STEAM Hub 4 CISS

What has been accomplished?

It was on January 31, 2025, when we had our “Constitutional Assembly” at Chemeketa College Woodburn Center (CCWC-https://www.chemeketa.edu/locations/chemeketa-woodburn/). You can read about it by following this link. The STEAM Hub 4 CISS (Creativity, Innovation, Sustainability, and Stewardship) had been registered on July 23, 2024, and soon after received approval from the IRS of its tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status. At the CCWC meeting, a board of directors (BoD) was elected. Since then, we have had two meetings of the BoD, one in May and the other in September. The idea is to have a BoD meeting every 4 months, so the next one will be next month on the 23rd of January 2026. Together with the BoD, an Advisory Council has been established with the intention of strengthening our networking capabilities and, of course, bringing bright minds to help in the strategic planning and mapping of the future of The Hub.

Networking has been intense, and collaboration with other like-minded organizations has been sought. At the same time that mentoring and tutoring activities have been carried out to help underrepresented minorities. More than 160 hours of volunteer time have been provided. We are now in a close collaboration with Chemeketa College, Woodburn Center, and UndergroundPDX (https://www.undergroundpdx.org/ formerly Hope Center PDX). Dr. Aida Contreras (BoD member) participated in volunteering, both at the CCWC and the Hope Center. A Warner Pacific University student (Colby Barnes) also participated in tutoring and became a peer mentor.

This coming year, we will start with a Tuesday session at CCWC and a Wednesday session at UndergroundPDX, with plans to expand to other days of the week as soon as we have the peer mentors. Speaking of peer-mentors, as part of the strategic plan, is to educate peer mentors recruited from colleges and universities who will be working side by side with the pre-college students.

We continue to strengthen collaborative bonds with organizations that are doing a wonderful job of helping low-income students achieve their potential. The Hub has been part of the STEAM Pathways Coalition and participated in this year’s STEAM Pathways summit in April, and is in the organizing committee for the 2026 STEAM Pathways Connect that will be at the PCC Willow Creek Opportunity Center (https://www.pcc.edu/locations/willow-creek/) on April 8th, 2026. For more information about the April 8th, 2026, connect meeting, click here.

The following are some of the organizations with which we are forging a collaboration.

BestHQ/STEAM Pathway Coalition, Capaces Leadership Institute, ExperimentPDX, iUrbanTeen, LULAC-LNESC, MESA, Minds Matter Portland, Portland Metro STEM Partnership, BridgeTown1821, and STREAM-N

There are others in the region, like Electronic Music Club, Boys and Girls Club, Canvas to Code, and CodeNinja, with which we hope to establish collaboration.

Looking forward to 2026, we know we have hard work in front of us, but the satisfaction that the accomplishment of our goals will, undoubtedly, justify our effort.

We wish you all the best, health, and peace for the New Year that begins.