2020 CIRCLe Fund Grant Recipient: $16,500

Submitted by: Jon York, CEO

The Boys & Girls Club of Rush County has a thriving Technology Center thanks to the CIRCLe Fund. The grant in the amount of $16,500 allowed the Club to refresh existing space, purchase computer science curriculum and provide members with the equipment needed to participate in all types of STEM programing in a flexible learning environment.

A signature program in the Technology Center is, CodeInClass. In CodeInClass, 2nd and 3rd graders built Raspberry Pi computers and programmed them as a part of the course. The CodeInClass program is offered for 12 weeks each semester for up to 16 members per cohort. So far, 43 members have completed the CodeInClass program and 60% of those members have been girls.

One of our goals of adding a Technology Center was to make computer science programming more available to girls in hopes of helping close the large gap between men and women in full-time tech jobs. In 2020, men outnumbered women 5:1 in the engineering industry, obtained 82% of computer science bachelor degrees at major universities and held 77% of employment at tech giants Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. At the same time, 74% of 3rd grade girls expressed a desire for a career in STEM fields. The Technology Center at the Boys & Girls Club of Rush County presents our girls a chance to follow that desire.

The CIRCLe provided the Club a fantastic jump-start into high quality STEM programming. We are excited for the members of the CIRCLe and the rest of the community to follow along with the progress in our current programs and the future opportunities ahead for our members that all started from this grant.