Pennsylvania awarding nearly $500,000 to connect more young children with STEM-related topics

ALLEGHENY COUNTY — Pennsylvania has awarded the Allegheny Intermediate Unit nearly $500,000 to support STEM education in underserved communities.

The goal of the funding it to create more engagement between STEM related topics and young children.

The STEM field has had more than 1 million jobs added in the past two years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor. That number is expected to grow.

“We have an obligation to make sure every child has access to good STEM learning because those are were first and foremost, those were the careers and jobs that have the greatest growth areas across the country,” said Michael Fierle of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.

The money given to the organization is expected to support 6,000 students in Pre-K through second grade and 300 educators and library systems.

“We have this thing called Storytime STEM packs that my program developed back in 2015 and there’s specifically materials to help introduce young children pre K grades pre K to two to stem and computer science,” said Fierle.

The organization is currently working to decide which districts will receive parts of the funding.

The program is expected to begin in the 2023 school year.

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