Thank You for 15 Years of Impact!
To LSA Friends, Family, and the STEM Community,
Latino STEM Alliance (LSA) has taken the difficult decision to suspend formal operations by mid-November 2024. Our staff will until then be focused on kicking off and ensuring the success of our 2024-2025 programs which will be delivered as normal with limited support after November. Although demand for our programs continues to grow, we have been unable to mitigate a reduction in philanthropic support for STEM initiatives over the last few years.
This marks the culmination of a journey that started about 15 years ago when a group of STEM professionals recognized the challenges of a growing STEM pipeline gap. These challenges affected our nation’s ability to stay in the forefront of technical innovation but also represented an opportunity to improve the prospects of minority groups that were both growing and underrepresented in STEM fields. And what a journey it has been!
Since the early days, we decided to focus on inspiration. What we didn’t expect was how much our students, partners, funders, and volunteers would inspire us in return. In true alignment with our name and intended purpose, we formed strong alliances that transcended traditionally fragmented groups of community organizations, local and state government, and industry innovators (among many others). We were united in our desire to inspire and empower underserved youth for academic and career success in STEM fields.
We are filled with gratitude as we reflect on what we have accomplished in the last 15 years. As they continue to inspire us, we are grateful for our community partners who opened their arms and welcomed us to try an innovative approach for enrichment. Every year, over a dozen sites committed their resources to making our programs a reality.
We are grateful for our volunteers. Both facilitators and STEM professionals who gave countless hours of their time and passion to our students and transformed the idea of a scientific or engineering career into a real possibility for our students as opposed to some abstract concept that was not meant for them.
We are grateful for our funders, especially those who took a chance to support us in the beginning and decided to renew and grow their support year over year, as they too were inspired by our success.
And we are grateful for our wonderful teachers. We are filled with hope every day we see committed and passionate teachers that decide to make personal sacrifices to reach the hearts and minds of our youth. Our teachers and facilitators continue to inspire us to pursue our mission.
Latino STEM Alliance leaves a great legacy behind. In 2023 we served 1,500 students at close to 20 sites across Boston, Merrimack Valley, and the North Shore. Our STEM robotics programs went beyond traditional learning methods and took an impactful approach to ensure that students not only gained knowledge but also developed critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills. In support of this legacy, we will continue to share our curriculum and existing equipment with our partners so they can continue to evolve and find ways to keep the inspiration flame alive.
The challenge still exists. We hope the next generation that LSA inspired continues to give back to their communities and continue to work towards closing the STEM gap. To them we say: the future of LSA is yours to build!
Raul Porras, President and Co-Founder
On behalf of the Latino STEM Alliance Board of Directors
