C3's Scenario-based STEAM Education

Problem: Lack of Diversity in Tech

The tech workforce has a diversity problem as black, brown and multiethnic tech professionals. Tech companies are having a difficult time finding diverse candidates to fill positions in one of the highest paying and fastest growing industries in the US. Tech companies continue to be challenged in identifying and recruiting individuals with diverse backgrounds that possess the skill set that will help progress their sector of the industry.

If minority youth are properly exposed to tech at a young age they would be more likely to enter the tech workforce. Many minority youth face a host of socioeconomic barriers making it less likely for them to be exposed to tech skill sets in traditional settings such as attending STEAM camps or having tech classes as part of their school curriculum. There is a distinct difference between educating and producing STEM graduates and having graduates be equipped to work in tech. Studies show “Only half of black and Hispanic graduates with computer science degrees from leading universities are being hired by major technology companies” (USA Today)

Problem: Methodology in which tech is taught and does not connect culturally

Many minority youth are not being exposed to technology in a way that relates to them culturally. Kids should be connected to the content, skill set, and the subculture that exists in the tech industry and relates to their cultural experiences. 

Problem: Aspiration in imagery

The small quantity of black, brown and multiethnic tech professionals in the present day makes it less likely for minority youth to see themselves as tech professionals in the future. There is a disconnect between how the youth are being geared to enter the tech industry and that gap is even greater for black, brown and multiethnic children. In order to connect black, brown, multiethnic groups to cultural experiences and the subculture of the tech industry, it is important to bridge the gap in creating and developing how they learn and who they learn from. 

The solution is to unlock the potential of black, brown and multiethnic tech workers of the future by targeting, exposing, and engaging them at an early age. The C3 initiative helps foster breakthrough experiences for minority youth by creating ethnically oriented expositions ‘C3 Expos’. The C3 initiative strategically conducts community outreach by reaching out to the youth where they frequent whether that be at individual schools, school districts, or other community entities. The initiative targets organizations with high percentages of minority youth.

When children attend an expo they are able to grow coding skills by completing various comic book themed scenarios or ‘missions’ which in turn teaches the children that tech can be used to solve real world challenges. Through the gracious support of mentors and teams of volunteers minority youth are able to be immersed in software engineering, hardware engineering, programming, robotics, and design in order to solve the mission of the day. Children also learn coding languages such as Python, Arduino, and Scratch. These immersive scenarios allow children to focus on problem solving in meaningful ways that keep them engaged and expose them to tech skill sets in culturally relevant ways that can be applied across the sectors of tech. 

The C3 initiative acts as a liaison between industry and minority youth who reside in the community. The initiative seeks to promote career readiness by working with tech companies to design relevant curriculum that meets tech industry standards while simultaneously exposing underrepresented youth to different areas of interest in tech. After children attend an expo the promising attendees are identified and put on track geared towards working in tech. They are offered internships by tech companies that provide further training and paid compensation. This impacts minority youth by making it possible to allow them to pursue a career in tech as opposed to finding jobs that allow them to get by day by day.

The initiative uses community outreach cultural competency to prepare career readiness relevant to industry standards. The C3 initiative promotes the disciplines of coding to minority youth which will in turn help solve tech's lack of diversity problem and bridge the gaps that exist in the tech sector. It is not about a lack of capability, it is about a lack of access. The C3 initiative helps promote access to minority youth.

This is how the C3 initiative seeks to solve the lack of diversity in technology by engaging  underrepresented youth to create solutions based on their perspective of problems that arise.

The solution serves a black, brown and multiethnic youth who reside in the Inland Empire which is composed of both Riverside and San Bernardino counties which are two large densely populated counties in the country's most populous state. There is potential to unlock the STEAM potential of over 921,000 minority youth who reside in the region.

The C3 expos are free to attend which eliminates socioeconomic barriers geared towards minority youth between the ages of 8 and 18. This impacts the lives of minority youth by lessening financial burdens of kids who come from families who feel that they cannot afford exposure to working in the tech space on the creator side of technology. The initiative provides minority youth with exposure to real life problems and how they relate to individuals themselves and their overall community. 

The way the solution works is essentially a Pipeline program that exposes minority  youth to STEAM. Then identifies promising minority youth candidates to fill internship roles with tech companies by exposing them to learn how to use the tools and key concepts of working in technology.

Minority youth are being identified to be afforded financial benefits once they are engaged by the C3 initiative. Promising minority youth working on internship opportunities to provide pay and proper experience that is tailored to industry needs at its inception.

It helps place minority youth in proximity to being recruited by tech companies. The C3 initiative helps tech companies recruit diverse candidates and provide them with direct training through their internship programs. The C3 initiative bridges the gaps that many minority face when pursuing a career in tech.

The team is well connected by way of community outreach that links several corporate partners, local government and school districts.

The team strategically targets, identifies and recruits minority youth to participate in immersive scenario based coding development programming. The team identifies schools with high populations of minority youth. The C3 initiative acts as a liaison between tech companies by not just exposing kids to learning tech skill sets and problem solving skills, it also helps link promising youth to real positions in tech companies.The team helps show kids that there is more than just the traditional avenue to enter the tech workforce. This team provides exposure to scenario based experiences that are tailored to what tech companies seek in employees.

The team works to meet  the needs of companies in the industry by identifying and recruiting diverse talent. The team simultaneously engages children through storytelling and teaches tech concepts in terms that children can understand.As we grow we plan to ensure that we maintain a representation that reflects the population we serve.

The C3 initiative currently runs on 100###b#< donations and although funding is crucial to our cause, we understand that expanding our network and access to experts in nonprofit sectors is vital to our success. Being granted access to MIT Solves network of experts will help broaden our impact. Being an MIT Solver will assist us with identifying gaps within our organization that are barriers to achieving our goals.Such as broadening our organizations corporate and individual partnerships that will further our cause. This will help us gain more exposure on a national level as we seek to expand our operations.

The C3 initiative utilizes a unique approach that prioritizes problem solving over lesson based learning. The focus is on teaching minority youth problem solving in an innovative way. A distinguishing factor is that we utilize elements of the subculture like comic books and syfy to develop scenarios in which children can help their heroes fight issues that mirror real life. Tech is best taught in scenario based settings such as the ones C3 initiative utilizes. Our impact will be on the socioeconomic trajectory of minority youth and their impact on tech.

Our one year goal is to expand our reach to 1500 kids.

Our  five year goal includes broadening our ability to impact more youth in a given year, scaling organizations to enter geographical markets that have already requested our services.

We plan to accomplish this by fortifying and growing our infrastructure and expanding our corporate partnerships.

We are currently measuring our success by tracking the number of youth who have attended and successfully completed a C3 expo along with their demographic information, and capturing the potential interest areas of where they would like to work in tech. We would also like to identify the number of youth in the various segments of the pipeline, who are placed in internships, who are employed or have pursued entrepreneurial endeavors.

We seek to create a pipeline that is sustainable. We create environments where underrepresented youth that wish to pursue a career in tech are supported by learning tech skill sets such as coding, robotics and design elements. This allows them to transition from being consumers of technology to being able to use technology to solve problems, which lead to opportunities like internships, employment or the pursuit of entrepreneurial endeavors. 

We utilize coding languages such as Python, Arduino, and Scratch. As well as hardware like M block robots and drones. We also utilize laptops donated from our industry partners. While we utilize the aforementioned technology our organization is powered by our scenario based learning model.

Diversity is not a metric, it is a mindset. Providing diverse candidates with exposure to STEAM helps increase perspectives that are needed to solve real world problems in the tech industry. Due to the lack of diversity in the tech sector, diverse perspectives are underutilized in the creation of solutions that address the perspective of diverse communities. We target, identify and recruit minority youth to work in tech by strengthening skill sets that are sought after by tech companies. We ensure we are maintaining a mindset of diversity as we approach our mission by maintaining diversity through our board of directors, executive leadership team and even vendors in our supply chain.

The C3 team provides enriching programming to promote tech skill set to minority youth for free through C3 expos. The initiative is funded by the tech industry and other organizations who have committed to investing in making the industry more inclusive. The organization helps create pipeline programming to supply diverse candidates to enter the workforce by equipping minority youth with relevant experience to address and solve the problems in their areas of interest within tech.

Our initial goal is to establish a $10 million Endowment funded from corporate and individual donations to sustain our operational budget. 

At every C3 expo we host a VIP tour in which we invite former and new potential partners to visually see the impact of our event on our target population. Our partnerships are formed once the organization expresses a desire to join our cause. We also rely on our volunteers and mentors to engage organizations where they work towards forming partnerships with us as well. 

To date we have raised the following funding:

Community foundations: $45,000

Corporate Partnerships: $ 71,000  

Individual Donors: $17,500