History

In 2002, the Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology (now the EdLab Group) implemented the Northwest Girls Collaborative Project (NWGCP) in Washington and Oregon to address the complex issue of gender equity in STEM fields.

In 2004, NSF funded the National Girls Collaborative Project™ (NGCP) (HRD-0436264). The purpose of the NGCP was to increase the capacity, impact, and sustainability of existing and evolving girl-serving STEM projects and programs by replication of the Northwest Girls Collaborative Project Model in three states: California, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin.

In August 2006, the National Science Foundation funded a process for extending and focusing of the NGCP model. Using the American Association of University Women (AAUW) regional framework to organize oversight and support, this project implements and disseminates the strategies from the successful collaboration structure previously developed via the NWGCP and NGCP. The expanded National Girls Collaborative Project utilizes the leadership and expertise of additional partners, Assessing Women and Men in Engineering (AWE), and the Educational Development Center (EDC), to disseminate research-based promising practices to further advance the work of existing and evolving girl-serving projects and also to provide a forum to share results among practitioners and researchers.

In April 2011, the EdLab Group was awarded a $2,500,000 grant to expand the work of the National Girls Collaborative Project. The NGCP will expand to serve at least 11 additional Collaboratives in high need areas, 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.

NGCP: Building the Capacity of STEM Practitioners to Develop a Diverse Workforce will strengthen the capacity of girl-serving STEM organizations to reach and serve underrepresented girls, specifically girls of color and those with disabilities and will provide high quality resources for K-12 school counselors to address the barriers to girls' engagement in STEM. The project will also work to increase the effectiveness of current state Collaboratives by providing targeted professional development on sustainability, organizational capacity, and shared leadership. Work is currently underway to recruit new Collaboratives and develop tools and resources related to new content areas and audiences.

"The NGCP model is the one to follow re all STEM projects. I’ve seen the results everywhere, in programs and the media. Most people are now fully aware of the importance of STEM activities in women's/girls' futures."