OpenWise Learning

OpenWise Learning (OWL) is committed to developing the youth most negatively affected by the legacies of slavery and colonization into STEM-Fluent global leaders. OWL will

1. Provide real-world education and experience in STEM careers,
2. Promote goal-setting, self-discipline, and leadership skills,
3. Launch young women and men into careers in STEM after their post-secondary education or through continued education in college,
4. Change life trajectories by providing the tools to build financial stability and independence, and
5. Provide social education and exposure to global issues to cultivate community and global leadership.

STEM careers provide fulfilling and financially rewarding jobs; greater diversity of minds working on problems make companies and society stronger. Furthermore, our focus on the SDGs and their embedded social and ecological justice issues is an essential part of OpenWise Learning’s goal to cultivate an understanding of culturally relevant issues in our youth to advocate and innovate for themselves and their community as leaders.

OWL seeks to help to address the unmet STEM educational needs of underestimated youth most directly affected by the legacies of slavery and colonization. As a result of these legacies, these youths and their families suffer the greatest from social injustice and environmental degradation. For example, the US educates 42% of black males in under-performing schools. Fewer than 33% of high schools serving the most Latinx and African-American students offer calculus, and only 40% offer physics. In Kenya, 42% of the population is under age 15, with 40% of children 3-5 years old not in school. Some estimates place the Kenyan youth unemployment rate as high as 40%.
Additionally, the effects of climate change, such as extreme weather, have disproportionately affected communities of color and low-income communities. For example, extreme weather events have led to displacement and death. Furthermore, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation study found that  People of color are nearly twice as likely as white residents to live within the zone of an industrial facility.  Finally, studies document limited access to clean water in low-income communities of color. OWL aims to develop youth leaders directed towards societal impact with STEM knowledge and tools to turn their ideas into reality.

With MIT Solve’s support, OWL will expand and deepen our cloud-based offerings for underserved youth to engage in STEM learning meaningfully.  These currently include podcasts, videos, and a curriculum on computing, coding, computational science, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, our program will engage young scholars with multiple project-based activities for up to 6 years, starting at age 11 to 13. They will complete community service projects, gain real-world experience and build career knowledge. The additional cloud resources will supplement our offline-in-person instruction and potentially scale our program to millions of youth worldwide. 

OWL will serve the underrepresented youth most negatively affected by the legacies of slavery and colonization. OWL currently serves middle and low-income youth in Nairobi, Kenya, and Black and Latinx youth in Washington, DC.

Black boys are disproportionately disciplined within schools in the USA, being suspended nearly three times more frequently than their white counterparts. School administrators expel Black boys at an alarming rate of 26.7% compared to the average rate for all students of 8.7%. This statistic is particularly concerning given the school-to-prison pipeline illuminated by social science researchers. Additionally, Black girls are being "pushed out" of the US education system because they receive a disproportionate percentage of unfair discipline. The US Department of Education reports that school administrators suspended 12% of black girls, a rate six times the rate for white girls and higher than white, Asian, and Latinx boys. According to the National Women's Law Center, these practices "disproportionately push African-American girls out of school and increase their involvement with the juvenile justice system."

Furthermore, Nearly 62 % of Latinx children live in or near poverty, and fewer than 20 percent of low-income Latinx live in households where anyone has completed post-secondary education. Even middle-income Black and Latinx families are much more likely to live in poor neighborhoods than whites or Asians with the same incomes. Today, about 75% of African-American and Latinx students attend schools where most of their classmates qualify as poor or low-income. (For whites, the proportion is only about 33%.).

Moreover, access to advanced-level courses is more prevalent in suburban middle-class communities and schools serving white and Asian students and less prevalent in urban schools and schools serving predominantly black, Latinx, or disadvantaged populations. Fewer than 33% of high schools serving the most Hispanic and African-American students offer calculus, and only 40% offer physics. Depending on the study, only 3% to 8% of blacks and 2% to 6% of Latinx hold STEM jobs. Approximately 78% of STEM jobs are held by whites, with 48% of STEM jobs held by white men. With many black and brown kids across the US attending under-performing schools, these kids lack the opportunity to express their potential and are locked out of economic opportunities in the future.

Kenya has a relatively young population, with its youth accounting for more than 20% of its overall population. However, some estimates place the youth unemployment rate as high as 40%. The unemployment rate is particularly troubling because development literature suggests that poverty reduction requires a nation to grow at a rate of above 7% sustained over several years. Thus, high unemployment undermines prospects for growth. The high youth unemployment rate also points to a skills mismatch. Currently, only 6 out of 100 youth in Kenya who start primary school go on to universities or tertiary institutions to obtain the knowledge they need to compete in a global economy. 

Our program aims to provide these youth with the tools to build STEM knowledge, career success, financial security, and community impact. Our approach blends off-line and online educational and mentoring resources utilizing open source software and hardware. 

OWL's program aligns directly with the digital literacy dimension. Also, it extends beyond this dimension to include marketable STEM skills, social justice knowledge, and community service engagement.  We endeavor to ensure all our STEM and social justice curriculum to be culturally responsive. And an expansion and deepening of our online cloud offering will allow us to reach more underserved youth regardless of location, gender, or age. 

While OpenWise Learning has existed for six years, and we have operated in Washington. DC and Nairobi, Kenya, our online cloud-based offering, is in the pilot stage. We started supplementing our in-class instruction with online resources with cohorts in Nairobi and DC in the fall of 2019. In 2020 the global COVID-19 pandemic pushed us to expand those resources to continue reaching and aiding our young scholars. In 2020 we added additional we grew our LMS, online communication tools, videos, and started podcasting to teach our kids. We can exponentially scale our work with MIT Solve's support from this pilot stage.

OpenWise Learning’s approach to increasing the representation of minority communities in STEM careers is innovative in that we stress the importance of public and community service. We want the diversity numbers to increase not just for the sake of representation (though this alone is important). However, people with advanced skills in these fields can directly influence issues that disproportionally affect their communities. Poverty, lack of quality education, and environmental racism are just some of the problems identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development goals. They illustrate how minority populations tend to bear the brunt of the effects. Often the policymakers and the executives armed with the tools to make change are not addressing the needs of specific communities simply because they are unaware of them. A diverse set of minds is required to brainstorm new and innovative solutions adequately.

Most of our program is delivered to our scholars using open source technology. With an expansion of our cloud resources, we could provide more services to our existing scholars and increase our reach to more youth. 

We currently have 42 students (across two countries) in the OpenWise Learning program. In the following year, we hope to retain them and induct an additional 40 to total 82. With the growth, we would like to expand to other cities in the U.S and internationally. If we can launch pilots in one to two new cities a year, in five years, with an excellent retention rate of 75%, we could be serving about 300 students. With the expansion of cloud-based tools, we could be helping hundreds of scholars each year. 

To track our progress, we intend to (1) Administer Surveys (Post/Pre) to access the understanding of Technology, SDG/Social Justice Issues, & coding. We will administer quarterly assessments to track knowledge and proficiency development over the years that the Scholars are in the OpenWise Initiative. In partnerships with parents and educators, OpenWise will follow student performance in STEM coursework through High School.  Mentors will help guide scholars through apprenticeship and report on progress. 

We have two full-time staff members and one part-time member. Moreover, we have several volunteers we depend upon to do the day-to-day activities. In addition, our board members provide organizational support in various capacities. 

Currently, only our executive director has the skills to expand our online cloud-based offerings.

Roger Ashby, the Executive Director, has worked as a technologist in multiple sectors for over 21 years. His areas of expertise include solutions development and engineering, cloud solutions, data science & visualization, managed application and hosting services, and project and program management. He has degrees in computer science and business. Additionally, he has a graduate certificate in International Development and earned a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Sustainable Development Practice.

Abigail Hazelwood, the Education Director, has more than 18 years of teaching experience. She has exclusively worked with marginalized youths in urban schools and Latin America. She is certified in Elementary Education and certified in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She holds a degree in Curriculum and Instruction, a Master of Science in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She is a K-12 National Board Certified Teacher.

Operations Director Danielah Gautier. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biology then received her Doctorate of Medicine. In her residency training, she was the Administrative Chief Resident and on the Education Committee. She has experience working with underserved populations and takes an interest in health awareness and education. 

Our team is small, but of the founders, two are women, and two are Black. In addition, when building out our board, we looked for people with diverse backgrounds. Including the three founders, the board is comprised of five women and five men. There are five Black members and five white members on the board. In Kenya and the USA, our volunteer teams are typically comprised of individuals who identify as Black, with an even mix of women and men providing their time and services. 

With additional funding, we will build a team that continues to embody the diversity we've achieved with our founding team, board members, and volunteers. 

The individualized support that MIT Solve could provide would be invaluable. The connections made available would increase the number of professionals we could have interacting with our students. The advice that this association could supply OpenWise Learning as we enter our growth phase could guide us so that we have the most significant positive impact on the communities we work in. Additionally, MIT Solve can help OpenWise Learning better serve our goals of reaching out into the community. 

We want to work with organizations that make an effort to diversify and include minorities in their ranks. We believe that including a broad spectrum of experiences and cultures strengthens productivity and success; we will seek organizations whose philosophies reinforce this tenet. Companies that use technology to provide goods and services and public-good organizations aiming for social and ecological justice are whom we would like to partner with now and in the future.