Launching Educational Assistance Programs Forward Inc

Scholarship Program -Held scholarship program at local church where the community was invited to attend for free. We awarded 58 scholarships with $59,000+ expended to deserving students. To date, we have awarded 450 scholarships. Dr. Carl Mack, engineer and former Executive Director of the National Society of Black Engineers delivered the dynamic keynote address. Entertainment was provided by two of the scholarship recipients and the outstanding vocals of Farnetta Baker. We continued to invest in our scholarship website and applications were able to be processed through this tool. (www.leapforwardscholarships.org). A major upgrade was designed and implemented to allow us to handle the flow of over 150 applications. We continued to take advantage of our investment in a communications and database tool (Network for Good) that has also allowed us to operate more efficiently. The tool is being used for communications with our scholars, donors and board. In 2024, all the recipients received a minimum of $1,000. Twenty-eight students are pursuing STEM majors, including nursing. We were entrusted with the Sealey, Barnes, Butler and Hicks scholarships that were awarded for the first time in 2024. Two additional memorial scholarships for the Wills and Whittington families were established. We now manage thirty-seven scholarships. Throughout the year, students were informed of internship and other scholarship opportunities.

C.A.S.H. NSBE Program - Continued facilitation of the Pre-College Initiative membership (Creative and Striving Hard to Succeed (CASH)) program in collaboration with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) for 80+ underrepresented ethnic youth exposing them to careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and technology (STEM). The Youth were provided: (1) In-person STEM monthly sessions; (2) Exposure to the Southern Maryland Autonomous Research and Technology facility and laboratories (3D printing, electrical and mechanical engineering); (3) Engagement in experiential learning; (4) Exposure to Guest speakers representing diverse STEM Fields such as former Astronaut Frederick Gregory. (5) Participation in STEM competition teams including FIRST LEGO robotics, Kidwind (wind energy), coding, aerial drones, Ten80 race car and math competitions. We were also approved to start a high school FIRST Robotics team (kits $6000). Competition teams did very well. The aerial drone team completed two Maryland competitions and was selected to go District competitions in West Virginia. Three KidWind (wind energy) teams placed in competitions in Atlanta and were invited to attend the World competition in Minnesota but teams deferred to 2025 to fundraise. Our Ten80 team received several awards (first place in racing and overall champions and third place in enterprise design for the DMV area). The team was invited and participated in the National competition in Charlotte, NC. (6) An opportunity to return to the NSBE national conference in Atlanta and participated in numerous competition teams and received several awards including the FIRST Lego Innovation Award. Continued our CASH NSBE Jr. students STEM Dreams with a series of leadership presentations, motivational speakers, and hands-on activities. (www.cashnsbejr.com). Utilizing staff at the SMART building and other STEM professionals, the students engaged in two long-term projects including building desktop computers and designing and building an Electric Vehicle (EV kit $5000). The computers upon completion will be used to teach AI to our middle school population. The EV car is being constructed by our high school students with a goal to actually race the car in May 2025. Our elementary students continued hands on learning via the use of various STEM kits and projects. With six graduating seniors in 2024, five pursued STEM majors in college. Grant funding increased. Several fundraisers (Double Good popcorn, Chipotle, Mod pizza, Krispy Kreme, calendar sales, spring 2024 auction) were also held to increase revenue. One of our past chapter Presidents won the national Pre-College Initiative student male of the year award. The chapter received the 2024 Concerned Black Women of Calvert County award for Community Excellence.