Children's Museum of Illinois

Project summary: Often, women do not feel comfortable in male-dominated STEM spaces. This is the result of decades of rhetoric encouraging young women to pursue more "feminine" careers. ChemGirls and She Builds provide science-centered programs for young women that build confidence and create sisterhood.

Amount requested: $5,500

Website: https://cmofil.org

Project statement of need: For decades, women have been encouraged to pursue traditionally feminine careers. Over time, this narrative is internalized by young women and girls. The end result of these pervasive attitudes is startling. According to 2023's Global Gender Gap report, women make up only 30% of the STEM workforce worldwide. Just 23% of American engineering jobs are held by women. By comparison, women make up approximately 50% of non-STEM occupations. To help combat these perceptions and build confidence, the Museum is developing programs exclusively for young women. In an environment of their peers, girls are comfortable enough to ask questions, be themselves, and support one another.

Encouragement at the 6th - 8th grade age range is especially important. Prior research indicated that women were particularly likely to drop out of science fields between college and graduate school; but new studies suggests that in the United States the drop-off occurs much earlier, during the middle school to high school transition. At the Museum, one of our core values is that low stake learning, with little risk of failure, is key to fostering creativity and problem solving. In our classroom, you don't receive a grade and there is no such thing as a "successful" project. This attitude permeates our programming and allows young women the freedom to experiment and take risks.

Last year's ChemGirls program was a tremendous success. The classes were all themed around cooking and the girls enjoyed edible projects. While the final subject matter will depend on the instructor, we plan to consider new themes like gas production and pressure, exothermic reactions, biodegradable plastic, and glow in the dark chemistry. We will also invite women in STEM fields to talk about their careers.

One of the pieces of feedback we received from Anne Rodrigues is that three iterations of the program (monthly, from September - November) was a fairly heavy lift for her and her student assistants, particularly in November as the end of Millikin's semester grew closer. As a result, we plan to offer two STEM-focused classes: ChemGirls and She Builds. The model will be similar, but she Builds will focus on engineering projects. Girls in the same age range will be taught be a local engineer and projects will include earthquake proofing a building (years ago the Museum developed an earthquake table that has not been utilized) and designing an "air powered" car. Again, women in engineering fields will be invited to share their experiences with the young women. Projects may be adjusted depending on the instructor and availability of supplies.

All classes will be offered for a small fee. The funding request includes scholarship dollars for students who may be unable to afford the class.

Describe how this project aligns with your organization's mission and goals? The Museum is dedicated to providing low-stakes learning opportunities that encourage children to explore their interests in their own time and at their own pace. Often STEM classrooms are especially intimidating. This is even more pronounced for students that may not be traditionally successful academically or who are members of an underrepresented student group. Offering our classes at the Museum provides a familiar space that makes the projects more approachable and fun. Studies show that play-based learning leads to academic success in the classroom. Academic success, in turn, leads to developing the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue STEM careers.

The Museum is also dedicated to removing barriers to high-level programming. Scholarship dollars will remove financial barriers to the program and allow a broader group of students to participate in the program.

Age groups served: Ages 6-12 years

Gender served: Female

Number of females served: 50-60

Explanation of intent - existing program: Last year, She Gave funded a pilot ChemGirls program. It was extremely successful and well received. The feedback we received from parents included:

"Teaching chemistry through food made it more accessible to her...It also genuinely made her start to think about herself doing future work in the space -- something that was not on her radar before the camp. Her response was like, "Oh, this is chemistry? I can do this."

"Please continue to engage middle school-aged kids. There are lots of programs for little ones (elementary school) and high school (sophomore and above). There are very few programs to retain my daughter's interest in STEM fields at this age. Her school does not offer robotics club, Science Olympiad, or similar extra-curricular STEM programs. Anything that offers exposure to those fields, chemistry, botany or plant biology, sciences with lab work is so valuable right now."

and

"Please also continue to keep this an all-girl space. She felt more comfortable and relaxed, especially as a middle school-aged girl."

The program is clearly well-received and fills a gap in public school offerings. The Museum's 2025-2026 budget (if approved by the Board in May) includes funding to continue the programming at it's current level. But, an ongoing partnership with She Gave allows us to continue expanding our women in STEM focused programming and launch She Builds.

Sustainability beyond grant period: As we continue to demonstrate success in these kinds of programs, donors take notice and invest. Last year, we were fortunate to receive a $15,000 gift to fund instruction and materials for Girls Who Code. Corporate partners have also reached out to offer funding assistance for STEM-based programming. In addition, the Museum's budget continues to grow as attendance increase (20% increase since 2022). These programs are a priority, and we intend to direct our resources accordingly.

If you receive partial funding, how would the program be impacted? The majority of ChemGirls will be funded through an internal budget allocation in 2025 - 2026. She Builds would likely be paused until other funding can be secured.

Project budget narrative: The Director of Education and Outreach will manage the budget in coordination with the Museum's Financial Administrator. Receipts for all expenses will be coded and entered in QuickBooks, drawing down the balance on the grant, if awarded.

The budget is a fairly minimal part of the Museum's overall budget, but makes a meaningful difference by creating additional programming for young women. As we continue to build new programs, a greater portion of our budget will be allocated to educational programming. These early grants to the Museum have illustrated that we can and should be investing more in these programs. For that reason, ChemGirls will be funded through the Museum's 25-26 budget, while She Builds will be a She Gave funded program. The submitted budget includes line items for both programs.

Line items for the budget include supplies, marketing, and scholarship dollars for 50% of students. Supplies are needed for more sophisticated programming, scholarships make the program accessible to all students, and marketing (tee shirts, notebooks, etc.) allow the girls to feel like they are part of something special, while advertising She Gave, the Museum, and partner organizations like Millikin.

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