STEMconnector's Million Women Mentors Reaches 2 Million Pledges and Continues to Accelerate the Movement

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- STEMconnector's Million Women Mentors (MWM) initiative has reached two million pledges for mentoring relationships and is on target to reach the goal of three million by 2020. Additionally, there have been over 958,000 completed mentoring relationships as of this release. To build on this progress and enable the organization to reach its goal, MWM and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership announced a new partnership during the Million Women Mentors National Summit and Awards Ceremony on October 23-24 at the National Press Club. The partnership will leverage existing resources to expand Million Women Mentors' presence to all 50 states, and add 1,032 organizations to the number of NGOs and non-profits currently providing mentoring services to youth and young career professionals through MWM, particularly women and girls, exponentially increasing engagement efforts and creating an effortless user experience for members. MWM currently serves 43 states and works with 85 NGOs and non-profits nationwide at 958 sites, and global expansion efforts are underway.

Founded in 2014, Million Women Mentors helps companies and corporations across the nation connect with local girl-serving mentee organizations to provide face-to-face and online mentoring opportunities for their employees.

The 3^rd Annual MWM Summit & Awards provided an opportunity for celebration of the two million pledges milestone along with learning, networking, and collaboration to advance the MWM movement for women and girls in STEM. Speakers included former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds as keynotes, with additional panels and sessions featuring Arkansas Lt. Governor Tim Griffin, Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor, Kathleen Martinez of BP, Tonie Leatherberry of Deloitte, Lakshmi Eleswarpu of Boeing, and many others who have been advocates of the MWM movement. Awards for achievements empowering women in STEM were presented to Gov. Kim Reynolds, Dr. Sue Ellspermann of Ivy Tech Community College, Balaji Ganapathy of Tata, and several others. A comprehensive list of awards and recipients can be found at: millionwomenmentors.com.

"We are so excited to bring together so many thought leaders from across the country to celebrate this progress and advance our movement," said STEMconnector founder and chair Edie Fraser. "We are on track to truly make a difference for women and girls across the country who have been historically underrepresented in STEM careers and leadership."

The event also coincided with the release of three publications from MWM: The 100 Corporate Women Leaders in STEM, profiling 100 of the top female STEM leaders in the nation; the annual State of the States report, detailing the progress of each of MWM's 43 active states; as well as the Women in Insurance: Leading to Action white paper, illuminating existing areas of opportunity for female leadership in the insurance industry while highlighting some of the existing efforts underway by various industry leaders.

The 65 national sponsors of MWM were saluted, with TCS being commended for building the MWM website, MillionWomenMentors.com. The MWM Global Committee, led by PepsiCo and joined by Boeing and Credit Suisse, shared updates on its three-year plan.  Also announced at the event was the MWM Entrepreneur Initiative with Wells Fargo, which aims to support and strengthen women-owned businesses.

According to MENTOR's 2015 report, The Mentoring Effect, youth with mentors are often twice as likely to be successful in school, to be leaders in their communities, and to enter into young adulthood with opportunities for ongoing education and career choices. At the same time, companies that provide mentoring opportunities for their employees see greater employee retention, engagement, and productivity.¹ This kind of engagement is especially pressing for women in STEM fields, where only 24% of the workforce is female and only 6.7% of women earn STEM degrees.

About Million Women Mentors. An initiative of STEMConnector, Million Women Mentors is the gender movement that supports the engagement of millions of STEM mentors to increase the interest and confidence of girls and young women to enter and succeed in STEM programs and careers.

About STEMconnector. STEMconnector^® is committed to increasing the number of STEM-ready workers in the global talent pool. Owned by Diversified Search, LLC, we provide a platform to engage leaders in both public and private sectors who collectively are re-envisioning the workforce and identifying strategies to increase the number of STEM-ready workers. Our goal is to inform, stimulate, counsel and connect leaders with a passion for and commitment to closing the STEM-ready gaps. 

About MENTOR. MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) is the unifying champion for expanding quality youth mentoring relationships in the United States. For more than 25 years, MENTOR has served the mentoring field by providing a public voice; developing and delivering resources to mentoring programs nationwide; and promoting quality for mentoring through evidence-based standards, innovative research and essential tools. MENTOR has developed and supports a national network of affiliate Mentoring Partnerships that provide regional, state and local leadership and infrastructure necessary to support the expansion of quality mentoring relationships. Together, we engage with the private, public and nonprofit sectors to ensure that all youth have the support they need through mentoring relationships to succeed at home, school and, ultimately, work.

¹https://www.millionwomenmentors.com/node/101

SOURCE Million Women Mentors

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