The Noyce Foundation, a philanthropy that provides support to young science students across the country, recently announced a $1.7 million donation to the 4-H Council towards its science, engineering and technology program.
The foundation, created in the memory of Intel co-founder Dr. Robert Noyce, believes this partnership with the 4-H system will help it achieve its goal of attracting a million young people to work in science, engineering and technology by 2013. The 4-H’s SET program provides a non-formal, out-of-school education experience that offers hands-on learning that applies national science teaching standards and encourages critical thinking to foster youth development.
The 4-H Council, the nonprofit arm of the national organization that works to provide youth with leadership experience and life skills, believes the donation will bring benefit to society by investing in the education of the next generation.
"Noyce’s investment will allow 4-H to expand state and county-level SET leadership teams which are integral to reaching our goal of addressing the nation’s critical workforce shortages by building the next generation of youth excited about careers in science, engineering and technology," said National 4-H Council president Donald T. Floyd, Jr.
4-H, supported by its adult dedicated volunteers, now helps 6 million young people throughout the year, with 5 million involved with its science, engineering and technology projects. Through summer camps and after-school activities, 4-H projects involve environmental protection, agriculture, animal science, computer science, renewable energy, robotics, and rocketry.
Children in 4-H programs are nearly two times more likely to go to college and are 25 percent more likely to start giving back to the community, according to youth development research by Tufts University.
Two other foundations named after major computer tech creators gave to nonprofits helping students go to college. The Gates and the Hewlett foundations recently contributed $3.6 million to the Academy for College Excellence to help unprepared students learn computer skills.