TUPELO, MS – The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation (CRSF) today announced a $1.1M partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest public power supplier. The project, announced on National STEM Day, will include installation of 27 fully equipped science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) centers in seven states. The announcement was made as CRSF and TVA celebrated the opening of their first STEM Center at the Tupelo City-Haven Boys & Girls Club in North Mississippi.
“We’re excited to partner with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to help provide opportunities for children across our region,” said Jeannette Mills, Executive Vice President of TVA. “Our commitment to STEM has always been at the heart of TVA’s mission, and this new initiative gives us the chance to make an even more tangible impact and investment on the future of the STEM workforce.”
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Hall of Famer and CRSF co-founder Cal Ripken, Jr. attended Wednesday morning’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“I believe that we can do a lot of good things on our own, but with dedicated partners we can achieve great things. Our partnership with Tennessee Valley Authority is evidence of that. In 2016 we started to learn more about the need for young people to have access to STEM education, so we decided to make that part of our work,” said Cal Ripken, Jr. “The fact that today we are opening our 400th STEM Center just blows me away and with partners across the country and the need remaining critical we aren’t slowing down.”
All 27 TVA STEM Centers, which will be open by the end of 2023, will provide youth with opportunities to engage with state-of-the-art STEM tools such as snap circuits, bee-bots, and ozobots, each designed to push students to improve their problem solving and critical thinking skills.
“These resources will allow us to provide students with enhanced and unique hands-on learning activities,” said Zell Long, President and CEO of the Tupelo City-Haven Boys & Girls Club of North Mississippi. “We feel fortunate to be able to partner with these two wonderful organizations to bring these supplemental instructional resources to our community.”
List of 27 New TVA STEM Centers:
Boys & Girls Club of Ardmore Ardmore AL
Boys & Girls Club of Athens Athens AL
Girls Incorporated of Huntsville Huntsville AL
Boys and Girls Club of North Alabama- Seminole Club Huntsville AL
Rescue Me Project
Boys and Girls Clubs of Chattooga County Dalton GA
Genesis Express in Cadiz
Boys & Girls Clubs of Franklin-Simpson Franklin KY
Fulton County Schools
Boys & Girls Clubs of Golden Triangle (Starkville Club) Starkville MS
Tupelo City-Haven B&GC Tupelo MS
21st Century Community Learning Center Murphy NC
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Mountain Empire Bluff City TN
Boys and Girls Clubs of Chattanooga Chattanooga TN
Millard Oakley STEM in Cookeville Cookeville TN
Boys & Girls Clubs of Hatchie River Region Covington TN
Boys and Girls Fairview Club Fairview TN
Boys & Girls Clubs of Jackson Jackson TN
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley Knoxville TN
Northaven Elementary
Boys & Girls Club Greater Memphis JUICE PLUS+ Memphis TN
Bedford County Boys and Girls Club Shelbyville TN
Gateway STEM Center
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Ocoee Region Sweetwater TN
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cumberland Plateau Oneida TN
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley Rocky Top TN
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Mountain Empire Bristol VA
About the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation:
The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation helps to strengthen America’s most underserved and distressed communities by supporting and advocating for children, building Youth Development Parks and STEM Centers, partnering with law enforcement and youth-service agencies, and addressing community needs through its national program initiatives. With the addition of Tupelo, CRSF will have opened 400 STEM Centers nationwide, gifting children in communities across the country a new access to state-of-the-art technology, hands-on learning experiences, and skill sets essential to the future of STEM.
Click here to learn more about CRSF’s 400 STEM Centers in 23 states impacting over 132,000 kids.
Media Release/Madison McGovern/Account Coordinator/Maroon PR
