The American Honda Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $324,000 for the fall 2020 funding period to six nonprofit organizations dedicated to enhancing science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) education opportunities for young people.

The grant recipients are Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio in Cleveland, Latinitas in Austin, Texas, Literacy Matters Foundation in Minneapolis, Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC) in Atlanta, and The Fishing School and The Literacy Lab – both in Washington, D.C. Combined with the spring and summer 2020 grants, the American Honda Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million to nonprofit organizations across America over the past nine months.

The American Honda Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations that share the core tenets, beliefs and philosophies of Honda, which are characterized by the following qualities: imaginative, creative, youthful, forward-thinking, scientific, humanistic and innovative. Since the Foundation’s establishment in 1984, it has awarded more than $43 million to organizations serving over 118 million people across the U.S.

“Through our grant program, the American Honda Foundation helps young people reach their potential for academic and lifelong success,” said Alexandra Warnier, executive director of the American Honda Foundation. “This funding will enhance programs that aim to create a pipeline to STEAM careers, close learning gaps, and provide students with life skills.”

Following is an overview of the grant recipients and how the organizations will use the funds from the American Honda Foundation: 

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio: With over four acres in Cleveland’s Morgana Bluffs Nature Preserve, local youth gain exposure to and build on STEM concepts through “fun with purpose” activities and experiments that encourage hands-on learning and the application of classroom concepts in math and science through real-world exploration. The American Honda Foundation grant will support activities at the Outdoor Learning Lab, including birdwatching using sensory and physical tools to spot birds as well as learning why snow happens and the math/science behind each snowflake.
• Latinitas: The organization addresses the underrepresentation of Latina and other women of color in technology fields by offering year-round opportunities for girls ages 9-18 to express themselves creatively through digital media, technology and other STEM enrichment activities that explore identity, culture and gender. Participants study filmmaking, graphic and web design, podcasting and photography, while also exploring the latest in 21st century storytelling such as coding, 3-D printing and virtual and augmented reality. The grant will support Latinitas’ virtual bilingual STEM programs.
• Literacy Matters Foundation: Grant funding will support the Mighty Doodle™ Literacy Program, which is designed to empower kindergarten through third-grade learners with the basic reading, writing and spelling skills to close the literacy gap. The program provides individualized, engaging child-friendly literacy instruction in a gamified lesson format using Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence. With real-time tracking and analytics, teachers can quickly identify where individual students need more help and assign specific tasks to address those needs.
• Multi-Agency Alliance for Children (MAAC): MAAC will use the grant to support their Employment and Training Program where young adults – ages 18-24 and who have been in the foster care system – receive technical skills training and ongoing support that sets them on a path of self-sufficiency. Participants gain basic IT training and work toward achieving professional technical and computer science certifications. They also receive ongoing support in life skills, financial literacy and management along with other wraparound assistance.
• The Fishing School: Students learn to ‘fish in the rivers of the mind’ to build the academic and life skills necessary to achieve lifetime success. Students in first through fifth grades and their parents are grouped into cohorts upon enrollment and progress together through a multi-year program. The grant will support The Fishing School’s afterschool and summer success programs, which engage students in hands-on, thematic STEAM activities that promote creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking as well as the development of core math and reading skills through technology.
• The Literacy Lab: The grant will support The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship, which provides young men of color who are recent high school graduates robust coaching and professional development. The Leading Men in turn, provide literacy intervention to disadvantaged pre-kindergarten students in Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, and Richmond, Va. Each Fellow is assigned to a single classroom for the entire school year, leading whole class, small group and one-on-one literacy interventions. In addition to closing the literacy gap, the Leading Men Fellowship exposes young men of color to a career in early childhood education, potentially helping to diversify the teacher pipeline.

For more information about the American Honda Foundation and its grant application process, visit www.honda.com/community/applying-for-a-grant.