The grant, part of $20 million awarded to educational institutions and nonprofits around the country for their work bringing science and math education to young people, will be disbursed over three years.
Xavier University President Reynold Verret said in a statement that the grant will provide access to intensive pre-college STEM programs to more than 1,000 New Orleans students. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
Verret said the money, part of the Creating Possible Fund, will help the university develop and support a new generation of Black STEM leaders, health care providers and educators. "At Xavier, we are blessed to educate future changemakers at all levels," he said.
Xavier has offered summer programming since 1977, when a course of analytical reasoning was founded for incoming Xavier freshmen. Over time, the school added programming for middle school and high school students aimed at preparing them academically for the year ahead. The programs focused on chemistry, biology and social justice-focused tracks.
Bethany Hopewell, coordinator of pre-college programs at Xavier, said the grant will allow the university to expand scholarship opportunities for a number of students.
"They've been doing this work for over 30 years on a shoestring budget," said Tiffany West, who attended one of the programs, called SOAR, as a student and now is director of advancing health and Black equity for Gilead Sciences.
The university will also hire three additional full-time staff members dedicated to the summer programs, which will allow them to expand community outreach. They aim to recruit all scholarship recipients from the community.
The university will use the money to expand STEM programming to Saturday sessions during the school year, something that has "always been a dream," Hopewell said.
Based in Foster City, California, Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that has developed drugs that target life threatening diseases including HIV, viral hepatitis and cancer.
Korab Zuka, the president of the Gilead Foundation, said that Xavier was selected because of its legacy of STEM education for young people. The grants were distributed to initiatives aimed at decreasing health disparities through education and building pipelines for Black leadership in health.
"We know that inequities in health stem from larger structural inequities that are deeply embedded in our society, laws, economy and particularly our educational systems," Zuka said in a statement. "With assistance from leaders in education and health, we believe we've chosen a group of innovators in health equity who will make a meaningful impact on society."
Interested participants should email summerprograms@xula.edu for more information.
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