Dear NGCP Champions, Happy Fall! This is an exciting time for the National Girls Collaborative Project. It has been some time since we have sent you a status report and we have many exciting project updates to share! NGCP IMPACT: The NGCP has experienced tremendous growth since our last report. A new Evaluation Report which includes information on our reach and impact is now available at: http://www.ngcproject.org/documents/NGCP_EvaluationSummary.pdf. Some of the highlights include: * 2261 programs are listed in the online NGCP Program Directory * 243 mini-grants awarded and over 17,058 participants served in 126 mini-grants completing activities * 9,308 practitioners have been served through events and Webcasts * 5,035,918 girls are served indirectly by NGCP by having their leaders (parents, volunteers, and program staff) trained in the philosophy, knowledge, and methods of NGCP and participating in the incentives to improve their programs and collaborate with others. * 12,721,111 visits to the NGCP Website in 4 years I appreciate the work each of you do to champion the project. Without your support to advance the mission and vision of the NGCP, impact numbers like these would not be possible. NGCP "3.0": As you know, we have received funding from the National Science Foundation to continue our work for five additional years. The NGCP will expand to serve at least 11 additional Collaboratives in high need areas. High need areas include states that are home to large populations of underrepresented girls, lag behind the U.S. average in bachelor degree attainment and are above average in the percentage of persons who live below the poverty level. Work is currently underway to recruit new Collaboratives and develop tools and resources related to new content areas and audiences. A redesigned website with an enhanced online Program Directory will be launched in early November. As we begin this work your feedback is needed. If you have an idea for enhancing the website, Program Directory, or other online tools, please let me know. We have conducted site visits in Arizona, Louisiana, and New Jersey. Existing Collaboratives will be renewing on a schedule that allow for continuing Leadership teams to attend a Collaboration Institute along with new Collaborative Leadership teams. Institutes will be held in December of 2011 and 2012 and then in April 2012 prior to the Collaboration Conference. We will be holding our first Collaboration Institute for this new grant in Tucson, Arizona on December 4-7, 2011. If you are a new Board member or wish to learn more about NGCP, you are welcome to attend the Institute. If this is of interest to you, please let me know and I will send you agenda and registration information. COLLABORATION CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: The National Girls Collaborative Project held the first national NGCP Collaboration Conference in October 2010 in Washington, D.C. Many of you were able to attend. Over 160 participants engaged in meaningful networking and professional development activities, all focused on engaging more girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The majority of attendees ranked the overall conference as excellent. Participants especially enjoyed the panel The Girl Perspective and the overall collaboration and networking opportunities. The breakout session evaluations reflect that the majority of participants strongly agreed sessions were high quality, relevant to their work, and they plan to apply what they learned into their work. When asked what the most valuable aspect of the conference was, one respondent replied: "The energy that could be felt immediately each day and in each session. The networking was important to establish future connections for resource sharing. The breakout sessions provided new resources, tools, and interesting discussions that encouraged further thinking. I especially loved the evening receptions for additional networking opportunities. Beginning the conference with girls was inspiring and wonderful. I valued every part of this conference. This conference was very informative and rewarding!" If you were unable to join us at the Champions Board meeting or the conference, the Collaboration Conference Website provides access to photos, presentations, and documents from every session at http://www.ngcproject.org/collabconf/index.cfm. We have also put together a short slide show: http://www.ngcproject.org/collabconf/photos.cfm. UPCOMING CHAMPIONS BOARD MEETINGS: We had hoped to have another in person meeting in 2011, but our implementation work for the new grant has prevented us from planning a meeting. The next Champions Board meeting will be a webcast in January 2012. This webcast will provide important project updates and additional information on NGCP 3.0 and project goals. Please complete the following poll to select your preferred dates and times for the meeting by November 20, 2011. Confirmation and log-in information will be provided after the poll closes. Here is a link to the poll: http://www.doodle.com/c8qfhf2wqtdyutmi NGCP is planning to host the second offering of the NGCP Collaboration Conference in conjunction with the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Please reserve April 25-29, 2012 in your calendar for the Champions Board meeting and Collaboration Conference in Washington, D.C. The schedule will be similar to the 2010 conference, Champions Board meeting, two days of conference, and then the Festival. We have just signed a hotel contract and will be sending out a Call for Presentations and more information soon. STRATEGIC PLANNING: We made good progress in our conversation at the Board meeting last Fall about creating a strategic plan for NGCP. I have created a short survey to collect some additional information. We would like to form a small subcommittee to move this work forward. If you are interested in working on this committee, please let me know. I anticipate several phone meetings and then one in person meeting before the April Board meeting. Please complete the survey here: http://www.erasurvey.org/websurvey/cbinput.htm NATIONAL PROGRAM MANAGER: As many of you know, Amy Foster became the NGCP National Program Manager in December of 2010. Before joining EdLab Group, she worked for nearly ten years for Girl Scouts and served as the Collaborative Lead for the Florida Girls Collaborative Project for three years. Her work experience includes curriculum and training development, developing and managing private foundation grants in informal K-12 education, large scale event planning, and managing partnerships, programs, and professional development initiatives that improve the teaching of STEM. Amy is providing ongoing technical assistance to all Collaboratives, as well as assisting potential new collaborative leadership teams in completing the application process. She is assisting with outreach and is now compiling the monthly newsletter. We are fortunate to have Amy as part of the National NGCP Leadership team! PROGRAM DIRECTORY: We continue to add additional searchable fields to the NGCP Program Directory to assist organizations in searching for collaborative partners and resources. We have recently added program affiliations. This searchable option allows you to search for affiliates, as well as other programs to collaborate with. Affiliations currently include: 4-H, American Association of University Women, Appalachian Information Technology Extension Services, Girls RISEnet, Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., Great Science for Girls, National Academy of Engineering Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education, STEM Equity Pipeline, Society of Women Engineers, and YWCA. We need your help to spread the word about these new fields. Please let me know if you would be willing to include information about the Program Directory in an e-mail update or newsletter to your constituents. We will send you a recruitment e-mail/text you can adapt to include in your own materials. E-NEWSLETTER: The E-Newsletter is distributed each month to over 12,000 individuals. Feel free to use this to promote organizational and individual activities and news. If you have items for the newsletter, please send them to Amy, afoster@edlabgroup.org<mailto:afoster@edlabgroup.org>. She begins compiling the E-newsletter mid-month. Send Amy items at any time, and she will hold them until distribution. Also, if you have folks you would like to add to the list, feel free to send e-mail addresses along to Amy. Issues are archived: www.ngcproject.org/resources/newsletter.html<http://www.ngcproject.org/resources/newsletter.html>. Thank you for all you do for NGCP! Here is a summary of action items form this e-mail. * Consider attending the Collaboration Institute in Tucson, December 4-7. Contact Karen Peterson if you are interested. * Indicate your preference of day and time for an NGCP Champions Board Web Meeting in January 2012: http://www.doodle.com/c8qfhf2wqtdyutmi. * Join the Strategic Planning Subcommittee and/or provide us with key information for the NGCP Strategic Plan: http://www.erasurvey.org/websurvey/cbinput.htm. * Help recruit programs for the NGCP Program Directory so more girl-serving STEM programs can collaborate with those who support their mission. * Send items for the NGCP monthly E-newsletter to Amy Foster, afoster@edlabgroup.org<mailto:afoster@edlabgroup.org>. * Mark your calendar for an in-person meeting on April 25, 2012 in the Washington DC area. I'll be in touch again in November when our new website is announced. Karen Karen A. Peterson, Chief Executive Officer, EdLab Group & Principal Investigator, National Girls Collaborative Project voice: 425.977.4750 kpeterson@edlabgroup.org<mailto:kpeterson@edlabgroup.org> www.edlabgroup.org<http://www.edlabgroup.org>