Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula and The Tech Museum of Innovation Partner to Promote Girls in Tech

Junior League Marks 50^th Anniversary with $100,000 Grant to The Tech Museum

Menlo Park, Calif. – The Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula (JLPA•MP) is partnering with The Tech Museum of Innovation to encourage girls in technology, part of a new community focus area for the League. The Tech Museum, founded by JLPA•MP in 1976, will benefit from a $100,000 grant in celebration of the League’s 50^th anniversary, as well as significant volunteer and outreach support over the next three years.

One joint project will provide funding to establish "Girls @ The Tech Days," a new program focused on engaging girls with STEM education and educating teachers to support them. Girls will participate in hands-on workshops, interact with exhibits, and hear from women working in tech today.  Another project will pair JLPA•MP members with middle school girls participating in The Tech Challenge, an annual team design challenge that reinforces the scientific and engineering process. JLPA•MP members will also aid in establishing the Girls @ The Tech Committee, which will help to provide future community and financial support for the museum. 

"The Tech is enormously grateful for the support provided by the JLPA•MP," said Jessica Christie, Director of Individual Giving at The Tech. "Without their efforts the museum would not exist, and their renewed support will allow us to focus on the crucial issue of inspiring girls to connect with STEM."

“Getting and Keeping Girls in Technology” emerged as a pressing issue in Silicon Valley as a result of a community needs assessment conducted by JLPA•MP. The JLPA•MP believes it is uniquely qualified to make an impact on the issue due to its location, membership, and mission. 

"We are thrilled to partner again with The Tech to create new programs that focus on sustained engagement of girls in STEM, an issue we determined critical to our local community," commented Project Development Committee co-chair and immediate past president, Joy Baker Peacock.   

Celebrating 50 Years of Community Impact

Since its founding in 1965, the Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula has contributed thousands of volunteer hours to the local community, supported nearly 100 community service projects, and awarded grants to 192 area nonprofit organizations. In its 50 years, the League has tackled important social issues such as affordable housing, societal violence, literacy and education, homelessness, drug addiction, and at-risk children and youth.

The League has also played a key role in starting several local nonprofits, including The Tech Museum of Innovation, Daybreak Shelter, The Stanford Health Library, Rebuilding Together Peninsula, East Palo Alto Charter School, and Rosalie Rendu Center.

Additionally, delegates from JLPA•MP participate in the State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior Leagues of California (SPAC), a non-partisan education and advocacy organization representing more than 11,000 women voters. SPAC’s efforts have resulted in passage of two critical bills dealing with domestic violence (Senate Bill 563) and health care (Assembly Bill 40).

About the Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula, Inc.

The Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula, Inc. (JLPA•MP) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The JLPA•MP serves the Peninsula communities of Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, Stanford, Sunnyvale and Woodside, and invites women of all races, religions and national origins who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to voluntarism to join our ranks. For more information, visit www.thejuniorleague.org.

About the Tech Museum of Innovation

The Tech is a hands-on technology and science museum for people of all ages and backgrounds. The museum — located in the Capital of Silicon Valley — is a non-profit experiential learning resource established to engage people in exploring and experiencing applied technologies affecting their lives. Through programs such as The Tech Challenge presented by Cisco, our annual team-design competition for youth, and internationally renowned programs such as The Tech Awards presented by Applied Materials, The Tech endeavors to inspire the innovator in everyone.

 

Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula and Technovation Partner to Bring the World’s Largest Mobile App Startup Competition to More Bay Area Girls

Menlo Park, Calif. – June 22, 2015 – The Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula (JLPA•MP) is partnering with Technovation, the world’s largest mobile app entrepreneurship competition for girls, to inspire the next generation of technology leaders. Technovation will benefit from significant volunteer and outreach support from the JLPA•MP as the organizations join forces to educate the female technology entrepreneurs of the future.

In this first joint project between JLPA•MP and Technovation, the organizations will work together to address the shortage of girls who pursue STEM careers. JLPA•MP volunteers will reach out to local teachers, women in technology, and community leaders to educate them about Technovation’s free online curriculum and competition, and equip them to lead Technovation groups in their schools and neighborhoods. JLPA•MP will also provide support to volunteers throughout the competition and organize local events related to the project.

Samantha Quist, JLPA•MP member and the former executive director of Technovation, states, “I’m proud to see JLPA•MP focusing on girls in STEM and working with Technovation to bring mobile app development and entrepreneurship education to more girls in our community.”

Studies have shown that just 18% of computer science majors are women (a decrease from 35% of computer science graduates in 1985), and only 7% of technology entrepreneurs are estimated to be women. JLPA•MP and Technovation aim to improve the ratio of women in computer science and entrepreneurship by providing training and education to young women in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

Technovation challenges girls ages 10 to 18 to create a mobile app and business plan to address a real problem in their community. Bay Area students have chosen to address issues including graffiti, bullying, and peer pressure in previous years. The 2015-16 project will begin this fall as teachers, community members, women in technology, and other volunteers register to participate in Technovation. JLPA•MP is excited to collaborate with volunteers and students as they begin work on Technovation’s curriculum by January, in order to prepare their apps for submission to Technovation’s international competition by next spring.

 

About the Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula, Inc.

The Junior League of Palo Alto•Mid Peninsula, Inc. (JLPA•MP) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The JLPA•MP serves the Peninsula communities of Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, Stanford, Sunnyvale and Woodside, and invites women of all races, religions and national origins who demonstrate an interest in and commitment to voluntarism to join our ranks. For more information, visit www.thejuniorleague.org.

About Technovation

Technovation’s mission is to inspire and educate girls and women to solve real-world problems through technology. Technovation began as a pilot program in 2010 with just 45 girls. Over the past five years, it has transformed from an in-person program taught by Technovation staff to a global competition reaching thousands of girls in 28 countries. Technovation is a program of Iridescent, a 501c3 non-profit that trains engineers and scientists to mentor young people, inspire them to develop a sense of wonder about the world, and guide them in tackling real world challenges.