The Other America: Then and Now - Increasing global competitiveness through informal science education

Students in the U.S. currently rank 25th in math and 17th in science among their peers in other industrialized countries. Yet research shows that 80 percent of future jobs will require literacy and skills in these areas. To meet future workforce needs and maintain our global competitiveness, we must improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills among students and increase access to STEM careers particularly among underrepresented populations. Afterschool programs have begun to play a significant role in developing new informal science education approaches for students across the country. This panel will explore future workforce demands in STEM fields, provide statewide examples of how STEM afterschool initiatives are developing college and career-ready students, and discuss the importance of informal science education initiatives for student success.

Presented by the National Poverty Center at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan with funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Join the conversation on Twitter: #OtherAmericaUM

RSVP to attend by contacting [email protected] or calling (734) 615-5312

Moderator
Megan Russell Johnson
Associate Program Officer, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Panelists
Mike Schmidt
Director, Education and Community Development, Ford Motor Company Fund

Mary Sutton
Executive Director, Michigan After-School Partnership

Judi Brown Clarke
Diversity Director, Beacon Center, Michigan State University

Lynn Kleiman Malinoff
Bright Futures Project Director, Eastern Michigan University

The Other America: Then and Now
Fifty years ago, Michael Harrington's The Other America captured the attention of policymakers, students and the public. He wrote, "In a nation with a technology that could provide every citizen with a decent life, it is an outrage and a scandal that there should be such social misery." Fifty years later, this statement resonates as poverty remains higher in the U.S. than in most other advanced economies. These sessions highlight issues that remain at the forefront of antipoverty efforts - raising the skills, employment and earnings of the disadvantaged.