by Stacey Street
Businesses and schools in Northern California will be coming together in Richmond on May 17th from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Craneway Pavilion to help prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. The 7th Annual Northern California Summit on Children and Youth, Building the Next Generation Workforce, will help create enthusiasm for STEM programs among youth and deepen partnerships between businesses and schools.
The summit is produced by the Richmond Community Foundation and the West Contra Costa Unified School District, with generous help from many sponsors in the business community. This year’s summit will feature a new element — a career fair for students and teachers, including presentations from businesses, community leaders, and entrepreneurs, and opportunities for students and teachers to interact directly with them.
The benefits of the transition from manufacturing to STEM fields have bypassed some urban, minority communities. Over the years, this summit has been a successful way to bring underserved youth and students of color into direct contact with local employers who need an educated workforce to fill positions in growing industries such as health care, information and communications technology, biotech.
In addition to presenting engaging programs that actively train and develop young people for such careers, the summit will explore academic, vocational, training, and mentoring programs targeting underserved youth and community college students. The summit will include inspiring high-level speakers and presentations from programs throughout the Bay Area, as well as roundtable discussions on challenges and opportunities.
The early bird rate for sponsorships will end on April 15th. The summit offers extremely affordable sponsorships, so any business can join the ranks of existing sponsors such as Alten Construction, AT&T, Chevron, Connie Tritt, Courtyard Marriott, East Bay Community Foundation, Federal Reserve Bank of SF, Glen Price Group, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers LU 302, Kaiser Permanente, Mechanics Bank, Orton Development, Overaa Construction, Republic Services, Travis Credit Union, UC Berkeley, and Veolia Water. For information, click here or contact Stacey Street at sstreet@richmondcf.org.
Stacey Street is Chief Development Officer for Richmond Community Foundation.