Science Club for Girls was selected to receive a $100,000 "Moonshot Grant" from Pfizer to support our STEM programming for girls and gender-expansive youth in grades K-12 from underrepresented communities in the Greater Boston area. Pfizer’s Moonshot Grants are aimed at supporting local community-based organizations that are helping to connect students from diverse and underrepresented communities to STEM education and careers. The grant program was funded with the proceeds of the book Moonshot: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible that chronicles Pfizer’s experience bringing forward the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We were beyond thrilled to be selected for this wonderful grant! I’m really moved that Dr. Albert Bourla chose to honor the nonprofit community in this way,” shared Bonnie Bertolaet, Ph.D., Executive Director, Science Club for Girls, who continued to say:
“This grant will be critical in our plans for growth and expansion to serve more girls and gender-expansive youth from underrepresented communities.”
The $100,000 grant will help SCFG expand yet again next school-year to meet the incredible demand for our programs, reaching 625 participants each semester––plus an additional 90 in our Summer and Vacation Week programs––with a continuum of free, high-quality, and impactful out-of-school-time STEM education and mentorship programs. These programs will continue to be offered in both virtual and in-person formats to provide maximum accessibility for underrepresented communities.
Dr. Bertolaet was invited to travel to Pfizer’s New York Headquarters to meet with Dr. Bourla and the other non-profit leaders selected for Moonshot Grants. “I’m grateful that Albert documented Pfizer’s awe-inspiring Moonshot in his book and elevated the pharmaceutical industry as a whole in the public’s eye.
"I think it’s so important for future generations to not only feel the wonder and joy of STEM but to also feel the power to make sense of one’s daily world through the lens of science and STEM,” Dr. Bertolaet said at the luncheon.
“This empowerment is especially impactful when you come from communities and/or circumstances where empowerment is difficult to come by. One of our mandates at SCFG is to engage young women from underrepresented communities in STEM and provide long-term investment in them as they continue on to higher education and careers in STEM––so that they become leaders in STEM and bring along their families and neighborhoods on this journey to help make their communities safer, healthier, and stronger.
"We all reap the benefits when we make this investment in girls,” reflected Dr. Bertolaet. “We are honored to continue to partner with Pfizer to cultivate the next generation of diverse, world-changing scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians—individuals who will bring economic stability to their families and communities while contributing their talent and perspective to solving the most pressing issues of our time, from global pandemics to climate change.”
