"CRS trains employees to work well with teachers, manage an elementary school classroom, and make a big impact with students in just a one-hour presentation.... They’re effective team-builders, either with employees who already work together or across departments. CRS does a good job of taking pictures, getting quotes from happy teachers and volunteers, providing reports that make it easy to keep up a dynamic internal communications campaign throughout the year."
-- Trina Ostrander, Manager, Public Policy & Communications, Bayer HealthCare
Accomplished link
Community Resources for Science (CRS) offers engaging hands-on science opportunities to roughly 1,100 elementary school educators and 25,000 students at more than 100 urban schools in San Francisco's East Bay. Vast majorities of participating teachers say CRS has helped them teach more science, teach it better, and get their students excited about science. With extra support, CRS could reach thousands more students in the next three years.
Each $10,000 grant allows CRS to serve 38 to 40 more teachers who in turn have an impact on more than 1,000 students. There are immediate opportunities to support CRS in California districts.In addition, CRS offers rich volunteer opportunities for professional scientists in California classrooms.
Funders and PartnersUniversity of California, Berkeley, Department of Chemistry
Science@Cal
CalTeach
Environmental Leadership Pathways, UC Berkeley, College of Natural Resources
Gateways STEM Network
Bayer
Clorox
Oakland Unified School District
Berkeley Unified School District
Berkeley Public Education Foundation
The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy.
Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.
Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.
Ensure work is sustainable.
Demonstrate replicability and scalability.
Create high impact partnerships
Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.
Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience
Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.
Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.
Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.