Empowering Futures: Think Together and Partners Unite to Fund STEM Programs

Thanks to our generous corporate and foundation partners, Think Together is enhancing our innovative STEM programs and engaging elementary and middle school students in hands-on, experiential STEM learning. Studies show that STEM careers are on the rise and computing jobs are one of the top sources of income in the nation. In California, the average salary for a computing occupation is twice that of the overall state average. This is why it’s crucial to integrate robust STEM-focused curriculum and manipulatives into Think Together’s daily programming.

New Think Together partner, Ross Stores Foundation provided a generous grant of $30,000 to purchase robotics kits and coding curriculum serving over 1,000 students in Perris Elementary School District. Ross’ mission aligns with Think Together’s mission of helping close the equity gap in education for kids in underserved communities. Ross supports organizations that help strengthen communities and create a brighter future for today’s youth by advancing academic achievements and helping youth establish life skills.

“We are proud to invest in Think Together and its innovative approach that equips youth with crucial workforce skills that prepares them for future careers,” said Leslie Oestreicher, Deputy Director, Ross Stores Foundation.

Broadcom Inc. continues to donate high quality, refurbished laptops to support our coding and robotics after school STEM programs, with their most recent in-kind donation valued at over $100,000. Through our partnership with the Broadcom Foundation, Think Together students are learning basic coding that they need to compete for highly skilled jobs in emerging industries built on technologies of the future.

Their support has had a tremendous impact on Think Together students across the state, reaching over 150,000 students from kindergarten to their senior year and beyond.  Think Together’s Coding For All initiative is made possible thanks to both Broadcom and Broadcom Foundation’s steadfast partnership in preparing California students for the technology workforce.

“Sharing the power of STEM with under-resourced and underrepresented students in California creates multiple education pathways and provide optimal project-based learning time for coding, a foundational skill they need for STEM education and workforce readiness,” shared Paula Golden, President, Broadcom Foundation. “Broadcom Inc.’s unwavering commitment to afterschool STEM and coding provides students with a unique opportunity to explore multiple STEM career pathways, including trade schools, community colleges, universities, and apprenticeships.”

A partner since 2004, Southern California Edison invested $30,000 towards coding curriculum and robotics kits that support hands-on, minds-on STEM experiences for over 900 middle school students in the Inland Empire. Think Together offers three 10-week rotations of coding, robotics, and investigative science. Students are learning about engineering design by building robots and are developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills through conducting a variety of programming experiments.

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, also based in the Inland Empire, awarded Think Together with $25,000 for coding programs supporting more than 1,200 students across 24 elementary and middle schools in Rialto Unified School District. San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has been a longstanding partner of Think Together’s expanded learning programs in Rialto Unified, launching our reading and literacy programs in 2011 and our coding programs in 2021.

In Think Together’s Orange County region, Fluor Corporation is stepping up to support four schools with STEM programming with a $10,000 grant. More than 400 students in grades K-8 across Orange Unified, Garden Grove Unified and Santa Ana Unified School Districts will have access to STEM and coding programs. Shalimar Learning Center, Think Together’s origin site, will also receive support from the Fluor grant.

A funding partner for over a decade, Edwards Lifesciences presented a $10,000 grant for the Orange County region that focuses on preparing students for the STEM workforce and STEM careers.

Think Together thanks Ross Stores Foundation, Southern California Edison, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Fluor, Edwards Lifesciences, and Broadcom for helping us change the odds and providing exceptional resources and STEM kits to help students explore more potential career opportunities in the STEM industry.

Help keep the STEM momentum going by supporting Think Together’s end-of-year campaign Celebrating Bright Futures. We are looking to raise funds to bring even more dynamic technology to students!