Our second location on the south side of Chicago within the Hyde Park community will concentrate on helping to drive inclusive innovation, STEM education and workforce development and assist in economic development in surrounding Chicago communities. One of our first initiatives will be launching a community-driven Opportunity Landscape Project.
The STEM Opportunity Landscape Project serves to pinpoint STEM resources across nine South Side Chicago communities, effectively illuminating the full spectrum of STEM programs, locations, and spaces. This valuable insight will be instrumental in crafting deliberate STEM learning pathways, addressing, and closing existing gaps, fostering strategic partnerships, and optimizing available resources to enrich STEM opportunities for learners of all age groups.
This project was developed in collaboration with Northwestern University’s Office of Community Education Partnerships and with input from educators, community organizations and local businesses.
South Side Asset Surveys
The first step of the mapping project collected survey data from community learning spaces (including schools), STEM employers and workforce development programs within the nine South Side neighborhoods including: Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Kenwood, Hyde Park, Greater Grand Crossing, Oakland, Washington Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore. To learn more about the surveys or fill one out, select from below.
The STEM Opportunity Landscape Project Goals
The core objectives of the STEM Opportunity Landscape Project include:
- Capture south side STEM opportunity data from educators, STEM providers, workforce agencies and employers to create a learning landscape that visualizes STEM resources, places, and career opportunities.
- Provide STEM- and community-based organizations with data to inform programming, policies, and strategizes that advance and support robust STEM education and workforce opportunities.
- Host community data-driven conversations to explore existing strengths and identify gaps and resource needs.
- Cultivate new partnerships and relationships with and across the community to support the development of new programming and garnering of new resources.
Community Conversations
Core to our work is partnership, and as true conveners and collaborators, we aim to work within and across the nine communities to co-develop the south side STEM Opportunity Landscape Project.
Join the email list serve to receive updates and event announcements regarding the STEM project. For more information about the mapping project or interested in partnering please contact ChicagoSTEM@anl.gov. To learn more about the Argonne in Chicago initiative visit our website.