Strategy One

This first strategy is foundational—assessing gaps, identifying partners and determining collective goals creates a strong base from which to engage in creative approaches to the remaining three strategies that are based on each community’s needs, assets and interests.Robust cross-sector partnerships designed to create a collective vision of STEM success for young people are key to cultivating a rich STEM learning ecosystem.

To cultivate cross-sector partnerships, STEM Ecosystems can:

• Identify a credible, highly engaged lead organization committed to collaborative practice.
• Engage a broad range of stakeholders including:
  • Schools/school districts
  • Out-of-school time (OST) systems/ programs
  • STEM-expert museums and science centers
  • Institutions of higher education
  • STEM-focused companies
  • Businesses that recognize the need for STEM competencies
  • STEM professional organizations
  • Libraries
  • Community-based organizations
  • Philanthropies
  • Families and parent organizations
  • Youth organizations and advisory groups
• Assess the community’s dynamics and readiness to engage in collaborative work.
• Define the current landscape, and identify priority gaps in access, quality and outcomes for young people’s STEM success.
• Develop an overall vision and goals.
• Define what each stakeholder will do to achieve those goals.
• Work on defining and using common language.
• Discuss and adopt shared measurements.
• Create and implement financing and policy strategies for scale and sustainability.
• Develop and implement a communications strategy.
• Plan specific approaches to continuous improvement. How will the use of data drive increased quality in all programmatic settings?
• Prioritize time for reflection and peer learning.