We are looking for girls to participate in a virtual focus group. Please distribute to programs and girls you know who would be interested in sharing their thoughts with us, email message to distribute below. Karen Karen Peterson, Founder & Chief Executive Officer The National Girls Collaborative and The Connectory @ngcproject @kpeterson Pronouns: she, her, hers ___________________________________________ The Intrepid Museum Sea, Air and Space Museum, the Education Development Center, and the National Girls Collaborative Project are collaborating on the STEM Effect project. The goal of this project is to develop a research and action agenda for better understanding the long-term impacts of STEM programs for middle- and high-school age girls offered by cultural organizations (museums, science centers, aquaria, botanical gardens, or zoos). To help us develop the action agenda, we are currently gathering information from key stakeholder groups to help ensure that the action agenda is informed by their perspectives and grounded in education practice. We are writing to invite you to participate in a focus group with young women who have participated in out-of-school-time STEM programs designed for girls. The purpose of the focus group is to better understand the kinds of STEM programs that girls and young women participate in, their pathways towards STEM or other careers, and the opportunities for conducting longitudinal research on young women’s career trajectories. Your input would be invaluable and we hope that you will be able to participate. The focus group will take about 1 hour and will be conducted by video conference by a researcher from the Education Development Center on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 pm ET, 7 pm CT, 6 pm MT, and 5 pm PT. As a token for our appreciation, you will receive a $15 Amazon gift card for you participation in the focus group. Please let us know if you can attend. Please email Babette Moeller (bmoeller@edc.org<mailto:bmoeller@edc.org>) to RSVP or if you have any questions.