About the STEM Program

Program History

The STEP Program builds on the foundation set by the San Gabriel Valley (SGV) Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). The SGV SEPA Collaborative was a partnership between the Duarte Unified School District and City of Hope with a mission to create a pipeline of students (especially underrepresented minority students) who were interested, engaged, and prepared for biomedical research as a college major and career. SEPA had three aims:

• Establish a two-stage research education program for rising high school juniors and seniors 
• Establish a professional development program for K-12 teachers 
• Establish a K-8 research education program 

The program was funded in part by OD010513, a five-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) running from May 2013 through April 2017. The program ran on a no-cost extension during the 2017-2018 school year. SEPA was created by the NIH to encourage active biomedical and/or behavioral scientists to work as partners with educators, media experts, community leaders and other interested organizational leaders on projects that improve student understanding of the health sciences in K-12 education and increase the public's understanding of science. Today, funding from the YES2SUCCESS grant allows us to further City of Hope's efforts to spark an interest in science among local students.