Colocation America Announces 2020 STEM Innovation Grant Recipients

Colocation America, an industry leader in data center services, announced today that it has awarded funding to 12 STEM programs across the United States through its STEM Innovation Grant. Designed to encourage and inspire youth to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), Colocation America’s STEM Innovation Grant awards funding to programs that provide unique learning opportunities to youth in their communities. The Grant Reading Committee, a group of individuals with a vast knowledge of nonprofits, for-profits, and STEM education, chose the recipients based on several criteria including program goals, objectives, and aspects of STEM innovation. The 2020 Colocation America STEM Innovation Grant Recipients: Trips for Kids Marin Trips for Kids Marin (TFKM) is a nonprofit organization that offers free cycling programs for low-income youth in six San Francisco Bay Area counties. TFKM’s mission is to provide transformative cycling experiences for underserved youth. They offer tools and resources to foster a lifelong love of STEM, cycling, physical activity, and aim to help develop a connection to the natural world. Colocation America is funding TFKM’s Summer and Fall Earn-a-Bike Workshops that will engage 120 kids in bike mechanic training, STEM learning, and environmental stewardship.

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Black Girls Dive Foundation Black Girls Dive Foundation (BGDF) is a non-profit organization founded in 2017 to empower girls from historically underrepresented groups to explore their STEM identities through aquatic-based recreation and marine conservations. Colocation America is funding Project CORAL© (Collaborative Ocean Restoration And Leadership). CORAL is an eco-STEM coral restoration and conservation project for girls in grades 6 and up. Through this project, students use 3D printing to design, fabricate, and plant coral segments onto reefs and engage in stream, beach, and ocean debris clean-up to support healthy waterways.

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Gauger Cobbs Middle School Gauger Cobbs Middle School is a middle school in the suburbs of Newark, DE. The school mission is to engage students in learning through a challenging curriculum, developing positive relationships, and promoting a culture of personal ownership in each student's academic, social, and emotional growth. Colocation America is funding the expansion of The Co-Botics club, a coding/robotics/STEAM club that runs after school. #InspiredByGail

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Cabrini High School For 60 years, Cabrini High School has embraced a holistic approach to education - music, drama, art, physical education, and athletics are emphasized equally with science, mathematics, history, language, and literature. Colocation America is funding The Super Science Saturday program, a program that allows younger students to experience fun STEM activities in a high school laboratory. The goal of the Super Science Saturday program is to spark interest and curiosity in science with interactive, hands-on activities in a high school laboratory.

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Kalmar Nyckel Foundation Docked on the Christina River, at the 7th Street Peninsula in Wilmington, Delaware, is the majestic Tall Ship Kalmar Nyckel. A replica of the 17th-century flagship that in 1638 founded the colony of New Sweden in Delaware, Kalmar Nyckel serves as a sailing classroom that teaches children and adults alike about Delaware and the Delaware Valley’s maritime and colonial history through Kalmar Nyckel Foundation’s (KNF) extensive educational programs. Colocation America is funding the pilot of KNF's Miniboat Program. This new classroom-based program will teach 5th-grade students STEM concepts and introduce them to exciting ways those concepts can be applied in real-world settings.

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Be Loud Studios Be Loud Studios started when two New Orleans teachers launched a student-run radio station within their school that empowered students to write, record, and promote their own radio broadcast. Today, Colocation America is funding a Be Loud Studios summer camp. Be Loud Camp, give students an opportunity to explore a range of digital media skills (producing radio shows, songs and beats, and short films), build friendships, and gain the confidence to speak up. For three week-long camps, students from different grades and backgrounds will work together to create meaningful media.

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DRI Research Foundation (Desert Research Institute - Science Alive) DRI, the grant-funded research arm of the Nevada System of Higher Education, is a unique organization comprised of research scientists and academic leaders who research local, national, and global environmental issues. Over the last 60 years, DRI has delivered grant and contract-funded science solutions and science education opportunities to communities across the state. Colocation America is funding the development of online curricula and virtual content based on the Green Box program in Nevada schools.

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George Washington University The George Washington University's (GW) ArtReach program provides free arts education classes to underrepresented communities. Colocation America is funding an architecture design course that will be taught by volunteer architects from the Washington Architectural Foundation and the American Institute of Architects. Students will learn the architect's design process by observing architectural elements through the use of photography; applying mathematical concepts, such as scale, to drafting and drawing; implementing engineering concepts to model-making; exploring software, to create a three-dimensional design; and integrating sustainable energy practices into their models.

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Discovery Museum Founded in 1982, Discovery Museum’s mission is to spark delight in learning by igniting curiosity and creativity in children and adults as they discover together the joys of science, nature, and play. Colocation America is funding to support the initial design and prototyping of a new interactive, accessible exhibit exploring the topic of cause and effect. In this new exhibit, both children and adults will create intriguing chain reactions, tinker with the workings of puzzling machines, and experiment with cause and effect through creative stories and real-world examples ranging from ecological systems to human interactions.

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The Bighorn Basin Paleontological Institute The Bighorn Basin Paleontological Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to paleontology and earth science research, education, and outreach. Founded in 2017, we harness the universal appeal of dinosaurs and paleontology to engage people of all interest levels and backgrounds to promote the earth and natural sciences. Colocation America is funding the Philly Dinosaur Hunt, a first-of-its-kind, educational scavenger hunt to find real dinosaur fossils on display throughout Philadelphia’s neighborhoods. Providing an epic adventure for the whole family, Bighorn Basin Paleontological Institute aims to make engaging earth science easily accessible and free to all who wish to learn.

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Techbridge Girls Techbridge Girls is a unique provider of gender- and culturally-responsive, immersive after-school STEM programming. Techbridge Girls designs best-in-class STEM programming that’s fun, hands-on, inquiry-based; draws on girls’ interests and lived experiences; and demonstrates that girls can utilize their STEM knowledge to solve current social issues. Colocation America is funding Techbridge Girls@Home which brings Techbridge Girls' award-winning programming to girls and allows them the flexibility to learn and stay engaged with their education during this pandemic. Specifically, Colocation America's funds will go towards supporting the professional development of school leaders and educators across the U.S..

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The Greater Ridgewood Youth Council The Greater Ridgewood Youth Council is a nonprofit organization that has been a consistent and reliable safe haven for neighborhood youth and their families in Queens, NY. By using a wide range of programs, the agency has helped close the opportunity gaps of the children and adults in the community. Colocation America is funding the expansion of the Adventure Based Counseling (ABC) Program which offers hands-on STEM activities related to careers in law enforcement. The program offers a mentorship opportunity with the NYPD as well as offers lessons including crime scene investigation, survival skills, bomb squad training, and aerial surveillance.

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Thank you to all those who submitted, congratulations to the recipients, and we look forward to continuing our support of your amazing STEM education programs. Speaking of which...