January 22, 2020

Duckworth, Durbin Announce $1.2 Million for STEM Education on Chicago’s South Side

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced $1,249,935 in federal funding today to help support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education on Chicago’s South Side. This funding comes through the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Grant Program and will be awarded to Project SYNCERE (Supporting Youth’s Needs with Core Engineering Research Experiments). Under this announcement, Project SYNCERE can continue educating students about STEM problem-solving through project-based learning.

“When we support kids by investing in childhood education programs, we give them all a fair shot at reaching for and achieving their full potential,” said Duckworth. “Investments like these are crucial in helping children get ahead, and I’ll keep working with Senator Durbin to support programs that give future generations the tools they need to succeed both inside and outside of the classroom.”

“Project SYNCERE is a great example of an organization working to educate students and inspire diversity in STEM, and I am pleased to see them receive this federal funding,” Durbin said. “Senator Duckworth and I will continue working to bring federal investments to Illinois that support educational opportunities for all students, regardless of their zip code or economic status.”

"We are extremely excited about this grant award from the Department of Education as it allows us to expand our programming opportunities to hundreds of additional students and also study the impact of this model on student achievement,” said Jason Coleman, Co-founder and Executive Director, Project SYNCERE.

Project SYNCERE serves students in grades 3-12 and works to create pathways to STEM careers for underrepresented and disadvantaged youth. The EIR grant program works to provide funding to solution-based innovations designed to help large numbers of high-need students.

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