North Texas Giving Day, the largest giving day in the nation powered by Communities Foundation of Texas, is back on September 14, 2017! In eight years, North Texas Giving Day has generated $156 million for the community. Learn more about some of the thousands of participating nonprofits here on BubbleLife from now until Giving Day. Read more about today's featured nonprofit, National Society of Black Engineers-DFW Professionals, below.
Only 19 percent of black fourth graders in the U.S. and 13 percent of the nation’s black eighth graders were proficient in math in 2015, per the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Only 5.5 percent of black eighth graders in the U.S. in 2005 completed calculus five years later, and only 1.1 percent of the nation’s black college freshmen enrolled in engineering programs in 2010, according to an analysis conducted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). And then there’s this distressing fact from the American Society for Engineering Education: the percentage of African Americans among U.S. engineering bachelor’s degree recipients has been declining for more than a decade and was only 3.5 percent in 2014.
The core mission of NSBE is to increase the number of black engineers. The Society has decided to do something about the effect of these disparaging statistics on black youth and on the nation’s need for talent in the critical fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The Society has targeted an ambitious goal: to have the U.S. produce 10,000 African-American bachelor’s degree recipients in engineering annually, by 2025, up from the current number of 3,620.
To address the needs of the Dallas / Ft. Worth (DFW) metroplex, the NSBE DFW professionals find innovative ways to produce the next generation of engineers. Funds from North Texas Giving Day (NTxGD) will provide STEM resources and materials needed to work more intimately and effectively with K-12 youth in underserved areas through our signature Technical OutReach Community Help (TORCH) program. The TORCH program gives members the opportunities to showcase their technical expertise through hands-on STEM activities for the children – that rock! In addition to working with students in grades K-12, the NSBE DFW professionals coach and mentor collegiate engineering students from local universities to guide the transition from student to professional and provides scholarships to local graduating seniors and collegiate students enrolled in a STEM major. Support through NTxGD will allow the NSBE professionals to expand their reach at local universities by addressing the critical professional development opportunities needed to help students successfully acquire internships and jobs. An investment in NSBE DFW through North Texas Giving Day is an investment in innovation, creativity, and the strategic development of the future engineers that will positively impact the globe.
To donate to National Society of Black Engineers-DFW Professionals on September 14th, please click here. To find out more about North Texas Giving Day, please visit www.NorthTexasGivingDay.org.
Blog authored by: Quanta Graves, NSBE DFW Professionals President