San Antonio, Texas

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.

Logic Model

Network Administrator

Hub Lead Activities

Host monthly meetings in collaboration with the Alamo STEM Ecosystem
Develop local STEM education and workforce asset map

Hub Region Near-Term Outcomes

Identification of 3-5 local community needs
Increased community awareness of DSEC events
Increased attendance of DSEC partners, teachers, and students at meetings
Increase in the number of assets on the regional asset map from Base Period Year 1 to Base Period Year 2

Catalyst

Hub Lead Activities

Convene cross-section partners at IDRA STEM meetings
Establish partnerships with school districts that have a high military-connected family population
Connect with DoW labs and programs in San Antonio to create internship opportunities

Hub Region Near-Term Outcomes

Establishment of partnerships with school districts
Cross-sector partners attend IDRA STEM meetings
Creation of internship opportunities with DoW labs and programs

Place-Based Local STEM Leader

Hub Lead Activities

Align STEM education programs with local priorities
Share STEM education resources/opportunities with the Alamo STEM Ecosystem

Hub Region Near-Term Outcomes

Alignment of local priorities and STEM education programs
Increase in the number of STEM education partners working with IDRA from Base Period Year 1 to Base Period Year 2

Career-Connected Pathways Builder

Hub Lead Activities

Coordinate with industry, education, and DoW-connected partners to implement and grow student and educator programming in the region

Hub Region Near-Term Outcomes

Conduct outreach to educator organizations
Increase the number of student leaders at the youth summit

Regional Outcomes

Network Administrator

Outcome	Evidence
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 DSEC 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 year of the base period to the second year: 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

Outcome	Evidence
Establishment of partnerships with school districts	The 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

Outcome	Evidence
Increase in the number of STEM education partners working with IDRA from Base Period Year 1 to Base Period Year 2	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

Outcome	Evidence
Conduct outreach to educator organizations	The Hub Lead 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.
Increase the number of student leaders at the youth summit	The Hub Lead increased the number of student leaders participating in the youth summit from 202 in Base Period Year 1 to 262 in Base Period Year 2.

Regional Data

Fifteen DSEC organizations provided programming in the San Antonio, Texas hub region.

DSEC partner participants in the San Antonio hub region

We’re just really proud to be that place-based STEM leader in our city, so that we can connect folks. So it’s definitely a two-lane street of us bringing programming here, but us also serving in that role to advise folks, to connect folks, and to start new programming or maybe even be more strategic about the programs we’re already doing and learning from, so that we can be more strategic and work together better and stronger and make an even greater impact.
- Hub lead