STEAM STRONG
Educating the Underprivileged through Technology
STEAM STRONG AT A GLANCE
A Bit of Background
Steam Strong is the brain child of the Jeremy and Jayden brothers studying in high and middle school in Beaverton, Oregon. Growing up as children of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant parents they have seen first-hand the transformative power that a good education can have on families and societies. Birthed out of a passion to empower kids in less fortunate parts of the world with educational opportunities they decided to form Steam Strong as a 501c3 organization which would exist to create an after school e-learning center for underpriviledged kids which would provide access to the most cutting edge pedagogical tools and curriculum material through the use of computer-based learning.
THE PLAN
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Lao Tzu
THE NEED
Ambattur is a suburb of Chennai, a city in southern India which is becoming one of the technology capitals of the world. However, poverty is still an issue in Ambattur, and students from lower-income families don’t have access to the resources they need to prepare for a career. Lack of access to technology and support put these kids in a disadvantaged position. Studies show that the Gross Enrollment rate for higher education is 24.5%.
THE GOAL
Our plan is to set up a computer center in Ambattur, which would help underprivileged students access multiple learning tools and would also be a place to improve their spoken English skills. We will focus on a dozen high school students in grades 9 through 12. To achieve this, we have partnered with Mr. Williams Abraham, a social worker with an education/technical background who works among the inner city high school students in Chennai.
MILESTONES
We are registered with the state of Oregon and have our EIN number. We are also registered as a 501c3 public charity with the IRS.
We have a physical location in Ambattur to setup the computer center now!
Fundraising for hardware and software is in progress - a gofundme page was created for this at https://www.gofundme.com/educating-the-underprivileged-through-technology