Press Release for STEAM Outreach Event in New Bedford

by | May 15, 2017 | Uncategorized

On Wednesday, May 17 at 6pm, at New Bedford’s co-working space Groundwork, Big Picture Anthems will be holding a presentation and reception for the dynamic outreach campaign #STEAMtheSTREETS. The campaign aims to inspire underrepresented youth to pursue STEM/STEAM career pathways.

As a country, we have a crisis on our hands. In a world revolving around technology, there’s not enough qualified people to fill tech. jobs. Over 1.4 million tech. jobs will go unfilled in the year 2020 if we don’t build the proper career pipelines. Only 25% of schools offer high quality computer science programs. There is also an immense diversity gap with only 5% of top tech employees being Black or Hispanic. Without the education and exposure, many young people think that technology jobs are scary, out of touch or just not for them.

Big Picture Anthems is using videos, music, social media and star power to reach youth and expose them to STEM/STEAM career pathways. The campaign is starting in New Bedford with plans to scale to a national level. #STEAMtheSTREETS is being produced by Ben Gilbarg, who brought the New Be, New Me Campaign featuring Samantha Johnson to New Bedford in 2016. Local high school students are currently engaging in creating the first iteration of a mobile web application that will ultimately be a networking hub for increasing the STEM/STEAM pipeline. Videos are currently being produced to profile rising stars and diverse professionals in STEAM career fields, as to demystify tech. careers for youth. Big Picture Anthems is developing a school assembly program to bring this message and dynamic content to engage area students.

The Goals of the Campaign are as follows:

-To spark students’ interest in STEAM through dynamic media.

-To raise awareness amongst youth about STEAM careers.

-To make connections to what students are learning in schools to real world employment.

-To inspire students by featuring success stories who come from similar backgrounds.

-To encourage diverse students to start on a STEAM career path.

The event will include a presentation about the campaign and a panel to explore diversity in STEAM. This event is Free. To read the deck and watch the “STEAM Anthem” v.1 video, visit www.BigPictureAnthems.com/Steam-the-streets.