STEM NOLA receives $1.25M to open New Orleans East innovation hub

STEM NOLA has been awarded a $1.25 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to launch the “first” STEM NOLA Innovation HUB for Black Excellence, which will be located in New Orleans East.

The grant will aid in transforming approximately 40,000 square feet of existing real estate in New Orleans East into an Innovation Hub where youth will gain greater exposure to skill enhancing opportunities in math and science. The program will also provide science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related professional development and curriculum to childhood educators.

Additionally, it is expected to feature “laboratory space, classrooms, meeting spaces and serve as the headquarters for STEM NOLA’s ongoing delivery and design of STEM programming.”

“We are grateful to the Kellogg Foundation for their generous gift…,” said Dr. Calvin Mackie, founder and CEO of STEM NOLA. “This grant will support our innovative STEM educational ecosystem and kick off our plans to build the first STEM NOLA Innovation HUB, a hands-on, educational incubator, exposing and inspiring STEM opportunities for little boys and girls to cultivate their own STEM career dreams, with an emphasis on underserved students of color.”

This article originally published in the March 1, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.