel Hill, or Duke. His teachers and classmates have recognized him for his passion, grit, and determination in the face of adversity, including a diagnosis of epilepsy. Because of the connection between Black Student Fund and iD Tech, Jermaine was able to study game design at our Virtual Tech Camps, adding another impressive skillset to his resume and kickstarting an exciting potential career.
When it comes to creating an educational system that truly serves all students, there is much work to be done. We look forward to continuing our efforts with Black Student Fund to bring more scholarships to future innovators this year! Donate today to Black Student Fund, and your gift will be matched by iD Tech and Congressional Bank (up to $5,000). Today’s donations will be specifically designated for students who wish to boost their STEM skills with iD Tech. Blackstudentfund.org/idtech-cong-bank
During this season of giving, Langley students donated hundreds of toys, mittens, toiletries, and other items to support SOME (So Others Might Eat), the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, and the Black Student Fund during the school’s winter service drives. We thank the Langley community for their generosity!
REGISTER NOW! MONDAY!
The Importance of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology as a Catalyst for Growth in Northern Virginia
When: Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, 7 PM - 8 PM
Where: Register in advance for this meeting:
Zoom link:
https://bit.ly/TJCatalyst
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Cosponsors: Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, Black Student Fund, Coalition for TJ, Hispanics for STEM, Chinese American Parents Association of Fairfax County, Young Asian Pacific American Leaders
Moderator:
✅ Christian Braunlich, President at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
Speakers:
✅ Tom Davis, former member of the United States House of Representatives who represented Virginia's 11th congressional district in Northern Virginia
✅ Norma Margulies, Cofounder, Hispanics for STEM and TJ parent
✅ Suresh Shenoy, Business Leader, Philanthropist and TJ alumni parent
✅ Toussant Tyson, Program Director, Black Student Fund STEM Program
✅ Vern Williams, Distinguished Fairfax County, Virginia, Math Teacher
✅ Wenyuan Wu, Executive Director, Californians For Equal Rights
About the Event
Established in 1985 as a Virginia Governor’s School for gifted students in STEM, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is a crown jewel in America’s educational system, benefiting Fairfax County, the state of Virginia and the United States of America. In promoting Fairfax County to businesses, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority refers to TJ as a “renowned” school that is a draw for businesses and their workforce. Many TJ graduates attend Virginia universities and remain in the area as professionals.
In recent months, the issues of admissions to TJ has embroiled the community in a debate about how students should be evaluated to enter America’s No. 1 high school. The conversation is a larger national debate about the future of education in specialized schools in America.
In October 2020, the Fairfax County School Board voted to eliminate the objective merit-based admissions tests to TJ, and its members are expected to vote as early as Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, on a plan by Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand to replace the tests with a lottery or a subjective hybrid admissions process.
Lost in the debate are some critical questions we will discuss in a thought provoking panel discussion with well-respected leaders in business, politics and education. All of the participants are actively engaged in developing public-private collaboratives to increase opportunities for underrepresented minorities in STEM and support TJ as a premiere Governor’s School for gifted students in STEM.
The future of not only the school and its students hangs in the balance but also the future of northern Virginia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
DISCOVER ME..WITHOUT YOU -- TEEN AUTHORS TALK FATHER ABSENCE: A READING
Nov 14, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
online event
https://www.estherproductionsinc.com/events-1/teen-authors-talk-father-absence-a-reading
Contributors to the essay collection Discovering Me...Without You: Teen Girls Talk About Father Absence will read their work from the book, which was edited by Jonetta Rose Barras and published by Esther's Books, a division of Esther Productions Inc. Ana Acevedo who wrote the Preface will also discuss the importance of the collection to understanding the impact of father absence. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.