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San Antonio

The Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) seeks to achieve educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college. As a Hub Lead, IDRA combines student-centered programming with regional ecosystem leadership to strengthen STEM pathways, support educators, cultivate cross-sector partnerships, and prepare the next generation of the STEM workforce through asset-based approaches.

Regional Outcomes

Network administrator
OutcomeOutcome Statement
Identification of 3-5 local community needs 

The Hub Lead identified five primary local STEM ecosystem needs through stakeholder engagement:  

  • Increasing support for students to persist in high-level math and science courses and math- and real-world application professional development for educators
  • Increasing technology resources to support early STEM exposure
  • Offering career-connected professional development experiences that include stipends for educators that foster school-community partnerships;  
  • Strengthening literacy skills to support for overall college and career readiness
  • Increasing STEM awareness and experiential opportunities for K-12 students.  
Increased community awareness of DSEC events The Hub Lead increased community awareness of DSCE events by employing the following strategies: embedding DSEC events and opportunities within the hub ecosystem and sharing information through partners’ newsletters, meetings, and websites; serving as a vendor in city-wide community events to increase DSEC visibility; and meeting directly with local stakeholders (higher education, school representatives, industry) to share information about DSEC events.  
Increased attendance of DSEC partners, teachers, and students at ecosystem meetings The Hub Lead increased attendance of key stakeholders from the first base period to the second: DSEC partners (15 to 55); teachers (200 to 2,600); and students (100 to 1,300). The Hub Lead leveraged DSEC funding to increase collaboration with DSEC partners, merge resources, and expand programming to new schools and locations which led to the increases in attendance at meetings.  
Increase in the number of assets on the regional asset map from Base Period Year 1 to Base Period Year 2 From the first year to the second year of Base Period, the number of assets grew from 15 to 50, as documented through an annual regional asset mapping activity.  
Catalyst
OutcomeOutcome Statement
Establishment of partnerships with school districtsThe  Hub Lead established 17 partnerships with school districts through networking meetings, leveraging DSEC partnerships, and outreach events including conferences. School district partnerships support career-connected learning for students and teachers and professional development opportunities designed to foster school and community partnerships.  
Cross-sector partners attend IDRA STEM meetings Forty (40) representatives from cross-sector organizations – such as higher education, non-profit organizations, community organizations, school districts, government, and industry – regularly attended hub meetings during Base Period. 
Creation of internship opportunities with DoW labs and programs Although the Hub Lead was not able to  create internship opportunities as anticipated, it did launch externships through a DoW partnership program with the Army Research Laboratory’s DEVCOM program and the University of Texas at San Antonio cybersecurity summer program.
Place-based local STEM leader
OutcomeOutcome Statement
Increase in the number of STEM education partners working with IDRA from BPY1 to BPY2 From the first year to the second year of Base Period, the Hub Lead increased the number of STEM education partners working with them from 15 to 50 partners by leveraging its local STEM ecosystem to expand its reach into the local education community. 
Career-connected pathways builder
OutcomeOutcome Statement

Career-connected pathways builder:  

Conduct outreach to educator organizations  

The hub presented at a local educator conference to share learnings from its program implementation and share resources for educators to directly implement programming on their own. The presentation led to new opportunities to partner with education organizations and school districts for career-connected pathway building.  

Career-connected pathways builder:

Increase the number of student leaders at the youth summit

The hub increased the number of student leaders participating in the youth summit from 202 in the first base period to 262 in the second base period.  

Regional Data