FIRST STEM Community Innovation Grants

FIRST STEM Community Innovation Grants is sponsored by FIRST. FIRST offers a suite of life-changing youth robotics programs that build skills, confidence, and resilience through hands-on robotics challenges for elementary through high school students.

STEM for Everyone | FIRST FIRST ® is committed to STEM for Everyone ™ FIRST ® is a global robotics community that prepares young people for the future, and key to our strategic intent is to serve every student, everywhere. This commitment includes promoting and engaging in initiatives that ensure a welcoming community for all participants, including students, adult mentors, coaches, and volunteers.

STEM For Everyone Resources STEM Engagement builds confidence in young people and opens doors to all kinds of career opportunities. Our initiatives help ensure opportunities for any young person who participates in FIRST programs. Optional Trainings & Resources We have partnered with leading organizations to create optional trainings and resources.

FIRST programs deliver hands-on STEM experiences that shape confident, capable students ready for college, careers, and life. See how the data backs it up.

STEM for Everyone Stories The Button Master: FIRST Alum Turned Aerospace Panel Expert FIRST Robotics Competition Team “OCTOPUS” is Championing STEM for Everyone Meet the FIRST Alum Helping Shape the Future of Space Exploration FIRST ® Initiatives and Grants A vital part of our strategic intent is to serve all members of our global community.

FIRST ® actively engages in developing strategies, collaborations, grants, and initiatives that ensure opportunities for any young person who participates in our programs. STEM Community Innovation Grant The STEM Community Innovation grants support communities to help them develop new FIRST teams.

FIRST launched its STEM Community Innovation Grants program in 2016 to provide students across the globe with hands-on learning and creative problem-solving opportunities. To date, FIRST has awarded 97 grants totaling $3. 5 million to grantees around the world.

​ Team Support and Training Grants ​ We have supported school districts by providing small grants for establishing and expanding their FIRST programs. These small grants were used to directly support teams through registration fees, robot kits, project materials, and transportation for team meetings and events. They were also used to support teams through regional coach and mentor trainings.

The grant application is not open at this time. The FIRST Youth Advisory Council (YAC) was established in December 2018. The Youth Advisory Council developed outreach initiatives.

The committee was designed to uplift youth leadership and youth voice at FIRST . The YAC played an instrumental role in creating a STEM for Everyone Youth Training that consists of an animated video and three youth-training modules. The last cohort of members served through June 2022.

At FIRST , we actively develop ways to address overall access issues and barriers, particularly in managing and allocating resources, programs, and educational opportunities for girls. We are committed to creating a unified community for all participants. Girls and women play a critical role in the advancement of STEM – but a significant gender gap remains within STEM careers.

This initiative focuses on the participation and advancement of girls and women in STEM without being exclusionary of the contributions of boys, men, and those who may identify differently. To enhance girls’ contributions, and those of other participant youth in STEM, we must support all students throughout their participation in FIRST programs and experiences on teams. Additional resources can be found on our training page .

Persons with Disabilities As part of our commitment to removing barriers to access and participation so any student, anywhere can participate, we have partnered with Kids Included Together (KIT) to better understand the needs of persons with disabilities when participating in FIRST programs.

FIRST is committed to ensuring coaches, mentors, volunteers, students, and parents all have access to resources that provide a better understanding of challenges and needs for students with disabilities and ways to create a more welcoming and inclusive team environment.

I Can Be Inclusive Too e-Course Creating a Sense of Belonging Training Supporting all Team Members: Inclusive Recruitment & Enrollment Strategies STEM for Everyone Statement FIRST is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of unity. We embrace and celebrate our global community.

Exploring, developing and implementing strategies to ensure opportunities for any young person who engages in our programs is critical for FIRST to fulfill its mission. ALL young people should have the opportunity to become science and technology leaders who have the skills, confidence and resilience to build a better world.

Non- Discrimination Policy STEM for Everyone Optional Trainings & Resources As part of our commitment to creating a unified community for all our participants, we have partnered with leading organizations to create optional trainings on how you can inspire the youth voice and build a connected team. Explore Trainings & Resources