On December 9, Science Club for Girls (SCFG) was highlighted on Chronicle on WCVB TV
Channel 5, as part of an episode on the Women's Foundation of Boston and their critical support of local nonprofits serving women and girls, with a focus on economic empowerment. SCFG was featured alongside two other girl-serving organizations who are also grantees of the Women’s Foundation of Boston.
Dr. Bonnie Bertolaet––SCFG’s Executive Director––was interviewed about the organization’s efforts to expose underrepresented girls not only to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) but also to mentors and role models who look like the girls
and have had similar life experiences. Bonnie shared, “Representation is at the core of what we do. I believe it was Sally Ride who said, ‘You can’t be what you can’t see.’”
Bonnie went on to say, “We have 77 schools represented in our Science Clubs and the confidence that the girls gain in meeting––and making friends and sharing interests with––girls from across the city is incredibly empowering.”
There is tremendous demand for these experiences, as indicated by the 233 girls on SCFG’s waiting list. As Chronicle on WCVB TV summarized, “There’s a wait list of girls who want to join. The only thing holding back expansion is money.”
Watch the 4 minute episode here! (SCFG comes in around 1:57)
The Women’s Foundation of Boston (WFB) was founded in 2018 to fill a void in charitable giving––at that time, there was no foundation in the Boston area focused solely on supporting women and girl-serving nonprofit organizations. SCFG was the foundation’s first grantee. Since 2018, SCFG has received additional grants from WFB––including, most recently, a 3 year, $300,000 grant to support the expansion of STEM programming for underrepresented girls and gender-expansive youth.
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