Educational Tax Credits
For the past 13 years, the United Way has been approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (PA DCED) as a Pre-Kindergarten, Educational Improvement, Scholarship and Opportunity Scholarship organization. Each year, dozens of generous companies obtain tax credits through the PA DCED and contribute them to the United Way. Thanks to this generosity, the United Way awarded 82 scholarships for students attending fee-based schools last year. The United Way also supported an after-school program for students in Wayne County to expand on their Environmental Education and also supported a Robotics initiative to increase the students’ abilities in the sciences and math.
The United Way also leveraged the Pre-K tax credits to provide scholarships to 133 children from four counties. Learn more about how your business can apply for these tax credits through the PA DCED.
STEM TRAINING AND COMPETITION
For the third year, the United Way powered the NEPA Girl’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Competition at Valley View High School. Over 160 girls in 5th-8th grades competed during this day-long event on teams representing schools from all across our region. The competition served as the culmination of numerous year-long, afterschool programs to showcase their talents on a regional basis. With your help and continued support, the United Way is pleased to help young girls explore various career paths in this underrepresented field.
The teams competed in:
- Science: Conducting a lab experiment
- Technology: Hands-on Scratch programming
- Engineering: Designing and building a “Mousetrap Car”
- Math: Developing a computer-based math game
STEM Competition Puts Fun in Fundamentals (Published April 28, 2019 :: The Scranton Times - Tribune)
Lackawanna County Family Stem Night
The United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties was proud to sponsor the inaugural Lackawanna County STEM Family Night at Valley View High School in April. This program was designed and organized entirely by an all-girl leadership team of six Valley View High School students and was open to area families with children in 5th - 8th grade. More than 20 families participated in the event and worked together to program Sphero robots while also designing their own electrical circuit robot cards.
Valley View HS Female Students Organizing Family STEM Night (Aired March 21, 2019 :: Fox 56 News)