JWF to invest $10K in STEM opportunities for Yeshiva Girls’ School
Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh is including a new initiative to support Yeshiva Girls School in its 2013-2014 grant awards.
JWF awarded Yeshiva Girls School the maximum grant amount — $10,000 — to create and acquire high-quality laboratory materials to support development and implementation of STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in Yeshiva Schools, professional development opportunities for faculty through partnerships with area universities and establishing a lecture series featuring Jewish women working in STEM fields and balancing work and family life.
Sixty girls are expected to take part in the project in its first year. By the time it is fully implemented, it should affect all girls enrolled at the school in grades one through 12.
The enrollment currently stands at 152, according to JWF.
The goal, according to an official JWF statement, is to “bring long-term systemic change to ensure financial independence” to Orthodox women in Pittsburgh.
According to Judy Greenwald Cohen, executive director of JWF, “as job creation in STEM fields outpaces growth of other industries and is predicted to continue, funding this project is a true investment in the financial future of these young women,” she said in a prepared statement.
“This initiative is benefitting Pittsburgh’s entire Jewish community in terms of workforce and professional development, financial independence and an overall investment in the future of our community’s women and girls,” said Leah Sholler, director of general studies, Yeshiva Schools Girls’ Division grades seven through 12, said in a prepared statement. “We’re so thankful to JWF for seeing the long-term impact of this project and providing Yeshiva Girls’ School with the support we need to ensure a greater financial future for our students and our community.”
Founded in 2000, JWF began making grants in 2003 to fund innovative initiatives and projects serving and supporting the unique and critical needs of women and girls. Previous years’ grant-making cycles have focused on women and girls’ education and women’s economic security and empowerment. To date, JWF has granted nearly $400,000.
More recently, in keeping with the commitment of funding initiatives impacting the financial future of women and girls in the Pittsburgh region, JWF engaged in a partnership with the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) to form The Center for Women, a Squirrel Hill-based initiative intended to serve women throughout the community in areas related to achieving and maintaining economic independence.
Additional organizations awarded grants this cycle include Gwen’s Girls, New Voices Pittsburgh and Crisis Center North.
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