Dive Brief:
- Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday announced Million Women Mentors (MWM)-Iowa, which aims to partner young women in the state with 5,000 STEM-inclined mentors over the next four years.
- The move is being hailed as the first statewide initiative of its kind, and Iowa hopes other states will follow suit.
- At the same press conference, Iowa announced its new “Coaches’ Mentoring Challenge,” where basketball coaches across the state will be charged with helping to find STEM mentors.
Dive Insight:
“Launching MWM-Iowa is another component of our statewide-strategy to attract individuals to STEM careers. In particular, I believe mentors can guide, encourage, and open doors for girls and young women to be fully equipped for the great jobs of tomorrow in STEM-related careers,” Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds stated at a press conference Wednesday, according to North Iowa Today.
The basketball partnership is also a great way to use cache to get attention for the program and ideally find more mentors. The coaches have been asked to reach out to their university campuses and fan bases to see if they can find mentors there. Perhaps other states can create different types of "mentoring challenges" with fields other than coaches.