Afterschool programs: Enter the Community in Nature Prize Challenge! Help youth design an impactful community project and compete to win up to $3,500.
Afterschool and summer programs are ideal spaces for young people to fall in love with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through hands-on activities, yet only 10% of youth in the U.S. have access to these opportunities. That’s nearly 49 million young minds sitting on the sidelines — minds that could create the next breakthroughs in AI, medicine, or space exploration.
By 2030, the U.S. is projected to face a shortfall of 3.4 million STEM workers, about 15% of the workforce needed, underscoring the need for STEM Next’s unique efforts to cultivate the next generation of innovators.
The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that 65% of today’s youth will be faced with careers in sectors like AI or space exploration that do not yet exist.
Today, just 10% of kids in the U.S. have access to out-of-school time STEM, excluding millions from the economic opportunity and potential that these careers hold.
STEM Next is a national nonprofit leading the movement to make the power of STEM discovery available to all young people through afterschool and summer programs. Our systems-based approach has engaged 12.5 million young people in STEM across the nation — and we’re on a mission to excite 20 million more by 2030.
We’re exciting young people’s curiosity and confidence in STEM through career-connected learning opportunities beyond the classroom.
We’re leading the national movement to expand access to high-quality STEM experiences outside of school.
Our efforts over the past decade have scaled programs that built STEM capacity in more than 175,000 programs nationwide and engaged more than 390,000 educators across all 50 states.
“Nurturing the future of STEM.”
Alejandra Ceja
Executive Director, Panasonic Foundation
“Transformational for thousands and thousands of youth”
Susan Stanton
Act Now Illinois
“Changed the landscape of how we provide support to youth programs across the state”
Billy Mawhiney
Executive Director, South Dakota Afterschool Network
No one understands this work better. Building, growing and expanding access to afterschool and summer STEM is who we are–and we have the track record to prove it.
Our work has positively impacted 12.5 million young people through out-of-school STEM.
Local afterschool and summer programs have been directly impacted by our work.
Our comprehensive resources have supported nearly 400,000 out-of-school educators nationwide.
100% of the 2023 Flight Crew program participants reported that they feel like they belong in STEM.
From small-town beginnings to world-changing missions, three space professionals joined STEM Next…
STEM Next is proud to be an official partner of the 2026…
The Afterschool STEM Hub released a new report on the challenges, needs,…
Afterschool is where employers can easily and rapidly plug into an existing…
STEM Next’s new math brief and panel explore how afterschool programs build…
Help us shape the future for a STEM-ready generation.
