Hermanowski Family Foundation Initial Request Form

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Organization Name: Design Connect Create
Legal Name (if Different): Design Connect Create
Also Known As:
Mailing Address: 8150 N. Central Expressway, Suite 1200
City: Grand Prairie
State: Texas
Postal Code: 75052
Main Phone: 214-884-8117
Main Fax:
Organization Website: https://designconnectcreate.org
Employer ID Number: 46-5169169
Organization Tax Status: 501c3

Proposal Information

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Today’s Date: 1-15-2024
Requested Amount: $10,000

Project Title: STEM Camp for Girls
Project Description:

Our Mission
To help girls realize the potential in STEM and themselves. Because women are underrepresented in critical STEM careers, we believe that for women to lead in these roles tomorrow, girls need equitable opportunities today.

Our STEM camp curriculum offers innovative, fun ways to encourage teen girls to experience STEM concepts and develop a growth mindset in an individualized small-group instructional setting. The camps provide hands-on learning experiences, real-life applications of STEM concepts, and build problem-solving skills. Our camps also discuss gender equity, gender imbalance, and implicit bias. The STEM camps make problem-solving skills and grit crucial to job success. During the camp experiences, the girls have group projects and individual assignments to reinforce their learning concepts.
The camps are designed as a 5-day experience that meets for 6 hours daily (Monday through Friday). The last day of camp is a field trip where local technology company employees host girls to understand the many STEM career options better. Each camp invites female STEM professionals who share their life stories, career journeys, and how they impact the world around us. DCC will offer three camp topics: physics, coding, and biotech.

Classroom calculators and tablets are provided during camp, as well as demonstration equipment and additional equipment/supplies needed for the activities specified in the curriculum. Meals are provided daily. Each camper receives a DCC camp t-shirt, a water bottle, and incentives for their attendance/participation.

Total Project Budget: $300,000

Other Funding
Sources For The Project (Committed & Potential): 2023 Grants Received: The Perot Foundation $25,000 The Posey Family Foundation $100,000 Texas Instruments $15,000 High Tech High Heels $60,000 Communities Foundation of Texas $10,000 Bill & Katie Weaver Charitable Trust $5000 Kingsborouhgh Ed Foundation $6000 Society Four Science STEM Action grant $4000 Theodore and Beulah Beasley Foundation $10,000 The Bruce J. Heim Foundation $2000 Coserv $ 5,000 Bell Flight $ 5,000 James Avery $ 10,000 H100 Latina Giving Circle Fund at Texas Women’s Foundation $3,500

Project Duration: STEM Camps Implementation Timeline ● Recruitment (February-May) ● Summer Camps (June-July) ● Post Camp Assessment (August)
Geographical Area Served: We partner with school districts in under-resourced and marginalized communities. Our partner school districts help us get the word to potential clients and provide classrooms for our summer program. We also recruit our camp instructors from our partner districts, so our clients are likely to have those teachers when they return to school. We also sign data sharing agreements with our partners to assess our client’s academic performance. In Dallas County we partner with Dallas ISD, Duncanville ISD, Garland ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Mesquite ISD, Richardson ISD. In Tarrant County we partner with Fort Worth ISD. In Kaufman County we partner with Crandall ISD. In Travis County we partner with Austin ISD. In Harris County we partner with Houston ISD and Rice University.
Age Group To Be Served: middle and high school aged girls

Contact Information

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Contact Prefix (Mr,Mrs etc.): Dr.
Contact First Name: Denise
Contact Last Name: Strickland
Contact Title: Executive Director
Contact Phone: 214-952-0643
Contact Email: ds@designconnectcreate.org