Next Gen ESTEAM

According to the World Economic Forum, 65% of youth in primary school today will likely work in roles that do not currently exist. To prepare youth for future careers they have yet to imagine, VentureLab developed a unique curriculum for K-12 geared toward practicing problem-solving with empathy, thinking creatively, turning mistakes into opportunities, and more. 

This challenge is especially pronounced for girls, who are not given the support or encouragement they need to pursue careers in STEM fields. Women and girls are underserved in STEM fields, and in the last decade, all-female invented patents constituted only 10.9% of issued patents in 2022. This is unacceptable; educators are in drastic need of resources, curriculum, and tools to engage girls in STEM, develop entrepreneurial mindsets, and prepare them for the careers of the future.

Middle school is the right time for this type of intervention. Research has shown that middle school is when educators can have the most influence on students as they form their identity and develop their ability to think abstractly while imagining their futures. During this transition, students are at a higher risk for disengaging as they begin coping with puberty and navigating new environments. Girls, BIPOC students, and other at-risk populations are at a higher risk of disengaging and limiting their career aspirations without proper support and guidance. VentureLab is directly focused on this age group because of the long-term impact. Additionally, as the pandemic worsened racial inequities and pushed students in marginalized communities to rely more on the technology available at schools and via afterschool programs, this type of intervention took on added importance. The continued availability of these programs will be vital to closing the racial wealth gap over the years and decades to come.

VentureLab has witnessed the impact of this phenomenon on students in all 50 states and over 155 countries. Our programs impact students of every background, but always uncover a common theme: girls are systematically excluded from the support and encouragement they need to pursue the careers of the future. Support for educators and direct program delivery to students are sorely needed in order to close this gap.

The purpose of VentureLab is to provide an engaging and easily accessible STEM-focused entrepreneurship curriculum to K-12 educators and caregivers so that youth, especially those who are historically excluded from such programs, will learn the mindsets and skills needed to prepare them for their future careers and success.The entrepreneurial mindsets include: Embracing Failure, Growth Mindset, Courage, Persistence and Grit, Opportunity- seeking, Problem-solving, Curiosity, Optimism, Resourcefulness, Adaptability, and Empathy.

Each entrepreneurial mindset and skill connects directly to STEM subjects through guided activities. With 36 million jobs highly impacted by AI in the coming decades, it is vital that students develop familiarity and confidence with new technology at an earlier age than ever before (Lindner 2023). Matching entrepreneurial mindsets to practical, applied knowledge of emerging technologies gives students a profound competitive advantage as they move into higher education.

VentureLab offers its curriculum and resources free-of-charge to ensure equitable access for students and educators. Core programs include:

• Idea to Pitch (English and Spanish), which provides an entrepreneurship program that is fun and accessible for kids and teens. With the Idea to Pitch Program, students grow their entrepreneurial mindsets and skills as they apply their passions and strengths to identify opportunities to creatively solve problems, develop their solution into a business, and pitch the idea.

• Career Exploration and Innovation, which empowers youth in middle school, and girls and historically underrepresented students in particular, to explore and discover new career opportunities.

• Spark Startup Mentorship, which helps students start and scale their businesses with $500 in funding for materials and 4 months of mentorship and guided activities

• Entrepreneurial Mindset Course for Educators, which provides educators with the training and knowledge they need to inspire an entrepreneurial mindset in students.

Idea to Pitch and Career Exploration and Innovation are our core programs that directly reach students, and are specifically designed to help close the opportunity gap for underrepresented youth. The curriculum is available for K-12, with our Career Exploration and Innovation Program focusing specifically on middle school-aged students, recognizing the vital importance of these years in shaping the future of our nation’s youth. We reinforce the impact of these programs with teacher training, coaching and professional development to empower educators to guide their students as they maximize STEM skills and prepare for the careers of the future. Educators are supported with ongoing virtual coaching throughout the program and an impact report highlighting student outcomes and learning at the conclusion of the program. 

The curriculum continues to evolve based on feedback and input from educators, students, and industry leaders who are involved in the program. As careers and technology evolve, we strive to keep this intervention responsive and effective. Currently, we are working to innovate our programs by adding elements focused on leveraging AI so students can be prepared to effectively navigate and utilize the technology as they grow their entrepreneurial mindsets.

The primary beneficiaries are students, schools, educators, parents and caregivers, community and non-profit programs, and camps for K-12 youth.  Over half (64%) of the schools and organizations that use our curriculum self-identify as high-need schools serving lower socio-economic youth.  We also designed our curriculum with girls in mind because girls are underserved in STEM fields, and in 2022, all-female invented patents constituted only about 10.9% of issued patents according to Axios.

VentureLab is a national organization but has a direct focus on serving communities. The organization partners with schools and community-based organizations to understand community needs and continually adapt the program to serve the students in greatest need of support.

We recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to serving our target population. We work with students from historically marginalized backgrounds from across the United States and around the world, and our organization does not have all the answers. Our program team works with its network of educators, after school associations, and advocates in numerous communities to understand the unique needs of students and tailor implementation plans to overcome challenges. This type of grassroots program design ensures the program is always evolving and focused directly on positively impacting students and communities.

Our goal is to see an effective combination of programming and community partnerships alter the academic trajectory of historically underserved students in STEM through entrepreneurship and career exploration education. By showing students what they are capable of accomplishing, they will broaden their academic horizons and develop the entrepreneurial mindsets needed to thrive in the careers of the future.

Though VentureLab is a national organization, it has its roots in the community it serves. VentureLab’s founder, a Latina entrepreneur and educator working in STEM, saw a distinct connection between STEM and entrepreneurship, but a lack of women in the field, and a lack of education and opportunity available – especially for girls and historically marginalized communities. Her experience was the inspiration for VentureLab and a continued touchpoint as programs evolve.

As VentureLab has grown to serve students in all 50 states and over 155 countries, the organization continues to foster connections and lean on community-based organizations to stay connected to the needs of schools and student populations. As a technical advisor and partner of the CS Mott Foundation, VentureLab is connected to a nationwide network of afterschool programs, which directly connects staff to community leaders across the country. 

Our participation in the nationwide network of afterschool programs is one of the organization’s most significant drivers of innovation. This allows for direct feedback from the people who are in the classroom touching the lives of students. As a national organization, we strive to maintain the highest degree of responsiveness possible; this process allows for rapid, unfiltered feedback that is quickly incorporated into programs and used to enhance program offerings.

In just over 10 years, VentureLab programs have grown to transform the lives of students around the world, reaching over 984,000 students and educators, with over 610 programs in action in 2023 alone. This has been possible because of the communities and educators who have been enthusiastic about the need for this program and worked to champion this groundbreaking intervention. VentureLab persevered and thrived throughout the COVID-19 pandemic because of the program’s unique, direct focus on providing support that is specifically tailored to the needs and ultimate success of students.

VentureLab has built a program that is scalable and proven to positively impact the lives of students, but we are in need of strategic partnerships to not only reach more students, but also enhance our current programming by leveraging AI to prepare students for careers of the future. Through diligent, community-led program development, our organization has built partnerships that have connected our programs with students. We are now at a tipping point where, with the thought leadership, technical and logistical support provided by MIT Solve, we could transform education for an entire generation of students.

Our grassroots, community-focused model gives us a valuable connection to the needs of students and educators, but we are now in need of subject matter expertise to develop new tools that expose that population to emerging technological trends through our curriculum. AI is an especially significant focus; as AI creates one of the most significant disruptions to the job market in decades, it is vital that our students have the resources and expertise they need now to prepare for careers of the future. Developing AI literacy - especially for historically underserved students - will have a profound impact on our students’ educational and career trajectories. The expertise of the MIT Solve community, combined with an entrepreneurial learning model that is directly focused on the needs of students and educators, will have a transformational impact on long-term educational outcomes.

In today’s fast-paced world, merely having knowledge is not enough; the ability to apply that knowledge innovatively and entrepreneurially is what sets individuals apart. Recognizing this, VentureLab introduced the groundbreaking ESTEAM® approach, seamlessly blending entrepreneurship with the foundational pillars of STEM education. This approach focuses on nurturing the mindsets that can take a scientific idea or an artistic concept and transform it into a viable product or service that addresses real-world needs. By fostering these entrepreneurial and growth mindsets, VentureLab’s programs empower students to view challenges as opportunities and to trust in their abilities to create impactful solutions.

Teaching STEM skills alone isn’t enough; with most students eventually performing careers that are not yet even imagined, it’s vital that they develop a mindset that will allow for the easy applicability of academic skills in the workplace. Our approach recognizes that this space is continually evolving; new technologies, such as AI, emerge rapidly. We work with educators, industry leaders, and other stakeholders to ensure the curriculum evolves to introduce students to these cutting-edge concepts and set them up to master them as they move through their education. This is why our approach has evolved to focus on ESTEAM®, incorporating both entrepreneurship and arts with STEM education to give students a holistic, well-rounded approach to learning that allows them to approach challenges with logic and creativity.

Additionally, VentureLab’s focus on girls and other historically underserved students is innovative and geared toward catalyzing change in how educators work with students. Historically, girls do not receive as much encouragement or support as boys in pursuing this type of work, which is reflected in the disparity in patents received by male and female inventors. By intervening at a young age, VentureLab is laying the groundwork for a paradigm shift that will positively impact girls and women over the long term.

The same principle is true for BIPOC students and others from historically marginalized backgrounds. Racial wealth gaps are persistent in the United States and around the world, but this type of intervention - focused on students who are just beginning to map out their careers - sets these students on a path to compete for the jobs of the future and close the wealth gap one family at a time.

VentureLab’s ESTEAM® model ultimately takes a cutting-edge curriculum focused on entrepreneurial mindsets and STEM and combines it with a community-driven focus on the needs of students and individual communities. We intervene at the earliest point possible to inspire students, empower them with new mindsets, and set them on a path to thrive in the jobs of the future. We may not know what those jobs will look like yet, but we are confident that the students we serve are on a path to long-term success.

From the boardroom to the classroom, we are leaving girls and BIPOC students behind. While the number of women-owned companies in the US has grown dramatically in recent years, there are still more CEOs named John than all FEMALE CEOs of S&P 500 companies. Additionally, looking at some of the major fields in the innovation space, women are clearly outnumbered, and the statistics for women of color are even bleaker. Only 7% of Fortune 500 companies have women CEOs, which includes only 0.5% for women of color. And in terms of innovation and patent filings, only 10.9% of patents are filed by women.

Persistent racial and gender wealth gaps limit opportunities and exacerbate existing societal challenges. VentureLab works to reach students affected by these disparities at the earliest possible point, leveling the playing field and inspiring them to pursue their dreams; for girls and BIPOC students, this can have a lasting impact that carries them through higher education and into the job market.

Specifically, VentureLab prepares historically underserved students to lead innovative companies and design the next great inventions. VentureLab accomplishes its goals by intervening when students are showing interest in STEM and giving them the support, encouragement, and guidance they need to maintain that interest. By implementing this program and ensuring the broadest reach possible, we can create systemic change that will result in more women and BIPOC students pursuing STEM careers and taking on leadership roles.

Since the program’s inception, we have seen a significant increase in student interest towards pursuing entrepreneurial and STEM careers and demonstrable improvements in their self-confidence. This data serves as compelling evidence attesting to the efficacy and success of VentureLab programming.

88% of students said they were more confident in their abilities

87% learned how to embrace failure 

87% of students reported enhanced problem-solving skills

88% understand design thinking

80% of students are more interested in entrepreneurship & owning a business

79% of students said it gave them new career ideas

92% of direct delivery participants are girls or students of color

VentureLab has established an incredible reach and impact over a short period of time. The organization is now at a point where some of its initial students are matriculating into higher education and the workforce, shining valuable light on the impact and areas for growth of our programs. Our next phase of growth will compel VentureLab to understand the ways the program has impacted their career trajectories and incorporate it into our program moving forward. This will lock in a continuous quality improvement process that will make our programs even more robust over the next five years.

Additionally, our goal is to see even greater adoption of VentureLab programs. Our connections with State Afterschool networks across the country have opened the door to greater program reach, and we will utilize those networks to reach more students in need and increase our connections at Title 1 schools and with historically underserved communities. Our goal is to see VentureLab as the go-to program for STEM for schools and nonprofits operating in historically underserved communities.

Finally, a new impact goal for VentureLab is an expanded curriculum that incorporates AI and gives students tools to incorporate AI in their learning and eventual careers. For this initiative, we will collaborate with subject matter experts and youth development professionals to develop a curriculum that is well-informed and easy for educators to adapt to their classrooms.

VentureLab’s programs are curriculum-based, and many schools and organizations utilize our customizable curriculum to apply entrepreneurial mindsets when teaching technologies like computer science, and aerospace engineering. We’re excited about the possibility of working with MIT to incorporate AI into our existing curriculum to enhance our programming with this new technology.

VentureLab has 7 full-time employees, one part-time employee, 8 contractors, and 195 VentureLab Certified Educators

VentureLab was founded in 2013 as an all girls summer camp in San Antonio, Texas. What started as a direct delivery program for two dozen elementary students, has grown to provide programming for nearly 1 million students across the US and 155 countries. Ten years of educator feedback and curriculum iterations have created a catalog of programs with proven student outcomes, including increased confidence (88%),  failure resiliency (87%), expanded knowledge (87%) and college and career readiness (80%).

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are central to all of VentureLab’s programs. The organization was founded by a Latina entrepreneur with the recognition that most STEM programs are not designed to cater to historically marginalized populations. This was the inspiration for VentureLab’s focus on girls, and extends to its commitment to delivering programs to student populations and communities that are typically excluded from such groundbreaking educational initiatives. Additionally, a core goal of VentureLab is to recruit, hire, and empower women and people of color.

VentureLab works directly with schools, nonprofit organizations, after-school programs, and other community-based organizations to directly provide quality programming to educators and students. As a technical advisor and partner of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, VentureLab interfaces with Afterschool networks in all 50 states, which enables the organization to both stay responsive to community needs and provide access to programming to schools across the country.

Crucially, most VentureLab lessons are available for free online, which eliminates barriers to accessing educational content. This is supplemented by teacher training, direct instruction, and other resources that we strive to provide to schools with little or no investment.

As a nonprofit organization, VentureLab has a diverse portfolio of donors, including individuals, corporations, and foundations, as well as a growing amount of funding coming from earned revenue. We have a revenue stream with a clear path to sustainability, with 68% of our current budget coming from foundations that include multi-year grants from the Charles Mott Foundation and BD Morgan, who are at the forefront of Youth Entrepreneurship funding and ecosystem building. Donations from individuals will increase to 30% this year, as corporate support will increase to 9% and 7% will come from earned revenue. Our organization will sustain annual revenue growth and, with the ongoing support of its donors and increased earned revenue, will continue to scale growth in the years to come.