PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY EDITION
Volume 123 No. 25
Nation’s #1 African American Newspaper 2014 Nielsen-Essence Consumer Report
JANUARY 31, 2015 - FEBRUARY 6, 2015
AFRO Series–Part Three
Fed Funding for STEM Ed Could Be More Robust, but Which Programs Work Best Is Unclear By Roberto Alejandro Special to the AFRO With the nation facing a serious diversity gap in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and employment, federal funding for STEM education is increasing, but still playing catch-up. While experts say this funding in low-income and minority communities could be more robust, the greatest need resides in the informal learning sector (e.g. summer camps), where limited evidence is available about which programs are most effective, making increased investment a blind gambit. In his budget for 2015, President Barack Obama
sought $2.9 billion for STEM education efforts, a 3.7 percent increase over the 2014 funding levels. According to James Brown,
about the importance of STEM education, that figure of almost $3 billion is spread across some 220 federal STEM education programs,
“…at a certain level, we’re leveraging the dollars that are available to us in the best possible ways and making more [out] of those dollars by other partnerships.” – Nick Greer
pool of STEM resources, is that it’s really, really diffuse,” said Brown. “If you take $3 billion and you divide it by 220, that means most of those programs are relatively small.” The single largest program solely focused on STEM, says Brown, is the Math and Science Partnership Program at the U.S. Department of Education, which has an annual budget of about $150 million and was established by the No Child Left Behind Act under the George W. Bush administration. “For a lot of states, that program is the only source of dedicated funding for the STEM subjects,” said Brown.
Photo by Shantella Y. Sherman
Breast Care for Washington co-founder Dr. Regina Hampton, Md. explains the 3D mammography to Blanca Pena during her consultation.
D.C. Ward 8 Center Launches 3D Mammography Water Restored After Sinkhole Swallows Services executive director of the STEM Education Coalition, an alliance of business education professional groups that works to raise awareness
about a third of which are diversity focused. “From just a big picture perspective, the biggest challenge we have within that
Car in Bladensburg The Associated Press Water has been restored to a suburban Washington neighborhood where a water main break caused a sinkhole that swallowed a car.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission said Jan. 27 that water was restored at about 1 p.m. to 77 customers in Bladensburg in Prince George’s County, where a 90-year-old pipe broke at
roughly 3 a.m. causing a sinkhole. The water main break flooded several nearby homes, and sanitation crews worked for four hours to close the valves and stop the flow of water. Crews have
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replaced 15 feet of pipe. Darwin Mendoza says he was in his car with his children when it hit the hole as he was backing out of his driveway. Shortly after he and his family got out of the car it was swallowed.
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By Shantella Y. Sherman Special to the AFRO Residents of Ward 8 remain among the most underserved in the Washington metropolitan area. Particularly among minority women, accessing life-saving specialized services, such as mammograms, requires navigating both geographical and cultural barriers. To answer the call for quality and accessible health care, Breast Care for Washington launched 3D mammography services at Conway Health and Resource Center, in the heart of Southeast. The free screening event, in partnership with local nonprofit Nueva Vida, introduced the breakthrough technology of 3D
We decided to take action. So, we decided to bring 3D mammography to Ward 8.” –Dr. Regina Hampton Hampton
AP Photo
Tow truck workers prepare to pull out the car that was swallowed by a sinkhole that occurred after a water main break in Bladensburg.
Md. Graduation Rate Hits Record High
imaging to patients whose scans would allow physicians to examine breast tissue layer by layer. The Genius 3D Mammography locates 41 percent more invasive or lethal cancers than traditional mammograms, and reduces the number of women called back for unnecessary screenings due to false alarms by up 40 percent. Founded by Beth Beck and Dr. Regina Hampton, Breast Continued on A3
AFRO Holds First ‘Black Lives Matter’ Town Hall, Community Discussion
The Associated Press
By AFRO Staff
The Maryland State Department of Education says newly released data shows that more Maryland high school students are graduating than ever before. The state says the dropout rate in the state has declined, while the graduation rate climbed to over 86 percent in 2014, four percentage points up from 2013’s 82 percent graduation rate. The state says four-year graduation rates for American Indian, African American, Asian, Hispanic and white students improved between 2013 and 2014, as well as the rate for students who identify as multi-racial. The graduation rate among African American students also increased, from 76 percent in 2010 to more than 80 percent in 2014. The state also says the dropout rate, which was just under 12 percent in 2011, had dropped to 8.3 percent in 2014.
Race conditions have transformed throughout the years from the exuberance of great leaders, protests and marches, but have they changed enough? Does society hold African American lives as equal to other ethnicities and races?
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