CARNEGIE, PA — Today, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) announced that the non-profit STEM Coding Lab is getting a $150,000 grant from the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program through the ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute, the nation’s leading robotics and AI manufacturing innovation Institute, headquartered in Western Pennsylvania. This investment will allow STEM Coding Lab to provide robotics and manufacturing workforce education to high-poverty, K-8 students across Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District.
“Our students today are the inventors and creators of tomorrow,” said Rep. Chris Deluzio. “This $150,000 federal investment in Western Pennsylvania’s students will help foster the high-demand skills our region needs to launch an innovative new era of domestic manufacturing.”
“In the last 3 years, STEM Coding Lab has quadrupled in size, now serving nearly 4,000 under-resourced youth throughout Western Pennsylvania,” said Casey Mindlin, Executive Director of STEM Coding Lab. “Our growth and success are rooted in the reality that computer science and STEM instruction are critical in equipping all our youth, not just affluent learners, with the skills needed to be creators, rather than just users of technology. We are grateful for Rep. Deluzio’s continued commitment to unlocking federal funds to activate the next generation of Pennsylvania innovators. We look forward to continuing to work with him, as well as the rest of the Pennsylvania delegation, to ensure that all of our region’s youth are prepared to compete for the jobs of tomorrow.”
“The ARM Institute is excited to work with STEM Coding Lab in furthering our mission to expand awareness of careers in advanced manufacturing across the nation”, stated Lisa Masciantonio, Chief Workforce Officer of the ARM Institute. “A key part of that mission is exposing young people to robotics and STEM at an early age, which makes what STEM Coding Lab does so critical.”
The project will be led by the ARM Institute, with STEM Coding Lab as a subcontractor, and has an overarching goal of creating at least 1,000 modern manufacturing jobs in the Pittsburgh region. This award was part of a larger White House announcement as part of their workforce hub convenings in Western Pennsylvania and Augusta, GA.
In May, the Biden-Harris Administration designated the Pittsburgh region as one of five Workforce Hubs where President Biden’s Investing in America agenda (the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act) are creating good-paying jobs and catalyzing historic levels of private and public investment. In Western Pennsylvania, these investments show a roadmap to creating high-quality career opportunities for students and workers while boosting local manufacturing and strengthening the economy.