We’ve all seen stats about the future of our states STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workforce:  STEM jobs are expected to continue to multiple to 1.8 million openings in 2018¹;   the struggles of engaging women in our industry.  We understand that our interconnected global marketplace and emerging tech challenges mandate that our workforce have high quality STEM skills in order to compete. Collectively we are alarmed at the statistic that 45,000 jobs in Washington will go unfilled due to the lack of qualified candidates ²  and Washington State businesses will be forced to look outside of the state for our future workforce.

Washington FIRST Robotics is a nonprofit that we all need to get behind.  They are changing one life at a time by leading efforts across our state to ensure that today’s youth are preparing for the jobs of tomorrow.  Washington FIRST Robotics offers free after school programs that help ignite interest in STEM and foster 21^st century work-life skills such as problem solving, team work, and leadership. They help to level the playing field, improve educational attainment and increase the future prosperity of youth ages 6-18.  Using competitive robotics as a learning platform, their programs provide hands-on experience with an emphasis on fun that students would not otherwise gain in a traditional classroom.

These programs are changing lives.  Youth in the FIRST programs show statistically significant gains in interest in STEM.  Participants are 50% more likely to go to college, and twice as likely to major in a STEM field.

Washington FIRST Robotics currently serves 11,458 youth across Washington.  Their teams are in rural, economically challenged communities and more affluent communities.  Participants are 28% female and 72% male, and nearly 23% of all youth are diverse.  The organization has recently launched Girls FIRST initiative, and increased the number of girls participating by 3% in 2014.

There are a number of non-profit and for-profit entities across our state working to address the STEM needs and a growing trend to get young people excited and engaged in STEM.  Washington FIRST Robotics is complementing their missions, and providing a unique niche by offering one of the only “real-world” engineering and technology challenges to youth.

The workforce development issue is not just our state’s issue.  In fact, Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo recently launched a computer science education initiative called Computer Science for RI (CS4RI) to help every public school student have access to computer science classes by the end of 2017.³

We know exposing students at a younger age to computer science and STEM will help develop their interest and perhaps pursuit of post-secondary education and/or training in STEM.   Washington FIRST Robotics is a recipient of a $75K OSPI iGrant to facilitate a two day professional development opportunity for elementary and middle school teachers to train as educators in STEM 101 Robotics between April-June, 2016 in six locations across Washington State (Kent, Mount Vernon, Olympia, Spokane, Vancouver, Wapato).

I ask you to please join me in supporting Washington FIRST Robotics efforts to inspire all young people in our state to be science and technology leaders.  Washington FIRST Robotics will be holding their FIRST To Change the World Benefit on Tuesday, May 17.  Consider sponsoring the event and/or joining us at either the benefit luncheon at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park in Spokane (http://bit.ly/1TCsgFO ) or the evening reception at MOHAI in Seattle (http://bit.ly/208kCDS ).  Whether you decide to mentor a team, encourage your local educator to join the professional development or financially supporting this dynamic organization together we can close the workforce development gap and ensure that our young people of today are prepared for Washington states jobs of tomorrow.  For more information on Washington FIRST Robotics or to donate please see: www.firstwa.org